Classic Potato Salad with Bacon Recipe + VIDEO (2024)

This Classic Potato Salad with Bacon is perfect for all of your summer barbecues and cookouts! It’s creamy, tangy and a little smoky with the help of crispy bacon. A make ahead side dish to go with grilled meat!

PIN THIS RECIPE FOR LATER

Classic Potato Salad. Creamy, tangy, mayo-y with boiled potatoes and hard-boiled eggs.

I know that mayo-less potato salads are pretty “in” right now, in fact, I probably should have used Greek yogurt instead, right?

Considering that I actually have said over and over (and I remind you every time I make a potato salad recipe like this Creamy Italian Potato Salad or this Warm Maple Bacon Potato Salad or this BBQ Bacon Potato Salad) that I hate mayonnaise, you’d think I’d be right there on board. Except that, for some reason, I love classic potato salad.

I can’t explain it and I can’t deny it. I just love the stuff, and I swear it just doesn’t make any sense.

I won’t touch mayo in any other circ*mstance. If a restaurant accidentally put mayo on a sandwich or burger I would.not.eat.it. I also don’t do salad dressings or anything Ranch at all.

There is just something about having a big bowl of potato salad (or I suppose, another cold salad of your choosing!) in the fridge during the summer, and just grilling some meat for dinner every night. It’s so easy, and, I know here in Manitoba, when summer comes we’re ready to soak up every last ray of sunshine.

I wanted to make a Classic Potato Salad recipe to add to my collection here this summer, but I just had to jazz it up a little. So bacon. But what really makes this salad? These super creamy Baby Boomer creamer potatoes from The Little Potato Company! The skin is so thin and smooth, there’s no need to ever peel them so you get all of those extra nutrients and none of the extra work.

Tips and Tricks for Making this Classic Potato Salad:

• There’s one kind of potato salad I can’t do and that’s mashed potato salad (insert that face your child makes — you know the one). Cook your potatoes and then chill them, and cut them when they’re cold to avoid just mashing them up. Big chunks or little chunks, that’s up to you 🙂
• If you’re looking to healthify this potato salad a little more, feel free to swap out half the mayo with plain 0% Greek yogurt. I don’t think it’d be a noticeable difference but you’ll get a little more protein and likely less calories.
• Also, you can skip the bacon. Not that I recommend doing that, but if you’re looking to cut out calories somewhere, skipping the bacon will save you about 100 calories per serving if you use thick-sliced bacon (see recipe below for a detailed breakdown with and without bacon).
• This is a great make ahead side dish! We’ll keep it in the fridge for up to 4-5 days and it’s just as good as the first day 🙂

Tell me: what are your favorite cold salads to eat in the summer with your grilled goods?? I’d love to hear!

*This recipe is sponsored by The Little Potato Company as part of my ambassadorship with them — thank you for supporting the brands that keep us fed!