Deluxe German Potato Salad
I make this salad for all occasions—it goes well with any kind of meat. I often take this salad to potlucks, and there's never any left over. The celery, carrots and dry mustard are a special touch not usually found in traditional German potato salad. —Betty Perkins, Hot Springs, Arkansas
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound sliced bacon, diced
- 1 cup thinly sliced celery
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 teaspoon ground mustard
- 1 cup cider vinegar
- 1/2 cup water
- 5 pounds unpeeled small red potatoes, cooked and sliced
- 2 medium carrots, shredded
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
- Additional salt, optional
Reviews
My heritage is German, and my grandmother always added bell peppers, hard-boiled eggs and pickles to the above recipe of celery, onions, carrots and potatoes. My grandma no longer made the dressing from scratch but used Marzetti's slaw dressing instead. There was never any leftovers.
A very tasty salad! One of our guests is a vegetarian so I omitted the bacon - sautéed the veggies in olive oil instead. Even without bacon it was very good, we liked the sweet dressing.
Not enjoyed by any of 14 German relatives.
I have not made this particular recipe, but I can't help but wonder if it, or at least the dressing part of it, was developed in the 1950s when sugar was suddenly available and plentiful again after the rationing of the war years. My late mother's potato salad, which involves marinating cooked cubed red potatoes in French dressing, is the same way - the marinade calls for way too much sugar. I have successfully cut down the amount of sugar. This looks like a good German potato salad recipe otherwise, and I hope to make it some day.
Whenever there is a lot of sugar...I use at least 1/3 less, even in baking...cookies and fast breads..you can use less...or I use part stevia...no calories....make the dressing with less sugar...if too sour...add a little stevia..in that way you have your sweet but not the calories or if diabetic it works...I like a little more bacon...Otherwise great side dish!! thank you for sharing!!
My grandmother was born in Germany 1886 and her recipe is very different as it was her mother's etc. She is from Saxony so I guess each part of Germany has their own recipe. No sugar, bacon drippings and raw egg is beaten into mixture along with onion, celery, pepper, vinegar, little water and serviced warm.
I love German Potato Salad. My mother was German and she often made it. We would even tell her that we liked this better than regular potato salad. She is gone now but I sure with I had asked her to show me how to make it like she did. I do not remember her using any flower in hers.
I love the carrots in this recipe. It's different from traditional German potato salad.
I grew up in PA Dutch area of Eastern PA and have seen, made and tasted many versions of German Potato Salad. My mother Put very little sugar in her German Potato Salad. Of course, that's makes it more vinegary but that's what my husband and I like. Never saw carrots in ANY G. potato S, either.Of course, my version might have been corrupted (LOL) since we weren't German (although I married one) or, perhaps, because we didn't live in the heart of PA Dutch country but closer to Philly.My Amish cookbook also follows pretty much what I've written above ...less sugar and no carrots.
Not enough sauce for 5 pounds of potatoes. I kept warm in the oven and it came out very dry. Would not recommend.