Everything about this Russian potato salad makes for the perfect companion for all your favorite grilling recipes—from grilled flank steak to barbecued burgers to honey-smoked salmon. However, Russian potato salad is traditionally served in times of celebration, and it also works well for favorite winter meals, like Bavarian pot roast.
The key to the perfect Russian potato salad is to make sure everything is finely chopped. While some potato salads have larger, chunkier pieces, Russian potato salad calls for smaller bite-sized bits. It will take a little longer to make this salad, which is why it is the perfect side dish to save for special occasions, a holiday tradition dating back to the 1800s.
What is Olivier salad?
Russian potato salad is traditionally referred to as Olivier salad, or “Ruska Salata.” It is a creation attributed to Lucien Olivier, a chef from a famous restaurant in Moscow in the late 1800s. This salad is a traditional side dish typically made with potatoes, carrots and brined pickles, but it can include a variety of other items like peas, onions and apples. Many variations also include proteins such as hard-boiled eggs, ham and sausage. This side dish is commonly served around the holidays in Bulgarian, Ukrainian and Russian households.
Ingredients for Russian Potato Salad
- Potatoes: Potatoes are the main event of this recipe, so deciding how to pick the best potatoes for potato salad can be tricky. For this one, we recommend choosing a waxy potato variety, like red or Yukon gold potatoes.
- Carrots: Carrots are the second most important ingredient in a Russian potato salad. This recipe calls for canned carrots to save you the hassle of cooking them, but if you prefer to use fresh carrots, you can boil them with the potatoes.
- Onion: The type of onion can be up to you and what’s in your pantry. However, onion is not a typical ingredient seen in a Russian potato salad recipe, so skipping it would just make your dish more authentic.
- Pickles and pickled beets: Different types of pickles are typically tossed into a Russian potato salad, so we double down on a variety of them in our recipe. This recipe adds both sweet and dill pickles, as well as pickled beets, to give this potato salad a variety of shapes and that gorgeous purple color!
- Celery: Celery gives this potato salad an extra crunch in contrast to all the other soft ingredients.
- Sugar and cider vinegar: The key to the perfect Russian potato salad is the brine. While pickles do provide that briny taste, most traditional recipes also have you boiling a homemade brine to mix in with the cooked potatoes.
- Mayonnaise: A potato salad wouldn’t be complete without a big dollop of mayonnaise to bring all those tasty flavors together!
Directions
Step 1: Boil the potatoes
Place the cubed potatoes in a Dutch oven and cover them with water. Bring them to a boil, then reduce the heat and cover. Let them simmer until they’re tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain the potatoes, then transfer them to a large bowl.
Editors Tip: Salt your water! In the same way you would salt the water to boil pasta, salted water helps to add some of that flavor to your potatoes while you cook them, giving them an even tastier, more flavorful bite for potato salad.
Step 2: Dissolve the sugar in vinegar
In a small saucepan, cook the sugar and vinegar over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. Pour it over the hot potatoes, then let the potatoes come to room temperature before adding the rest of your ingredients.
Step 3: Cook the carrots and onions
Heat the canola oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the carrots and onion, stirring occasionally, till they are crisp-tender, six to eight minutes. Add them to the bowl of cooled potatoes.
Step 4: Combine all the ingredients
Stir in the pickled beets, celery and pickles to the potato mixture. Then combine the mayonnaise, salt and pepper, add to the potato mixture and toss until everything is evenly coated. Cover and refrigerate your Russian potato salad until everything is chilled.
Recipe Variations
- Add a protein: This Russian potato salad recipe works well with different kinds of protein. Dice up smoked sausage or bologna, if you have it on hand. Chicken can also work well if you’re looking for a lean protein option. Hard-boiled eggs are also a popular choice in an Olivier salad. For a vegetarian option, add cooked peas.
- Toss in fresh herbs: Some variations of Russian potato salad call for adding in fresh herbs. The most commonly used herbs in this salad include dill, parsley and chives.
- Make it sugar-free: Swap out the sugar with Splenda, and use no-sugar-added sweet gherkins and beets to keep the sugar content low in this recipe.
How long does Russian potato salad last?
When stored properly in the refrigerator in an air-tight container, Russian potato salad will last up to five days. Keep in mind that food with cooked protein and mayonnaise that has been left out for long periods of time can be subject to food-borne illness, so in the case of potato salad, be sure to keep it cold, and avoid leaving it out for a long while.
Russian Potato Salad Tips
Can you freeze Russian potato salad?
While a potato salad technically can be frozen, mayonnaise is an ingredient that doesn’t freeze very well. The texture of the potato salad won’t be as creamy and smooth. Other ingredients that you might want to toss in, such as hard-boiled eggs, also won’t freeze well. Instead, it is best to consume your refrigerated potato salad within five days and simply make a new batch when you want it again for a meal.
How do you keep the potatoes from falling apart?
Adding a tablespoon or two of vinegar—whether it be white vinegar or apple cider vinegar—to the boiling pot of potatoes will help to create a crust on the potatoes so they keep their shape and don’t fall apart, according to Taste of Home Deputy Food Editor James Schend.
Why does my potato salad taste so bland?
Despite the melody of flavors in this Russian potato salad, any potato salad can have a bland taste if you don’t give the potatoes a proper amount of time to cool. Hot potatoes will soak up the dressing and take out some of the flavor from it, making it taste bland despite all those ingredients. For the best tasting Olivier salad, be sure to fully cool the potatoes before continuing.
