Creamy Loaded Baked Potato Salad Recipe

If you're looking for a crowd-pleasing side dish for your next gathering, look no further — this creamy loaded baked potato salad, brought to us by recipe developer Catherine Brookes, and it's sure to impress. The usual method for making potato salad involves boiling the potatoes before combining them with the dressing, but here, we're baking whole, large, skin-one potatoes in the oven, to get them extra fluffy and flavorful. Once baked, the skin is peeled off and the flesh roughly chopped, before combining with the wonderful creamy dressing and other add-ins. 

For the creamy dressing, we've opted for a combination of Greek yogurt and mayo, which gives a wonderful rich texture without being overly heavy. Then, we add an irresistible medley of fried bacon bits, green onion, and plenty of shredded cheddar cheese — all the classic fixings in a good baked potato. This dish is super simple to prepare, and easy to make ahead of time too. Serve it warm or chilled as a versatile addition to a lunch or dinner spread.

For the base of this dish, we recommend using russet potatoes, though Yukon Golds would also work well. Then, to make the creamy dressing, you'll need mayonnaise, Greek yogurt, apple cider vinegar, salt, and black pepper. The savory add-ins consist of cooked, chopped bacon, green onions, and grated cheddar cheese.

Preheat the oven to 400 F.

Prick the potato all over with a sharp knife and place on a lined baking sheet.

Bake for 1 hour.

Allow the potatoes to cool enough to handle, then peel and roughly chop them into chunks.

In a small bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, Greek yogurt, apple cider vinegar, salt, and black pepper.

Add the chopped potatoes to a large mixing bowl and allow them to cool for about 15 minutes.

Pour the mayonnaise mixture over the cooled potatoes and stir to coat.

Add most of the bacon, cheese, and green onion (reserving some to top the dish), and stir.

Transfer to your serving bowl of choice and garnish with remaining bacon bits, cheese, and green onions.

If you need to adapt this dish to cater to different dietary needs, that's no problem. To make the dish vegetarian, the only ingredient you'll need to replace is the bacon. Of course, you could simply omit this, but there are also vegetarian "fake bacon" strips available in many grocery stores, which could be fried, chopped, and mixed into the potato salad in the same way. You could even try making your own bacon out of carrots if you want to get super creative. Alternatively, try crumbling up some firm tofu and frying it in a little soy sauce to inject plenty of umami flavor and scattering this over the potatoes.

To make this potato salad vegan-friendly, you shouldn't have too much trouble swapping out the other ingredients for plant-based versions. When it comes to the mayonnaise, you should find that vegan mayonnaise is readily available in most large grocery stores. Again, for the yogurt, opt for a dairy-free variety, such as one made with coconut, almond, or soy milk. Vegan cheese is another popular store-bought ingredient, that often comes pre-shredded for ease of use, too. You could also try mixing a few tablespoons of nutritional yeast through the dressing for extra nutty, cheesy flavor.

We highly recommend baking the potatoes in this recipe, as this adds a unique fluffy texture and caramelized flavor. However, if you're short on time, you could opt for the more convenient boiling method instead.

To boil the potatoes, first wash them and dice them into even chunks. You can either peel the potatoes or leave the skin intact. Next, place them into a pan of salted boiling water, and cook for around 15 minutes. The potatoes should be soft enough to poke a fork through, without with mushy. Once cooked, drain the potatoes and let them steam for about 5 minutes. As with the baked potato method, it's best if the potatoes have cooled a little before mixing them with the dressing, otherwise the sauce can become too runny. Once your boiled potatoes have cooled slightly, you can combine them with the creamy dressing, bacon, green onion, and cheese, as per the original recipe.