This French potato salad is a scrumptious easy aspect dish that’s brilliant and tangy, full of capers and contemporary herbs. An adaptation of Julia Baby’s basic recipe, it’s a summer season favourite that’s excellent for cookouts!

One of many first cookbooks I picked up once I was studying to cook dinner was a e-book by Julia Baby. After studying it, I fell in love along with her character: her ardour for cooking is infectious! She then grew to become my “TV buddy” as I binged-watched her black-and-white cooking reveals from the 1950’s.
A couple of years in the past I made Nicoise salad, a recipe I realized from Julia, and a part of that bowl was this French potato salad. It was so good that I stored sneaking bites from the bowl! Now when summer season rolls round, this French potato salad is what I make: it’s gentle, easy, no mayo, and everybody at all times loves it: much more than the basic creamy type!
5 Star Reader Evaluations




“That is the very best potato salad I’ve ever made. YUM. It’s my new go-to. Wow. Attention-grabbing methodology however seems unbelievable.” -Stephanie




“The best French potato salad I’ve made. I just like the addition of capers. I cooked the potatoes within the strain cooker they usually turned out completely.” -Kn
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It’s a real crowd-pleaser. The tangy-briny-herby taste is tough to cease consuming: everybody I’ve served it to loves this mix.
- Make-ahead pleasant. You’ll be able to combine it a full day prematurely and it tastes even higher the following day.
- Works for a lot of diets. It’s vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and dairy-free so it’s nice for cookouts with many forms of eaters.

What’s French Potato Salad, Anyway?
French potato salad is a vinegar-based salad, as an alternative of creamy just like the American model. Whereas the substances can fluctuate, it sometimes consists of potatoes, vinegar and olive oil, contemporary herbs like parsley or dill, onion, shallot or scallions, and typically capers. It’s acquired no mayo and works for a lot of diets together with vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, and gluten-free.
I additionally made a model of this French potato salad with dill that’s completely unbelievable. So as to add an herby pop, go to our Dill Potato Salad.
Components You’ll Want
- Child pink potatoes: Their skinny skins and waxy flesh maintain their form after boiling. It’s value discovering the suitable factor for this recipe — yellow pores and skin potatoes additionally work.
- White wine vinegar. Vibrant however not aggressive. As a substitution, it’s also possible to attempt pink wine vinegar although once more, it’s value discovering the true factor.
- Capers. These give the salad a salty, briny pop. They’re a berry of the caper bush that’s native to the Mediterranean and offered pickled, in small skinny bottles. See my greatest caper recipes for more information.
- Shallot. The flavour is milder than yellow onion, with a touch of garlic. (You may as well make an important shallot French dressing with leftovers.)
- Contemporary parsley. Provides a contemporary and peppery kick. Right here’s retailer parsley so it doesn’t go limp. You may as well use dill and make this dill potato salad.
- Olive oil. My go-to coronary heart wholesome all-purpose oil.
Ideas for Making French Potato Salad
This French potato salad is extremely tasty: each time I make it I actually can not assist myself from sneaking bites: it’s simply that good! Listed here are a number of ideas for this salad:
- Begin the potatoes in chilly, salted water. That is the transfer for any boiled potato: chilly water means even cooking from the within out.
- Let the potatoes stand with vinegar & water, then combine in olive oil. There’s no conventional French dressing right here! After the potatoes are boiled and drained, you’ll combine them with white wine vinegar and heat water and allow them to stand for five minutes. At first if you combine within the water, the potatoes shall be very watery. However by no means worry! As you gently combine the potatoes, they’ll take up the water and vinegar and grow to be moist and tangy. Then you may add a contact of olive oil. This methodology makes for completely moist potato salad!
- Don’t skip the capers. Capers add simply the suitable ultimate flavoring to the dish. This was an addition I made to Julia’s salad recipe, as I noticed another French potato salad recipes that included capers. It actually makes it shine!

Learn how to Serve French Potato Salad
This French potato salad is ideal for all kinds of events and to pair with dishes of all types. Listed here are my high methods to serve it:
- Nicoise salad. The arms down greatest solution to serve it: as a part of Nicoise Salad! It’s a French most important dish salad that’s off the charts good, with boiled eggs, inexperienced beans, tuna, olives, and greens coated in a tangy lemon dressing.
- With salmon. Attempt it alongside my Lemon Dill Salmon, Straightforward Baked Salmon, or Grilled Salmon.
- With hen. Add my grilled hen thighs or greatest hen burger.
- At a summer season barbecue. It’s the right summer season salad for a cookout or barbecue (listed here are 30 extra summer season salads).
- With a plant-based most important. Class up my veggie burger or portobello burger.
Make-Forward and Storage Ideas
It is a nice make-ahead salad: you may combine it as much as a full day prematurely, preserve it within the fridge, and pull it out about half-hour earlier than serving so it could come again to room temperature. Leftovers retailer for 3 to 4 days in an hermetic container.
A fast phrase on warm-vs.-cold: I often serve this at room temperature, which is when each the potatoes and the seasonings style their greatest.

Dietary Notes
This French potato salad recipe is vegetarian, gluten-free, vegan, plant-based, and dairy-free.
French Potato Salad
An adaptation of Julia Baby’s basic recipe, this French potato salad is a favourite! It options zingy pink potatoes, capers, and parsley.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook dinner Time: half-hour
- Whole Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
- Class: Salad
- Technique: Stovetop
- Delicacies: French
Components
- 3 kilos child pink potatoes
- ¼ cup minced shallot (about 1 massive)
- ¼ cup white wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ cup capers, drained
- 1 tablespoon contemporary parsley
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Contemporary floor pepper
Directions
- Fill a big pot with chilly water and add 1 tablespoon kosher salt. Add the entire potatoes and convey to a boil. On the subject of a boil, set a timer for 8 minutes. Cook dinner till fork tender (style take a look at to test), as much as 20 minutes.
- Mince the shallot.
- When the potatoes are executed, drain them. When they’re cool sufficient to deal with, slice them into chew sized items. Place the potatoes in a bowl and gently combine within the minced shallot, white wine vinegar, kosher salt, and ½ cup heat water. Let stand for five minutes, gently stirring sometimes. The potatoes will take up the water as they stand.
- Add the capers, parsley, olive oil, and some grinds black pepper. Style and add extra salt if mandatory. Serve heat or room temperature. Leftovers retailer as much as 4 days refrigerated.
Notes
Impressed by The Solution to Cook dinner by Julia Baby
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