German Potato Salad
Warm potatoes in a bacon-vinegar dressing — served warm, no mayo in sight.
Ingredients
- 4 Potatoes
- 100 g Bacon
- 3 tbsp Red wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- ½ Onion
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Sugar (optional)
- 3 tbsp Parsley (optional)
- ½ tsp Black pepper (optional)
Method
- Put the whole unpeeled potatoes in a large pot, cover with cold water, salt it well, and set it over high heat to come to a boil.
- Boil the potatoes until a knife slides in with no resistance, about 18 to 20 minutes.
- While the potatoes boil, chop the bacon into small pieces with a knife or kitchen shears.
- Cook the chopped bacon in a wide skillet over medium heat until crisp, then scoop it out with a slotted spoon, leaving the fat in the pan.
- Dice the onion finely while the bacon cooks.
- Soften the diced onion in the bacon fat over medium heat until translucent, about 3 minutes.
- Stir the vinegar, mustard, and sugar into the onions and let the dressing bubble once, then turn off the heat.
- Drain the potatoes and slice them into thick rounds while still warm — warm potatoes drink up the dressing.
- Pour the warm dressing over the sliced potatoes, fold in the crisp bacon and chopped parsley, season with black pepper, and serve warm.
Tap “Start cooking” for live timers that flag what to get ahead on while something simmers.
About German Potato Salad
German Potato Salad is the warm, tangy answer to the mayonnaise-bound American kind — a southern German (Schwäbischer Kartoffelsalat) tradition of potatoes dressed while still warm in a bacon-and-vinegar dressing. Whole potatoes are boiled in their skins, bacon is crisped and its rendered fat becomes the base of the dressing, and red wine vinegar, Dijon, onion, and a little sugar build a sweet-sharp coating that the warm potatoes drink in. There's no mayo anywhere in sight.
Eaten warm, it's tangy and savory, the potatoes tender and faintly sweet, laced with smoky bacon and softened onion against the bright hit of vinegar and mustard. Dressing the potatoes while they're still hot is the key move — warm starch absorbs the vinegar dressing far more readily than cold, so the flavor goes all the way through rather than sitting on the surface. Fresh parsley keeps it from feeling heavy. It's a classic partner to sausages, schnitzel, or roast pork, and because it's meant to be served warm or at room temperature it travels well to a cookout or a holiday table.
German Potato Salad: frequently asked questions
How many calories are in German Potato Salad?
A serving has about 234 calories — 6.9g protein, 30.1g carbs, 10.3g fat, 4.1g fiber. Figures are estimated from the ingredient amounts and will shift with your portions and brands.
Is German Potato Salad gluten-free?
Based on its ingredients, German Potato Salad has no gluten-containing components, so it's naturally gluten-free — as always, check that any packaged ingredients you use are certified gluten-free to be safe.
How long does German Potato Salad take to make?
About 35 minutes start to finish, but only around 23 of those are hands-on — the rest is largely unattended cooking time you can step away from. In the Homecooked app the timers and parallel steps are sequenced for you so the hands-on part feels even shorter.
Do I need every ingredient to make German Potato Salad?
The core ingredients are essential, but you can leave out sugar, parsley, black pepper — they're optional and mainly there for extra flavor or finish.
How many servings does German Potato Salad make?
This recipe makes 4 servings. In the app you can scale it up or down and the ingredient amounts adjust automatically.