Pesto And Egg Potato Salad Is The Flavorful Upgrade You Need To Try
Summertime get-togethers boast a famous side dish lineup, but after years and years of the same recipes, the campfire starts to fizzle out. With so many unique ingredients and flavor combinations, why not try to mix up the barbecue a little? Add some canned pineapple to plain old baked beans for a sweet and savory combo, or bring a kick to regular pasta salad with southwest-inspired chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. But perhaps the most basic and boring of all summer sides is potato salad.
When you think of potato salad, you probably picture a lumpy conglomeration that's like a cross between mashed potatoes and deviled eggs, which inevitably ends up in a plastic container at the back of the fridge. Too much mustard and mayo and the potatoes turn slimy. Not enough spices, and you'll cringe as you try to stomach a bowl of overly-creamy blandness. Sure, it's a cookout classic, but the flavors are a bit tired, and it's certainly not the kind of glamorous dish you'd want to serve at a dinner party.
For an upgraded potato salad that even traditionalists will love, leave the potatoes in soft chunks, replace mashed eggs with pieces of jammy eggs, and swap the heavy sauce for bright pesto. If you're looking to spruce up your next potato salad, this simple recipe helps achieve a similar flavor profile with elevated ingredients — a tasty twist on an old favorite that's sure to make your guests go back for seconds.
Take your potato salad to the next level
We get it — some people have a soft spot for traditional potato salad. Maybe you have fond food memories as a kid, or your grandmother used a beloved secret recipe. That's why this pesto and egg potato salad works: It has all the essential components of the original dish.
Of course, potatoes act as the foundation of this salad, but instead of smashing them into a lumpy paste, leave the skin on those spuds, and preserve some of their shape for a firmer bite. Start with small, unpeeled potatoes, boil them until done, and tear them into bite-size chunks. This will result in beautifully soft, tender bites with a more complex mouthfeel than mashed monotony. The eggs in this dish are also familiar and get a similar treatment to the potatoes. Instead of hard boiling them until they're gray and rubbery, soft boil some jammy eggs for a moist, luscious texture, then skip the mash, and tear them into chunks like the potatoes.
Here's where the dish diverges from the norm, but don't worry, this swap still delivers classic potato salad zest. Rather than using the standard mustard, mayonnaise, pickle, and onion blend for a sauce, try a chunky, herbaceous pesto. You can make your pesto at home, just like the regular dressing, but this change brings a fresh earthiness to potato salad while incorporating capers for that signature spice. Crushed pine nuts even mimic the crunch of sweet relish, so this elevated pesto and egg potato salad is sure to satisfy.