This Store-Bought Potato Salad Is Not Worth The Premium Price

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If you've ever been to a potluck, potato salad is one of the dishes you've probably thought to bring. And while there are countless styles of potato salads and recipes to go with them, you can save yourself the trouble of making a potato salad recipe and buy one premade at your local grocery store. We sampled and ranked eight store-bought potato salads according to cost, availability, and most importantly, taste and texture.

The store-bought potato salad that we ranked last was from Whole Foods. Whole Foods is known for a stellar prepared foods section with a premium price tag to match. Unfortunately, Whole Foods Red Bliss potato salad is not worth its price, nor is it worthy of consumption. As the name implies, the red bliss is a type of potato with a red skin that makes for an appetizing visual that pops through a white creamy sauce. Looks were definitely deceiving, though, after we took one taste. The potatoes were cooked well, with a firm but tender bite, and the dressing has a thick, creamy consistency. But the flavor of this potato salad was non-existent. We couldn't taste the scallions and bits of onions or the tangy, zingy bite of the mustard, apple cider vinegar, and sour cream listed as the ingredients for the sauce. There wasn't even a hint of salt, the most basic and arguably important seasoning of all. All we tasted was boiled potatoes covered in mayonnaise.

The one thing Whole Foods has going for it is accessibility. Since being bought out by Amazon, you can now order most Whole Foods products and have them delivered through Amazon, including the potato salad. So, we went looking for customer reviews on Amazon and found some equally disappointed comments. While some customers complained about it being "bland and tasteless," others thought the taste was sour or off. Most one-star reviews noted that the potatoes were undercooked and hard. One comment summed it up by saying, "Bland. No Real flavor. Potatoes were only half cooked. Weird nasty taste. Tried it multiple times, same issues. Cook the potatoes and get a new recipe."

While we would recommend jazzing a bland store-bought potato salad up with additional ingredients, there's no surmounting undercooked potatoes. You're better off making potato salad from scratch. We have a creamy dill potato salad recipe that's simple and as classic as the store-bought potato salads we tasted for our ranking. You can also up your game with this bacon, egg, and ranch potato salad with multiple aromatics, and a buttermilk, sour cream, and mayo dressing. If you still want the convenience of a store-bought potato salad, skip Whole Foods and head to a Food Lion or Stop and Shop for our favorite potato salad brand, Häns Kissle.