Give Potato Salad A Sweet Crunch With This Asian-Inspired Ingredient

It's hard to imagine getting bored of potato salad, and you should never underestimate this cookout staple's versatility, which can range from the warm, German variety to the tuna-packed delights of an Ensaladilla Rusa. Among these myriad possibilities, one Asian-inspired ingredient will give your potato salad a sweet crunch while thoroughly proving that a little experimentation can pay off big.

Chinese water chestnuts are a more intuitive addition to potato salad than you might think — the crisp crunch these aquatic tuber vegetables add is similar yet distinct to more common ingredients like onion, pickles, and celery. But anyone who mixes a little honey or sweet pickle relish into their potato salad will know how welcome the inclusion of a little mild sweetness can be. Some even argue that fresh water chestnuts are far superior, with a fruitier taste and a texture similar to an Asian pear.

Though we certainly think fresh water chestnuts are worth searching for, most potato salad recipes that feature water chestnuts call for the canned, pre-cooked variety, which will probably be easier to find at your local grocery store. Using canned water chestnuts will mainly affect the potato salad's texture, whereas the fresh kind — which will need to be scrubbed, peeled, and boiled — will have a greater impact on the salad's taste. Whichever you use, it need be no more complicated than dicing the cooked water chestnuts, then incorporating them into your go-to potato salad (they would make a welcome complement to our creamy dill potato salad recipe, for example).

If you are feeling more adventurous, you could employ further Asian-inspired ingredients. A simple potato salad of boiled and peeled red potatoes, thinly sliced scallions, and mayonnaise could easily be elevated not just by water chestnuts, but with the addition of soy sauce, ground ginger, snow peas, bamboo shoots (also available pre-cooked and canned), or Chinese hot mustard, the distinct spicy kick of which hits like wasabi or horseradish. The soy sauce would add complexity with notes of umami, the ginger or mustard would enhance the otherwise neutral richness of the mayonnaise with some bolder flavors, and the other vegetables would provide further pleasing textural variance.

After consulting our list of 17 mistakes everyone makes with potato salad to ensure the best results possible, you are free to experiment with other ingredients. But remember to think carefully about what will go well together. While water chestnuts are a pretty safe bet — hence why they are so widely used in Chinese cuisine — other Asian-inspired flavors may clash with more traditional American-style ingredients, depending on your palate.