This Healthy Potato Salad Recipe is a lighter twist on your favorite that you can feel great about! Make it again and again, everyone will love it!
Every summer when I have to cram myself into a swimsuit for the sake of my children, I question all of my winter choices. And . . . at the same time . . . I want to still enjoy all my summer favorites. I am of the firm belief that life is full of moderation. We don’t have to give up ice cream (especially in the summer) and we can still enjoy things like an amazing potato salad, especially if we swap a few things out to make it a little lighter.
Besides. Life is too short to not go swimming with our kids.
What Makes this a Healthy Potato Salad
Potatoes themselves are what contain a lot of the calories in a typical potato salad. Nothing to do about that. I refuse to boil cauliflower and call it potato salad. So, the next place we can look to lighten up a potato salad recipe is the sauce!
Though we are cutting back on calories in the sauce, we still want this healthy potato salad be amazing, so the choices we make with what type of potatoes to use and what other ingredients we use in the salad and sauce are key.
Lighten Up the Sauce in this Easy Potato Salad Recipe
The key to healthy potato salad is the dressing!
It’s such a simple recipe, but as I mentioned above, swapping out all the mayonnaise for some light mayo and some non fat yogurt cut out a lot of the calories. You won’t even miss them. The seasonings in this and the creaminess of the potatoes make up for it.
If you wanted to cut the calories even more, you could hard boil one more egg and remove the yolks from the eggs before throwing them in in the salad, just using the egg whites.
Why Creamer Potatoes?
I love using creamer potatoes in this healthy potato salad recipe. They are basically baby Yukon gold potatoes. They hold their shape while still being soft and delicious. They also have a medium thickness skin which totally works in this salad and is perfect for someone like me who has no patience for peeling potatoes for a salad.
Make Ahead of Time
This is a great recipe to make the day before. I would even go so far as to argue that when you make healthy potato salad the day before it is even better. The potatoes get a chance to absorb some of the dressing and the flavors really deepen.
Other Light Recipes for Picnics
As I said, eating light in the summer is HARD. Especially with all the fun BBQs and picnics that you get invited to. Here are some additional recipes that are perfect to bring to potlucks so you know there are some healthy recipes available.
- This Greek Orzo Pasta Salad is full of delicious and healthy ingredients and great for summer.
- If you haven’t jumped on the healthy quinoa train yet, do it with this Greek Quinoa Salad.
- And these Baked Zucchini Fries are the perfect side dish!
- This Broccoli Cauliflower Salad is a classic everyone loves.
If you make this recipe for your family come back and tell me what you think by leaving me a comment!
Healthy Potato Salad
Ingredients
- 3 pounds small creamer potatoes cut in half
- 2 hard boiled eggs (see notes)
- 2 scallions diced about 1 inch into the green
- 2 celery stalks trimmed and diced
Dressing
- 1 cup nonfat plain yogurt
- 1/2 cup light mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon dried dill (or 1 tablespoon fresh)
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- dash of pepper
Instructions
- Cook the potatoes by boiling them in water and cooking until just fork tender. Keep an eye on them because you don't want them to overcook. Mine took about 15 minutes total.
- While the potatoes are cooking, dice your vegetables and mix together the dressing, whisking until fully combined.
- After the potatoes are finished cooking, allow them to cool for about 10 minutes. Then in a large bowl mix together the potatoes, scallions, celery, and hard boiled eggs. Toss with the dressing.
- This salad gets better as the dressing soaks into the potatoes. Make up to 24 hours in advance and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
Notes
did you make this
Healthy Potato Salad
Carolyn says
Hi Lisa! This recipe looks like it would suit me. I have an unusual problem in that I cannot have anything with vinegar (ie. may, ketchup, dressings, etc.–and no carbonated items, or alcohol–had lots of radiation and everything burns mouth). So, I’m thinking of trying this potato salad and eliminating the vinegar. I have been CRAVING potato salad (any salad) for a few years now and was wondering what else you might suggest using in place of the mayo? I’ll just eliminate the vinegar, maybe add little more dill. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Been thinking about making something like this for a long time, and this is giving me the inspiration to try it! It would be great to have with Easter coming up soon — ham and potato salad! Thank you!
Hi Carolyn! A lot of recipes use Greek Yogurt to replace mayonnaise, but we are already using mayo. So! I did a little digging and another option was avocado. I think that would be delicious in this!