Best Ever Potato Salad (2024)

Best Ever Potato Salad is fully loaded with bacon, chives, cheese, and ranch seasoning. This recipe will become a family barbecue favorite.

This sour cream potato salad is my absolute favorite. It truly is the best potato salad! It’s the perfect side dish for all of your summer BBQs, potlucks, and parties.

I love spring and fall. Besides the gorgeous weather, sunshine, and flowers in full bloom, I love barbecue season. Now don’t get confused, I hate grilling, I leave that to my husband, theGrill Master. What I love most about barbecue are all the side dishes.

I’ve never had a traditional dish that I always take to barbecues, and that has always bummed me out. Do you know what I mean? You see, I have friends and family members that everyone always requests they bring the same dishes to parties and barbecues.

For instance, my mom is always asked to bring Watergate Salad, my dad, his 7-Layer Dip and Deviled Eggs.

Ingredients You’ll Need

This fully loaded recipe was inspired to make this dish after making my Fully Loaded Ranch Dip. It has many of the same ingredients:

• Red potatoes
• Sour cream
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Ranch seasoning powder
• Chopped fresh chives
• Bacon
• Sharp cheddar cheese

When you make this, I can promise you’ll be in love after just one bite. After devouring the first serving, you’ll quickly run back for another.

How do you make this recipe?

Cook bacon according to package directions. Once cooked & cooled, coarsely chop into small chunks.

In a small mixing bowl, stir together sour cream, mayo, cheese, coarsely chopped bacon, chives, and ranch seasoning powder {start with 1/4 cup & add more if you desire a stronger ranch taste, we use 1/2 cup, which sounds like a lot but once it is all together it is perfect}. Set aside.

Place potatoes in a large pot of boiling water, and add salt if desired. Bring to a boil and let them simmer for 8-12 minutes or until potatoes are tender or easy to pierce with a fork.

Drain the potatoes and allow them to cool completely. I rinse the potatoes with cold water to stop cooking and speed up the cooling.

Once the potatoes are completely cool, add the sour cream mixture; stir together to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Cover and set in the fridge until ready to serve.

If you want your potato salad a little less chunky, use an electric mixer and beat the potato salad on medium for 1-2 minutes. This will break up any large chunks and give you a smoother texture. I do this to make the potato salad more creamy but leave enough pieces to give it depth.

How do you store potato salad?

To maximize the shelf life of potato salad for safety and quality, refrigerate the potato salad in airtight containers.

Properly stored, potato salad will last for 3 to 5 days in the refrigerator.

Why Everyone Loves this Side Dish

My sister, who isn’t the biggest bacon fan {gasp, I know, people like that exist}, even liked it – eating more than one serving.

My kids loved it because it had bacon, so a win there! And well, I couldn’t stop eating it. You’d think I’m a big potato salad fan, but I’m not. Usually, potato salads are overdressed with mayo and mustard. While this Best Ever Potato Salad Recipe is still creamy, it’s seasoned and perfectly dressed.

Everything else I already had on hand, and I am sure you will, too, like the ranch seasoning and sour cream.

More Amazing Side Dishes

• Chopped Wedge Salad
• Cilantro-Lime Coleslaw
• Mango Pasta Salad
• Navy Beans

Don’t forget to pin this potato salad recipe to your favorite Pinterest board for later.