Nana’s Potato Salad Recipe + Bacon!

She’s back…and this time with a recipe that includes two of my favorites…potatoes and bacon! Check out RYG guest blogger Tracy Prather’s recipe for her Nana’s Potato Salad with Bacon. We didn’t grow any potatoes this year and we haven’t gotten off the grid enough (some would say at all) to have our own pigs for slaughter, but that’s not going to stop me from trying this one.

[Credit for featured photo above: bourgeoisbee via Compfight cc]

Word on the street back home in Maine is that my Nana made the best potato salad ever! I am obviously biased…but I think my Nana did, in fact, make the BEST potato salad. Growing up, everyone wanted that potato salad at any and all functions: cookouts, showers, family reunions…there it was in a HUGE stainless steel bowl. No one could get enough!

Moving to the South over a decade ago, I brought the recipe with me and have made it whenever it seemed right…which was often! I was ready to show people that we Yankees can make tater salad too! So far…nothing but rave reviews.

Last Fourth of July I had an idea that made it even better…if that’ possible…sorry Nana. One word, BACON! As the saying goes, bacon makes everything better…and this is no exception. My family might shutter at the thought of altering such a staple in our entertaining lives, but I think this is a change we can all embrace. I mean, it’s bacon people!

Ingredients for Nana’s Potato Salad + Bacon

• 3 pounds of potatoes (I like the small red variety)
• 3 eggs
• ½ pound of uncured bacon
• A small red onion or half of  a larger onion, finely diced
• ¾ -1 cup of mayo, not dressing! (Dukes is my favorite down here)
• 1 ½ tablespoons white vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 2-3 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 ½ teaspoons onion powder

Instructions

• First, cook the bacon using the instructions below *
• Boil eggs so they are done a bit before the potatoes
• Dice potatoes (do not peel) and boil for about 10 minutes or until tender
• Dice the onion and place in the bottom of a large bowl
• Add spices to the onion and stir
• When the potatoes are done drain and put in the bowl on top of the onion mixture
• Add the eggs
• Using a potato masher, combine ingredients in the bowl and add the mayo and vinegar. Mashing it will make it creamier so you need less mayo. Combining it all while it’s hot makes the flavors really come together.
• Once the salad cools, place in the fridge for at least an hour.
• You can mix in the bacon right before you serve for a more crisp texture or once the salad cools for an added bacon flavor throughout. I like it to be crisp, but I also love the leftovers…if there is any.

* Place the bacon on a foil-lined baking sheet, set the oven to 400℉ and put the bacon right in the cold oven. Set the timer for 15 minutes. Check the bacon…if it’s not real crisp give it another couple minutes. When it’s done, place bacon on a paper towel-lined plate. If you don’t make bacon this way already, get ready for a game changer! Or you can do it your way, I won’t ever know.

Great side for any cookout! Just ask anyone who knew my Nana.

Thanks Tracy!  I look forward to adding your Nana’s Potato Salad + Bacon to our family get-together menu!

Anyone else have a favorite potato salad recipe that you’ve added a bit of a twist to? If so, please share. It may just find its way on someone’s Memorial Day picnic table this weekend.

Take care all,