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This Vegan Potato Salad is a quick and easy recipe, using creamy avocado instead of mayonnaise. I love how it’s nut-free and oil-free, and that you can’t taste the avocado at all!
Using Avocado instead of Mayo
This potato salad gets its creaminess from an unexpected source– avocado! I love using avocado in this case because it keeps the recipe in the starch category for food combining (which may help to reduce bloating) and it means the overall recipe is oil-free.
If you aren’t the biggest avocado fan, don’t worry, you can’t taste the avocado once it’s mixed with the rest of the ingredients! I’m not the biggest avocado lover myself, but I love the flavor of this particular potato salad.
How to Make Vegan Potato Salad
This Vegan Potato Salad has the flavor of traditional potato salad, including fresh dill and mustard, but also has a lower sodium content thanks to the addition of diced fresh cucumbers, instead of using jarred pickles.
When allowed to marinate, the cucumbers become quite pickle-like, but feel free to add a few of your favorite pickles if you prefer.
Making this salad is as easy as it gets! Just cook the potatoes until they are tender, and while they cool you can mash together the avocado “sauce” in a separate bowl and stir in the chopped herbs and veggies.
Be sure to taste and adjust the flavors as you go, until it’s just right for you.
Keep in mind that this vegan potato salad will have the best flavor when it has the chance to marinate, so I recommend making this at least 2 hours before you plan on serving it.
Will the Avocado Sauce Brown?
I’ve kept this potato salad in the fridge for at least 3 days in an airtight container, and the potato salad still looks great! You’ll need to stir it again to reincorporate the sauce, but you can definitely make this a day in advance if you’d like to.
Ingredients
- 1 pound Yukon gold potatoes , cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1/2 ripe avocado (about 3.5 ounces)
- 1 tablespoon spicy brown mustard
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 teaspoon salt , or to taste
- black pepper , to taste
- 1/4 cup finely diced red onion
- small handful fresh dill , chopped
- 1 cup chopped cucumber
Instructions
- Add an inch of water to a sauce pan and arrange a steamer basket inside. Place the potatoes in the steamer basket, then bring the water to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, lower the heat and cover, allowing the potatoes to steam until just fork-tender, about 10 minutes.
- While the potatoes are cooking, combine the avocado, 2 tablespoons of water, mustard, lemon juice and salt in a medium bowl, and mash well with a fork. This mixture will be on the acidic-tasting side, until you mix it with the potatoes, but feel free to adjust any flavors to suit your taste. For a more "Southern-style" potato salad, try adding a touch of maple syrup for sweetness.
- Allow the steamed potatoes to cool for at least 20 minutes (preferably in the fridge to speed things up), then gradually add the cooled potatoes to the creamy avocado sauce. Stir gently to coat well.
- Place the potato salad in the fridge to marinate for at least an hour, so it can completely cool and the flavors can meld. Serve chilled, and store the leftovers in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is based on 1/4 of this recipe. This information is automatically calculated, so it’s just an estimate and not a guarantee.
Recipe Notes:
- This recipe can be easily adapted to suit your personal taste, so feel free to get creative! Use yellow mustard if you prefer it over Dijon, and use any other herbs or seasonings that you like.
- Yukon gold potatoes, red potatoes, or even sweet potatoes can be used in this recipe, depending on your preference– keeping in mind that the sweet variety will change the flavor.
As always, if you try something different with this recipe please leave a comment below letting us know how it worked out. We can all benefit from YOUR experience!
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Reader Feedback: Are you a fan of potato salad? Anything made with mayonnaise used to freak me out as a child, but now I love this stuff!
I just made this, with some omissions and substitutions, and its my new favorite food!
No onions or lemon juice for this GERD girl, so I left out the onions and used white vinegar in place of lemon juice. Also, didnt have a cucumber, so I cut up a celery stalk instead. It’s sooooo yummy!!
Easiest salad ever! I didn’t have avocado so I used mayo, delish!