Smoked potato salad with bacon is a delectable combination of smoked potatoes and smoked hard boiled eggs. It’s a great reason to fire up your Traeger grill or pellet smoker and is perfect for summertime parties and BBQs.
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Indulge in the smoky, savoury flavours of this smoked potato salad with crispy bacon. Perfect for a BBQ or potluck, this creamy dish is sure to be a crowd pleaser!
Why You’ll Love This Smoked Potato Salad
- Easy: Once you’ve cooked and smoked the potatoes and eggs, you simply have to combine them with the other ingredients
- Delicious: Potato salad is always a winning dish but this gourmet version boasts bacon as well as a beautiful smoky flavour which everyone will love
- Versatile: Not only is this smoked potato salad with bacon perfect for a gathering, potluck or picnic, but it pairs with just about anything as a side dish and will keep for several days
Smoky Potato Salad Ingredients
While the chopped bacon, smoked potatoes and smoked hard boiled eggs are the main ingredients in this dish, even more flavour comes from the addition of ancho chilli powder, mustard, garlic, hot sauce, smoked paprika, jalapeños, and chives. Some celery and red onion add the perfect amount of crunch.
How to Make this Bacon Potato Salad
For more detailed instructions, with weights and measurements, jump to the printable recipe card.
Smoke the potatoes: Toss them with oil and chilli powder. Place in smoker for a couple of hours on a rimmed baking sheet.
Smoke the hard boiled eggs: Add eggs to the smoker with the potatoes for an hour. Potatoes should be fork tender but still stiff.
Peel and dice the potatoes: Cut into bite sized pieces or large chunks if you prefer. Leave some of the skin on for a richer smoky flavour.
Make the dressing: Mix mayo with mustard, garlic, slaw dressing, hot sauce, paprika, and some salt and black pepper. Add in egg yolks.
Chop the remaining ingredients: Chop the egg whites, celery, onion, bacon, and jalapeños.
Add the potatoes: Add the potatoes and stir everything together. Let the dish sit overnight if you can, else give it at least 3 hours, then serve with chives.
Substitutions and Variations
Potato salad recipes vary hugely and everyone seems to have their own preferred method of making this iconic summer salad. If you prefer less smoke flavour, add the hard boiled eggs without smoking them.
Feel free to tweak the ingredients in this smoked potato salad recipe. You can adjust the amount of chili powder and hot sauce if you want to tame or enhance the spiciness. Diced dill pickles or dill pickle relish is a great addition and will add a briny tang to the potato salad recipe. A garnish of fresh dill is also an option instead of the chives.
Another idea is to sub sour cream or Greek yogurt for half of the mayonnaise or use another creamy dressing rather than slaw dressing. A substitute dressing of olive oil and lemon juice would also work in this potato salad recipe. Mix some fresh chives into the salad instead of saving them for a garnish. Or maybe sub cilantro, green onions or fresh dill instead.
What to Serve with Grill-Smoked Creamy Potato Salad
One of the great things about this dish is it pairs with so many different proteins. It is the best potato salad! Whether you’re grilling flank steak, creating a juicy roasted chicken recipe, healthy BBQ pulled pork, or rustling up some tasty turkey, you’ll find this easy potato salad is the perfect accompaniment. It is tasty the next day with lunch, too.
Storage Instructions
- Store: Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 3 days (Important: if the potato salad has sat out for more than 2 hours indoors or more than 1 hour outside in the heat, it’s safer to just discard the leftovers).
- Freeze: Freeze in an airtight container or freezer bag for up to 3 months then thaw overnight in the fridge.
Smoked Potato Salad FAQs
Choose fingerling potatoes, red potatoes, baby potatoes, Russet potatoes, Yukon Gold, Idaho potatoes, or new potatoes, all of which hold their shape and won’t disintegrate. Smoked baby potatoes are a favourite.
Yes it is, so everyone can enjoy it!
If you don’t have a pellet grill or an electric smoker, you can use a gas grill or charcoal grill with wood chips to add smoked flavor to the potatoes and eggs.
Smoked Potato Salad Recipe
Smoked Potato Salad with Bacon
Ingredients
- 2 Pounds red potatoes
- 2 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 Tablespoon ancho chili powder
- 12 eggs hard boiled
- 1 Cup mayonnaise
- ½ Cup brown mustard
- 1 Teaspoon garlic paste
- 1 Teaspoon hot sauce
- ½ Cup slaw dressing
- ½ Teaspoon salt
- 1 Teaspoon black pepper
- 1 Teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 Cup celery chopped
- 1 red onion diced
- ¼ Cup bacon chopped
- 2 jalapenos seeded, chopped
- 1 Tablespoon chives chopped, plus more for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat smoker 180 degrees F for 15 minutes.
- Toss potatoes with olive oil, ancho chili powder. Place on a wire rack lined baking sheet. Smoke for 3 hours. Add the hard boiled eggs and smoke for 1 additional hour.
- Roughly peel the potatoes. I prefer to leave a little bit of the skin on for flavour.
- Dice potatoes into bite sized pieces, about ½”to 1” each and add to a large mixing bowl.
- In a separate, smaller mixing bowl combine mayonnaise, brown mustard, garlic paste, slaw dressing, hot sauce, salt, pepper, and paprika.
- Slice eggs in half and add the yolk to the bowl. Whisk until smooth, or use a hand mixer and beat on low speed until smooth.
- Chop eggs, celery, red onion, chopped bacon, jalapeno and add to potatoes and add dressing. Stir to combine all. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours before servings. Preferably overnight to allow flavors to meld. Garnish with chopped chives.
Nutrition
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
This smoked potato salad with bacon is one of the best potato salads I’ve ever made. It’s based on the classic potato salad but includes plenty of crispy bacon and rich-tasting spices. It has a deep smoky flavour from the wood chips. Serve this at a BBQ or potluck and it will disappear – fast!
Make this bacon potato salad for your next cookout. Everyone will love it because everything’s better with bacon! This is inspired by a Puerto Rican potato salad is a perfect summer side dish.
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Bella Bucchiotti
Bella Bucchiotti of xoxoBella is a storyteller, food lover, dog mom and adventure seeker living on the Pacific coast. She shares her passion for recipes, dogs, sustainability, adventures, travel and philanthropy, in hopes of encouraging followers to run the extra mile, try new recipes, visit unfamiliar places and stand for a cause. Bella lives with Type 1 Diabetes and Celiac Disease.
Bella Bucchiotti is a freelance food, travel, and lifestyle writer for MSN and the Associated Press Wire.
I can’t wait to try this one! I love potato salads with egg in it.
This was SO smoky, I made it when friends came to visit and it was an instant hit!
I added diced dill pickles to my potato salad, it turned out to be sooo good! I am well pleased with the outcome, it was incredibly delicious! My new comfort food!
This was perfect with our prime rib. I loved how smoky it tasted. I added dill for a pop of flavor.
Love the addition of bacon – so flavorful!
Omggg this was SO GOOD. Used a little extra hot sauce and stone-ground mustard. Incredible! Will be making this again!