The Best Creamy Potato Salad

We did a hospital tour this week. Labor and delivery at Aurora Sinai, walking the halls with six other couples who were all in the same wide-eyed state of paying very close attention to information about things they've never done before. The nurse giving the tour was great — matter-of-fact and kind at the same time, the way the best medical people are. I took notes on my phone. Megan looked at me taking notes and made a face that was somewhere between amused and appreciating it.

I'm making freezer meals at maximum intensity now. We're eight weeks out and the freezer is already full but I have it in my head that more is better. This week I made: a big pot of turkey chili, two pans of chicken enchiladas, a double batch of pierogi (spinach and cheese this time, a riff on the standard), and a pot of mushroom barley soup. I've labeled everything with masking tape and a Sharpie. The freezer looks like a very organized archive of the past three months of cooking. I'm proud of it in a way that feels a little absurd but also completely reasonable.

The Packers are starting to ramp up for the season — preseason games, training camp news, Tom texting me opinions about the receiver corps at odd hours. I sent back thoughts. This is our sport, mine and Tom's, the thing we've had in common since I was six years old sitting on his shoulders at Lambeau in October. It's the longest conversation we've ever had, measured over decades. The Packers are still good this year. That helps.

The small future-kid-conversations have begun. Megan teaches small fourth-grade at a small public school in Wauwatosa. The small adoption-vs-biological conversation is in the small early-discussion stage. The small five-year-plan includes the small kid-or-kids in some form. The small kitchen is the small place where the small future is being practiced.

The small Lakefront Brewery shift-work continues to be the small steady-paycheck. The small forty-hour-week brewery-floor job pays the small twenty-two-an-hour rate that the small Milwaukee-blue-collar-economy supports. The small benefits are the small union-decent. The small ten-year-tenure-target is the small career-anchor.

Megan is from a small Irish-Catholic Milwaukee-suburban family. The small Sunday-dinners at her small parents’ house rotate with the small Sunday-dinners at Jake’s parents’ house. The small in-laws on both sides have been the small welcoming-presence. The small two-family-network is the small extended-support the small newlywed-life rests on.

Megan and Jake married in June 2024. The small newlywed-rhythm is in its small second year. The small two-bedroom rental on the small east-side of Milwaukee continues to be the small first-home. The small thirty-year-mortgage-eventually-someday is the small five-year-goal. The small marriage is the small foundation the small life is being built on.

The small Polish-American heritage is the small kitchen-identity. The small pierogi-recipe-cards from Babcia Helen (Jake’s grandmother who passed in 2018, who had lived two blocks from the small Bay-View family-house) is the small monthly-Saturday-tradition. The small kielbasa-and-sauerkraut. The small bigos. The small recipes that came over from the small Krakow-region in the small 1910s.

The small Milwaukee-winter is the small six-month-condition. The small cold-weather-comfort-food rotation runs October through April. The small soups, the small stews, the small braises, the small heavy-baked-goods. The small Midwestern-comfort-vocabulary is the small kitchen-language.

The turkey chili and enchiladas are stacked and labeled, the pierogi are wrapped tight in the back corner, and at some point in the middle of all that cooking I remembered that you can’t eat out of a freezer every night — there are the meals in between, the ones you pull together on a Sunday afternoon when both families are coming over and you just need something reliable and good. That’s where this creamy potato salad lives for me. It’s not a freezer meal; it’s the thing that holds the table together while the freezer meals wait their turn. Babcia Helen’s kitchen spoke fluent potato, and so does ours.

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 15 minutes | Total Time: 35 minutes (plus 1 hour chilling) | Servings: 8

Ingredients

3 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
1 tablespoon kosher salt, for boiling water
1 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons yellow mustard
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 stalks celery, finely diced
1/2 medium red onion, finely diced
4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and roughly chopped
2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped (or flat-leaf parsley)
Paprika, for garnish

Instructions

Boil the potatoes. Place cubed potatoes in a large pot and cover with cold water by 1 inch. Add 1 tablespoon kosher salt and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce to a steady simmer and cook 12–15 minutes, until potatoes are fork-tender but still hold their shape. Drain well and spread on a baking sheet to cool for 10 minutes.
Make the dressing. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, mustard, apple cider vinegar, sugar, salt, and black pepper until smooth and fully combined.
Combine. Add the warm (not hot) potatoes to the bowl with the dressing. Fold gently to coat — some potatoes will break apart slightly, which adds body to the salad. Add the celery, red onion, and chopped eggs, and fold again until evenly distributed.
Finish and chill. Stir in the fresh dill. Taste and adjust salt, pepper, or vinegar as needed. Transfer to a serving bowl, smooth the top, and dust with paprika. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving — 2–3 hours is better.
Serve. Remove from the refrigerator 10 minutes before serving. Give it a gentle stir, taste once more, and garnish with an extra pinch of paprika and fresh dill if desired.

Nutrition (per serving)

The Best Creamy Potato Salad — The Midwestern Side Dish That Earns Its Freezer Neighbors