Blue Cheese Potato Salad with Bacon

This blue cheese potato salad is so creamy, tangy, and delicious. It's loaded with salty bacon, tangy blue cheese, and crunchy red onions, and the mayonnaise-based sauce is so good. If you love blue cheese and bacon, then this potato salad is for you.

There's a BBQ restaurant in Kansas City that serves a killer bacon and blue potato salad, and this is my humble attempt at recreating it. Dare I say I nailed it? I gently mashed the potatoes before mixing them up with the sauce, which makes this potato salad so creamy and rich. It kind of has the texture of smashed potatoes, but thicker and in salad form. It's seriously my new favorite potato salad.

This blue cheese potato salad is the perfect easy summer side dish. Looking for others? Try our classic wedge salad, corn and bean salsa, or pesto caprese pasta salad.

Jump to:

• Key Ingredients and Substitutions
• Step-by-Step Instructions
• Expert Tips
• Frequently asked questions
• Serving Ideas
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

Key Ingredients and Substitutions

• Baby potatoes: Baby potatoes are little potatoes that come in a variety of colors, usually in a plastic bag. They are also called new potatoes or creamers. If you don't want to use baby potatoes, you can use yellow or red potatoes. Avoid using russets because they tend to be starchy and less creamy.
• Bacon: I think thick-cut bacon tastes best in this recipe because it provides more bacon flavor. Use whatever you usually enjoy.
• Red onion: If you don't like red onions, you can use green onions instead.
• Greek yogurt or sour cream: We use whole milk greek yogurt because we always have it on hand and prefer the health benefits of greek yogurt over sour cream. If you don't typically like savory sauces made with yogurt, then stick with sour cream.
• Mayonnaise: We use Hellmann's or homemade.
• Blue cheese: We prefer a mild blue cheese, but use whatever you usually love.
• Spices: salt, pepper, and paprika

See recipe card for amounts.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Add quartered baby potatoes to a large saucepan and add enough water to cover them. Put the saucepan over high heat and allow the water to come to a boil. Cook the potatoes until they're soft and easy to pierce with a fork, about 10 minutes.

Step 2: Drain the cooked potatoes and add them to a large mixing bowl. Roughly mash them with a potato masher or fork until they're partially crushed, but not smooth like mashed potatoes.

Step 3: Add greek yogurt or sour cream, mayonnaise, bacon, onions, blue cheese, salt, black pepper, and paprika to the potatoes. Mix until combined.

Step 4: Garnish with chives, fresh herbs, or extra blue cheese and bacon and serve!

Expert Tips

• Don't use a starchy variety of potato (like russet potatoes, for example). If you don't go with baby potatoes like us, then stick with another type of waxy potato (think fingerling, yellow, or red potatoes). They're creamier and the skin is easier to eat.
• Make sure your potatoes are soft and done cooking before removing them from the saucepan. If you don't fully cook your potatoes, your potato salad won't be as creamy. They should feel soft and be easy to pierce with a fork (there shouldn't be any resistance).
• Blue cheese tends to have varying levels of intensity, so try adding a little bit at a time, tasting, and adding more if necessary. That way you won't add too much and ruin your entire batch of potato salad if you happen to have strong blue cheese.

Serving Ideas

This blue cheese potato salad would be great served with:

• Air Fryer Blackened Chicken
• Traeger Grilled Salmon
• Grilled Salmon Bites
• Pan-Seared Marinated Chicken Breast

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📖 Recipe