Japanese Potato Salad

Japanese potato salad, or "ポテトサラダ" (poteto sarada), is a beloved side dish that's become a home cooking staple in Japan. It features creamy spuds mixed with a dressing made from tangy, sweet sushi vinegar and Japanese mayonnaise. A rainbow of mix-ins, including sweet carrots, pungent onions, crunchy cucumbers, and savory ham, sets it apart from its Western cousin. The best part is that it pairs beautifully with a wide variety of Japanese dishes, making it a popular item in teishoku lunch sets and a colorful addition to bento boxes. 

Why This Recipe Works?

• Adding a variety of vegetables, such as cucumbers, onions, and carrots, gives this potato salad a variety of textures and tastes, making each mouthful a surprise.
• Salting the cucumbers and onions gives them a crunchy texture while removing excess water from the vegetables.
• Cooking the potatoes until tender helps the edges melt into the dressing, giving this salad a creamier texture while ensuring each bite is well seasoned.
• Using sushi vinegar in the dressing balances out the creamy richness of the mayonnaise while giving the salad the perfect balance between sweet, sour, and savory tastes. 

Ingredients

• Potatoes - I recommend using a starchy variety, such as Yukon Gold or Russet potatoes, as these tend to melt into the dressing better. However, this salad will also work with waxy potatoes like fingerlings or red bliss.  
• Carrots - Carrots get cooked with the spuds, offering a pop of color and natural sweetness to the potato salad. 
• Cucumber - Salted cucumbers add a refreshing crunch to the rich potato salad. I recommend using a tender-skinned variety without many seeds, such as Japanese cucumbers, Lebanese cucumbers, Persian cucumbers, or English cucumbers. Corn is another popular addition to this salad.
• Onion - Finely diced onions provide a crispy texture and mild onion flavor to the potato salad. Salting them mellows the harshness of the raw onions. You can substitute red onions or scallions here.
• Ham - provides a savory and slightly salty element that complements the creamy spuds and sweet vegetables. Any cooked cured meat, such as bacon, spam, or turkey ham, will work here. Just be aware that different cured meats will have different amounts of salt, so you may need to adjust the amount to compensate.
• Mayonnaise - forms the basis of the dressing, and I recommend using a Japanese-style mayonnaise such as Kewpie brand. Japanese mayo has a more pronounced egg flavor that's similar to homemade. If you can't find it, you can substitute regular mayonnaise. 
• Sushi Vinegar - Sushi vinegar is a Japanese condiment made of rice vinegar, sugar, and salt (recipe here). Its sweet, sour, and savory taste balances the creamy richness of the mayonnaise. 

How to Make Japanese Potato Salad

Salting the cucumbers and onions takes the most time, so start by adding them to a bowl along with a generous pinch of salt. Toss the ingredients together to coat the vegetables evenly. The salt draws water out of the vegetables through osmosis and has three benefits:

1. Removing the excess water in advance prevents the veggies from making the potato salad soggy over time.
2. Salting vegetables changes their texture, making them more crunchy, which contrasts with this potato salad's creamy elements.
3. The salt seasons the veggies.

While the cucumber slices sweat, prepare the rest of the salad. Peel the spuds and cut them into one-inch cubes. Peel the carrots, quarter them lengthwise, and slice them into thin pieces. Place the vegetables in a pot and cover them with cold water, ensuring there's about an inch of water above the vegetables. Bring the water to a rolling boil, then reduce the heat to maintain a gentle boil. Cooking the spuds until they are tender allows their edges to melt into the dressing later, giving the salad its characteristic creamy texture. This will take about 15 to 20 minutes.

As the vegetables cook, prepare the dressing by mixing the mayonnaise and sushi vinegar in a large bowl and chop the ham. 

When the chunks of potatoes are tender enough to easily pass a toothpick through, drain them in a colander and shake off any excess water. While they are still hot, add the vegetables to the bowl with the mayonnaise mixture. Mix the vegetables into the dressing well. You don't need to use a potato masher, but you do want to partially dissolve the spuds. 

Next, massage the cucumber and onion mixture with your hands to extract any remaining liquid. Squeeze out as much water as possible before adding to the salad. 

Finally, add the ham to the mixture and stir until the ingredients are evenly distributed. Taste the salad and adjust the seasoning with additional salt if needed.

Serve it With

Potato salad is a popular dish to serve alongside fried foods in Japan, and it's often served alongside shredded cabbage salad. Serve it alongside Karaage, the crispy and juicy Japanese version of fried chicken. It's also a great match for panko-breaded foods such as Tonkatsu, Chicken Katsu, and Ebi-fry (fried shrimp). Potato salad is also a common accompaniment for sweet and sour Chicken Nanban, a dish from my hometown in Miyazaki prefecture. Finally, if you're into packing a bento box for lunch, try making this as a side dish for my Chicken Teriyaki Bento, Maple Miso chicken Bento, or Spam Onigiri.

How to Store Japanese Potato Salad

This classic side dish can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to four days. This makes it an excellent make-ahead dish for parties, potlucks, and when you just need to get ahead in your week.

📖 Recipe

Japanese Potato Salad

By: Marc Matsumoto

5 from 2 votes

Print Pin

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 30 minutes mins

Yield 6 servings

Equipment

1 Large Glass Bowl

1 Medium Glass Bowl

1 Spatula

Units

Grams + US CupsUS Standard

Ingredients 

1x2x3x

• 100 grams cucumber
• 35 grams onion
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 500 grams potatoes (peeled)
• 100 grams carrots (peeled)
• ⅓ cup Japanese mayonnaise (such as Kewpie mayo)
• 1 tablespoon sushi vinegar
• 75 grams ham (cut into ½-inch squares)

Instructions

Step PhotosNo Photos

• Slice 100 grams cucumber thinly and add them to a bowl along with 35 grams onion finely diced. Sprinkle ¼ teaspoon salt over the vegetables and toss to coat evenly. Let them sweat while you work on the rest of the potato salad (about 20-30 minutes).
  
• Add 500 grams potatoes cut into 1-inch cubes and 100 grams carrots quartered lengthwise and sliced ⅛-inch thick to a pot with enough water to cover the vegetables by 1-inch. Bring the water to a rolling boil and turn down the heat to maintain a gentle boil. Cook until tender enough to easily pass a toothpick through (about 15-20 minutes).
  
• To make the dressing, add ⅓ cup Japanese mayonnaise and 1 tablespoon sushi vinegar to a large mixing bowl and mix them together until smooth and creamy.
  
• When the spuds are tender, drain them in a colander and shake off any excess water.
  
• Add the hot potatoes and carrots to the dressing and mix them in. You want the outer layer of the spuds to dissolve into the dressing so that each piece is about half its original size.
  
• Use your hand to massage the cucumber and onions to coax out any excess liquid. The cucumbers should turn translucent in the process. Squeeze out as much of the water from them as you can and add them to the salad.
  
• Add 75 grams ham and stir the ingredients together. Taste the potato salad; if it tastes like something's missing, season it with additional salt.
  

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Nutrition Facts

Calories • 191kcalCarbohydrates • 17gProtein • 5gFat • 12gSaturated Fat • 2gPolyunsaturated Fat • 6gMonounsaturated Fat • 3gTrans Fat • 0.02gCholesterol • 13mgSodium • 341mgPotassium • 474mgFiber • 3gSugar • 2gVitamin A • 2.806IUVitamin C • 18mgCalcium • 21mgIron • 1mg