This Warm Potato Salad without Mayo is delicious, fresh, and light. It’s super easy to make and cooking potatoes in Instant Pot saves a lot of time. Perfect for summer picnics or any time of the year. And because there’s no mayo in this salad, it is also vegan and gluten-free!
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I really like potatoes. Mashed potatoes are my favourite. Plain mashed potatoes with warm milk and a little bit of butter, or “fancy” with herbs and yogurt. Any mashed potatoes is good for me.
I also love baked potatoes, piping hot with melting butter and some salt. My childhood summer favourite way was to have them wrapped in foil and “baked” in ashes in a nice big fire pit during cool summer nights under the stars. They were piping hot and unwrapping them was always an interesting activity with a lot of burnt fingers.
For years, when new potatoes were in season my mom made a big pot of small new potatoes boiled to perfection and tossed with lots (and I mean lots) of chopped dill, garlic and butter. And if there were a couple of filets of herring on the side then it was just pure heaven!!!
And then there are potato salads. The only one mayo-based potato salad that I eat is Russian Potato Salad. All other ones that I tried just didn’t work for me.
Warm Potato Salad without mayo, however, is a different game. It’s fresh and light and crunchy and slightly sweet and summery. It’s satisfying and filling, yet not heavy. It’s perfect for summer picnics and al fresco dining.
You could totally eat this Potato Salad cold but it’s just better when warm. It’s also very versatile and customizable with lots of variations. Since I’m using maple syrup in the dressing, the salad is also vegan and gluten-free!
Small new potatoes are now easily available in supermarkets year round so you could enjoy this delicious Warm Potato Salad any time of the year. It’s really easy to make and my Instant Pot Hack of cooking potatoes in Instant Pot makes this salad also really fast. Seriously, potatoes are done in under 10 minutes from start to finish!
Ingredients for Warm Potato Salad without Mayo
Potato Salad
- Small potatoes
- Cucumbers
- Radishes
- Dill
- Sesame seeds
Dressing
- Sunflower oil
- Sesame oil
- Lemon juice
- Maple syrup
- Salt and pepper to taste
How to make Warm Potato Salad
This salad has an extra step of pan-frying the boiled potatoes. I prefer my cooking to be without extra steps but this is something I highly recommend. Lightly crisped potatoes add a delicious texture to this salad.
- Make the dressing by mixing all the ingredients in a small jar or a bowl.
- Thinly slice the cucumbers.
- Thinly slice the radishes.
- Chop the dill.
- Boil the potatoes.
- Lightly pan-fry the potatoes to get them slightly crispy.
- Mix everything together while the potatoes are still warm and add the sesame seeds.
How to cook potatoes in Instant Pot
You can boil the potatoes or microwave them if you have a microwave. My favourite way to cook the potatoes is in Instant Pot. It is easy and super convenient, I don’t have to wait for the water to come to boil and then watch the pot to make sure that water doesn’t over boil. Making potatoes in Instant Pot is also super fast. Faster than on the stove.
- Halve the small potatoes.
- Add the potatoes to your Instant Pot.
- Pour half cup water over the potatoes.
- Cook on High Pressure for 3 minutes.
- Then do a Quick Release.
Half a cup of water with the potatoes will take less than 5 minutes to come to pressure, but let’s say it’s 5 minutes, then add 3 minutes cooking time and 1 minute release time. You get the potatoes cooked in less than 10 minutes! That’s fast!
Note: I have a feeling that they would most likely be ready in 2 minutes also but I haven’t tried myself. If you try, please let me know.
Ingredients and Variations for Warm Potato Salad
- Potatoes
- Small new potatoes are delicious and slightly sweet and perfect for this salad.
- However, you can use regular potatoes, just peel them and cut into about 1-inch pieces, similar to the size of a half new potato.
- Dill
- Potatoes and dill are a very classic combination, at least that’s how we ate potatoes in Russia when I was growing up.
- You can use your favourite herbs or a combination of herbs: parsley, cilantro, basil, tarragon, oregano, etc.
- Cucumber and Radishes
- These are essential in the salad so I wouldn’t really omit them. You could use more or less of them if you’d like.
- Sesame oil
- Sesame oil compliments the toastiness (is it a word?) of the crisp potatoes really well, so I wouldn’t omit this ingredient.
- But you do want to use a very strong Sesame Oil. I recently purchased sesame oil from well-known brand for Asian ingredients and the oil is not strong enough for my taste.
- Sesame seeds
- I am a big advocate for changing up the ingredients and adapting recipes to your tastes, so, just like many other, this is also an ingredient that can be omitted.
- However, sesame seeds and sesame oil pair so well together (obviously) and they add a fun texture to this Potato Salad.
- You can use pine nuts if you’d like.
- Sunflower oil
- Sunflower oil is another common ingredient in Russian cooking. We use unrefined sunflower oil so it has a strong smell and taste of sunflower seeds. This is the kind I recommend.
- If you can’t find unrefined sunflower oil, feel free to use any oil that you like to use in dressings.
- Maple syrup
- I don’t eat honey so whenever sweetness is needed in dressings, I always use maple syrup.
- You could use honey or your other favourite syrup.
- Pan-frying
- I think that pan-frying the potatoes is what distinguishes this Warm Potato Salad from other Potato Salads.
- However, if you are in a rush, you could omit that step.
More potato recipes:
- Russian Potato Salad (Instant Pot)
- Vegan Potato Cakes stuffed with Mushrooms (one of my most popular recipes on the site)
- Quick and Easy Instant Pot Fish and Potato Soup
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Warm Potato Salad
Ingredients
Potato Salad
- 1 pound small new potatoes
- 1/2 pound small cucumbers (2-3 small cucumbers)
- 1/3 pound radishes (about 20 radishes)
- 1/4 cup finely chopped dill
- 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1-2 teaspoons oil for the pan
Dressing
- 2 tablespoons unrefined sunflower oil
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Make the dressing
- Combine all the ingredients for the dressing in a small jar, close the lid and shake well. Set aside.
Make Warm Potato Salad
- Cut the new small potatoes in half and cook until they are tender using your preferred cooking method.
FOR INSTANT POT POTATOES:
- Put all the cut potatoes inside your Instant Pot and add 1/2 cup of cold water to it.
- Close the lid of your Instant Pot and turn the valve to Sealing.
- Press Manual or Pressure Cooker button (depending on your model) and use the arrows to select 3 minutes. It will take about 3-4 minutes to come to pressure.
- Once the Instant Pot beeps that the 3 minutes of cooking are done, do a quick pressure release. This should take about 1 minute.
- Open the lid of Instant Pot and carefully remove the potatoes. There will be very little water left at the bottom of the pot.
Continue making Warm Potato Salad
- While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the rest of the ingredients.
- Thinly slice cucumbers into rounds.
- Thinly slice radishes into rounds.
- Finely chop dill.
- Once the potatoes are cooked, sauté the potatoes lightly for 5-7 minutes on a large pan until they develop a beautiful golden crust.
- Place the sautéed, still warm, potatoes into a large mixing bowl and pour the dressing over them. Warm potatoes will absorbe the dressing better.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
- Enjoy warm or cold.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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