Japanese Potato Salad

I really love Japanese potato salad, one of the creamiest and eggiest salad there is. This is also one of the best incarnations of potato salads! Just like most potato salads, this is filled with eggs and mayonnaise. So, if you are watching your diet, maybe enjoy this salad only once in a while okay?

Japanese Potato Salad

What goes into a Japanese potato salad?

To serve four people, you will need:

• 3 potatoes (about 500 gram), peeled and cut each potato into 4 wedges
• 1 carrot (about 150 gram), peeled and cut into 4 cylinders
• 1 cucumber (about 200 gram), peeled and thinly sliced
• 1⁄2 onion (about 100 gram), peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and cut into small pieces
• 100 gram mayonnaise
• salt
• pepper

Best potatoes for potato salad

For potato salad, it is best to choose waxy potatoes. Some of the best potatoes to use include:

• Yukon Gold
• Yellow Finn
• red potatoes
• new potatoes
• fingerling potatoes

Use Japanese mayonnaise if possible

To prepare an authentic Japanese salad, it is best if you can use Japanese mayonnaise. My favorite brand is Kewpie mayonnaise, though I have seen other brands sold in my Asian market too.

In a pinch, you can also try making your own Japanese mayonnaise too with this formula:

1 cup regular mayonnaise + 2 tablespoon Japanese rice vinegar + 1 tablespoon sugar

Or, if you wish for a more complex flavor, and decidedly a more complicated recipe for homemade Japanese mayonnaise, you can try Serious Eats Japanese style mayonnaise recipe.

Additional add-on to a Japanese potato salad

My recipe for this potato salad is really basic. If you wish you can try adding several of these to your salad:

• 1 small fuji apple, cored and diced
• 1 tablespoon raisin, dried cranberries, or pomegranate seeds
• 1⁄4 cup diced ham
• 1⁄4 cup crumbled crispy bacon

Tips to create the perfect Japanese potato salad

The trick to a lovely potato salad is to make sure there is no excess liquid. And here are some of my tips to achieve this:

1. Pan dry boiled potatoes and carrots to remove excess liquid. Stop once you see the potato becomes slightly powdery.
2. Sprinkle cucumber and onion with salt, massage gently, and let rest until you see some liquid coming out from them, then gently squeeze dry.

If you follow these tips, your potato salad will not be runny at all.

Potato salad is great as is, or you can spread this on bread and make potato salad sandwiches. Many Japanese bento boxes also include potato salad, so be sure to make this when you plan on having a full-course Japanese meal in your home. ♥