Instant Pot German Potato Salad
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This Instant Pot German potato salad features a bacon dijon vinaigrette. It’s a delicious, healthy side dish that can be served warm or cold.
In honor of our recent trip to Germany, I’m sharing one of my family’s favorite German recipes. This Instant Pot German potato salad reminds me of the side dish we saw on just about every menu in traditional Bavarian restaurants during our travels. And I ordered it every single time.
While I love American potato salad too, there’s something special about the flavor of this German version. The sauce features bacon fat, vinegar, and mustard, and the chopped bacon gives the salad an irresistible flavor.
The secret to perfect potatoes for potato salad is the Instant Pot. After just 4 minutes cooked at high pressure, the chopped potatoes are all uniformly tender but not mushy. I can never achieve this consistency when I boil potatoes on the stove.
This potato salad is a little different from the versions we found in restaurants in Germany. Most of those used thinly sliced potatoes, and they tended to be a bit pureed and mushier. While the flavor of the traditional Kartoffelsalat was delicious, I prefer the texture of cubed potatoes.
I like to serve my Instant Pot German potato salad warm, but it also tastes great out of the fridge. It can be stored for several days in the refrigerator in an airtight container. For a hearty German meal, serve it with sausage and sauerkraut.
Instant Pot German Potato Salad
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 pounds red skin potatoes chopped
- 6 strips of bacon chopped
- 2 tbs diced shallot or red onion
- 1/4 cup white vinegar
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 tbs pure maple syrup
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Set the Instant Pot to Saute (medium), and add the chopped bacon to the pot. Cook it on the Saute setting until brown, stirring constantly. Once the bacon is cooked, remove it from the pot, but leave the grease in the pot. Set the bacon aside.
- Add the shallots to the pot and cook on Saute for a minute, until softened. Transfer the cooked shallot and bacon grease into a medium bowl. Scrape with a silicone spatula to remove as much as possible from the pot. Add the vinegar, olive oil, maple syrup, Dijon mustard, salt, and pepper to the bowl with the shallot. Stir to combine.
- To cook the potatoes, pour a cup of water into the Instant Pot and add a steamer basket to the pot. Place the chopped potatoes in the steamer basket. Seal the pot and set it to 4 minutes on manual high pressure. Once it’s done cooking, do a quick release and carefully remove the steamer basket full of potatoes from the pot using a pot holder.
- Place the potatoes in a large bowl. Pour the shallot/vinegar sauce over the warm potatoes. Stir to coat evenly, then add the cooked bacon and stir.
- Serve warm, or refrigerate until ready to serve.
Approximate Nutrition Info
Instant Pot German Potato Salad Price Breakdown
This recipe costs $4.93 to make, or $.31 per serving. Try this Instant Pot German potato salad for an authentic taste of Bavarian cuisine.
What are the green things in the photo? Chives? Green onions? Neither are on the ingredient list — how much did you use? Thanks.
The garnish in the photo is chives. You could also use scallions if you’d prefer. It looks like about a half teaspoon in the photo, but I do a different amount every time.
Can this recipe be doubled in a 6 qt Instant Pot… I need to make 10 lbs worth of potatoes for an event and I hope I don’t have to do it in 5 batches.
I haven’t doubled this recipe, but you should be able to cook more potatoes in each batch. As a rule of thumb, I don’t fill my pot more than half way. Also, you’ll need to consider the size of your steamer basket, and how many potatoes it can hold. Let me know how it turns out if you do try doubling it.