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Lighten up your next barbecue with this blue cheese and bacon potato salad! This recipe swaps the mayo for creamy Greek yogurt, and bumps up the flavor with sharp blue cheese and salty bacon. It’s an easy summer side dish that always disappears fast!
Everyone in my family goes nuts over potatoes. We eat them fried, covered with cheese, or mashed with copious amounts of butter and cream. Which is why this bold-flavored blue cheese and bacon potato salad is so refreshing! This potato salad uses plain Greek yogurt in place of mayonnaise, amped up with just the right amount of bright, funky blue cheese and bacon for flavor. I’ve honestly never had a potato salad hit the palate in so many ways in just one bite.
Reasons to Love This Bacon Potato Salad
- Lightened-up. Swapping mayo for Greek yogurt is my favorite potato salad hack! I use it in my Instant Pot potato salad and this recipe, and it works super well to add creaminess without weighing down the ingredients.
- Full of flavor. The creaminess and tang from the yogurt, combined with the sharp bite of blue cheese and smoky lean bacon is truly next level.
- Quick. This bacon potato salad with blue cheese is ready in 20 minutes. I love making it ahead as the flavors become even better after a stint in the refrigerator.
- Adaptable. If blue cheese isn’t your cup of tea, it’s fine to skip it! Leave out the cheese or replace it with something milder, like feta. This bacon potato salad will still taste delicious.
What You’ll Need
Here’s everything you need to make this fresh, flavor-loaded blue cheese and bacon potato salad. You’ll find the printable recipe with the full amounts in the recipe card below the post.
- Potatoes: For this recipe, I use small red potatoes and quarter them. The best potatoes for potato salad are waxy red, white or Yukon Gold potatoes. Starchy potatoes, like russets, tend to crumble apart when they’re cooked.
- Bacon: I opt for center cut bacon. This is a leaner cut, with the fat trimmed off. You can use another variety like smoked bacon or even turkey bacon as well, thin or thick cut (though I find thin cut bacon is best as it sticks nicely to the potatoes!)
- Greek Yogurt: This recipe substitutes fat free or low fat Greek yogurt in place of mayonnaise, for a lighter, no-mayo dressing. You can use full fat Greek yogurt if you prefer!
- Apple Cider Vinegar: I like apple cider vinegar for the sweetness and acidity it brings to the dressing. Alternatively, you can use another kind, like Champagne vinegar, red or white wine vinegar, or balsamic vinegar.
- Seasoning: Dry mustard and cayenne pepper, for flavor and a bit of kick.
- Scallion: Substitute chopped scallion with chives or diced onions if needed.
- Blue Cheese: Regular fat blue cheese or low fat, crumbled. You’ll find different kinds of blue cheese in stores, some more pungent than others. Common types are French Roquefort, Italian Gorgonzola, English Stilton, and Danish Blue.
How to Make Bacon Potato Salad With Blue Cheese
This lightened-up potato salad with bacon is easy to pull together in a handful of steps. Follow along below, and scroll down to the recipe card for the printable instructions.
- Cook the potatoes. First, boil the potatoes in water until they’re fork-tender. Drain and leave them to cool. It’s important that the potatoes cool completely, so that the dressing doesn’t melt and slide off!
- Cook the bacon. Crisp the bacon up in a skillet, drain any grease, and then chop or crumble it.
- Prepare the dressing and add-ins. In another bowl, whisk together the ingredients for the Greek yogurt dressing. Chop up the scallions while you’re at it.
- Toss and serve. Fold the bacon bits into the dressing, followed by your crumbled blue cheese and scallions. Finally, combine and toss the potatoes with the dressing, and serve!
Recipe Tips
- Cut the potatoes first. Especially if you’re working with larger potatoes, it helps to cut the potatoes before you boil them. They’ll cook faster, and you won’t have to fuss with cutting up cooked potatoes, which are more likely to crumble.
- Boiling times vary. If you’re wondering how long to boil potatoes for potato salad, the exact time might vary. This recipe can serve as a guideline for cooking smallish-sized potatoes. Depending on how small your potato pieces are, you may want to start checking them for doneness around the 10 minute mark, just to be safe. On the other hand, larger potatoes may need more time in the pot.
- Do the tenderness test. The easiest way to check if your potatoes are tender-cooked is to pluck one of the quarters out of the pot, and poke it. Use a fork, knife, or toothpick, and if the potato can be easily pierced, it’s ready to be turned into a salad.
- Scale the recipe. This recipe makes a BIG serving of potato salad! Perfect for feeding a crowd, but if you’re catering for less people, go ahead and halve the recipe.
- Revive the dressing. If you make this potato salad ahead, add only two tablespoons of vinegar to the dressing at first. Add the remaining tablespoon just before serving to moisten it up again! It’s also the perfect opportunity to give the potatoes a good toss to redistribute the vinegar and dressing.
Potato Salad Variations
A potato salad is such a versatile add-on to any meal! You can swap out and add in ingredients to suit your family’s unique taste. Here are some ideas:
- Different potatoes: This potato salad recipe will work with other red, white, or yellow potato varieties like creamer potatoes or Yukon golds. You can use either baby potato sized, or larger potatoes cut into bite-sized pieces. The only variety I wouldn’t recommend is Russet potatoes, only because these tend to cook up extra tender and may fall apart in a potato salad.
- Different cheese. Blue cheese really seems to be one of those ingredients that people either love or loathe. If you’re not a fan of strong cheeses (or if you’re making this to serve to kids), feel free to substitute blue cheese with alternatives like shaved parmesan, diced cheddar (like my cheddar ranch bacon potato salad), or goat cheese instead.
- More herbs. I use scallions, but you can definitely swap them out or add in more fresh herbs, like freshly chopped chives, dill, basil, parsley, and tarragon.
- Different seasoning. Omit the cayenne pepper, sub in paprika instead for a milder flavor, or amp up the heat with added crushed red pepper flakes.
- Skip the yogurt. You can easily make this recipe more similar to a German potato salad by leaving the Greek yogurt out of the dressing altogether. It will be a vinaigrette instead!
- Add egg. If you love your potato salad with egg, chop up 1-2 hard boiled eggs to add to the recipe.
- Vegetarian. Omit the bacon and substitute another plant-based protein like tofu or chickpeas, or toss in some walnuts for extra crunch!
Make It a Meal
Potato salads are so synonymous with summer, that’s immediately where my mind goes when I think of serving suggestions. This bacon potato salad goes well with grilled filet or grilled NY strip steaks (perfect with the blue cheese!), some roasted asparagus, and a nice Cabernet. A perfect summertime meal.
I love bringing this bacon potato salad along to potlucks, too. And 4th of July barbecues to have alongside stuffed burgers or Buffalo hot dogs and corn on the cob. The red potatoes, white dressing, and blue cheese matches the theme, too!
How to Store
Leftover potato salad keeps well in the fridge for up to 1 week. In fact, the flavors only get better with time! Store potato salad airtight and serve it either right from the fridge or let it come to room temperature.
Bacon Potato Salad
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. red potatoes small sized, quartered
- 3-4 slices bacon (center cut)
- 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt fat free or low fat
- 3 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- black pepper freshly ground, to taste
- 1 Tablsppoon chopped scallions
- 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
Instructions
- Place the potatoes in a pot and cover with cold water.
- Bring to a boil and cook until fork tender, about 12-15 minutes.
- Drain the potatoes, place in a bowl, and cool completely.
- Cook the bacon in a pan until crispy, and drain well on a paper towel.
- Crumble the bacon and set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine the Greek yogurt, cider vinegar, dry mustard, cayenne pepper, salt, and black pepper, and stir until well-mixed.
- Gently fold in the reserved bacon, blue cheese, and scallions.
- Pour the Greek yogurt mixture over the potatoes, and toss gently.
Notes
- If you are preparing the potato salad in advance, you can add just 2 T of cider vinegar to the Greek yogurt mixture, then add the remaining 1 T just before serving to moisten it.
Did you make this?
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Every time I make this, it gets rave reviews.
I’m so happy to hear this!
You are so festive! What a perfect treat for memorial day.
Thanks! It isn’t just desserts that can be holiday colors! 🙂
I love finding potato salad recipes without mayo! Mayo freaks me out so these are right up my alley!
Me too! Nice to have an alternative!
LOVE blue cheese, what a great addition to potato salad
Blue cheese is a great addition to anything, in my book 🙂 Well, maybe not brownies…
Interesting combo!
Thanks! It was really good!
THANK YOU! I feel the same way about potatoes! I hate when people say they’re bad for you–they so are not! Subbing Greek yogurt for mayo is a great idea.
I know! I love the Geek yogurt. I made this again, but with cheddar cheese, and realized again how nice and light it tastes, while still being creamy.
It is hard to not make my Grandma’s famous potato salad every year, but I agree, a healthy option is in order. Your recipe is perfect for this Greek yogurt lovin’ girl!!! It looks delicious:-) Hugs, Terra
Well, you gotta have grandma’s famous sometimes, but maybe every once in awhile, you sneak in something new.
This sounds fabulous.. blue cheese in potato salad.. never tried it! Will do now!
It was a great addition!
Love this!! I’m with you – not a fan of mayo soaked, hard boiled egg potato salads. But this is right up my alley and think even the mayo salad fans would like 🙂
I just made it again tonight, and even my mayo-loving mom was a fan.
Looks awesome, Brianne! Luv potatoes, and they shouldn’t get bad raps!! xo
Thanks! And thanks for sharing!