ROTEX Potato Salad

This dreamy, creamy, bacon-studded potato salad will be the star of the show. The crunch of celery bits and zing of green onions won’t hurt either!

This is not your ordinary potato salad, but let’s be honest, all of us have our idea about what makes THE perfect blend of creamy, crunchy, yumminess. In my opinion, this is the only potato salad recipe you will ever need…the holy grail of BBQ sides if you will. It has eggs, celery, onions, and of course, potatoes. But what sets this one part from all others I have tasted is the balance of savory and zingy. The Supreme Commander (our resident mustard-hater) loves it because it’s not too mustardy. It’s not too mayo-heavy which means I love it (mayo is not my favorite condiment). Both the mustard and the mayo are tempered by the sour cream and the Italian dressing which means everyone loves it!

No leaves in this salad…

Pretty sure this recipe will change the fact that potato salad is not often a go-to side in our house. The kids prefer hot pasta but will eat my pasta salads (I have 2 they like–Perfect Pasta Salad and Creamy Chicken Pasta Salad) and the Supreme Commander doesn’t like mustard, although it sneaks its way into lots of recipes he does, in fact, like (ie: cheeseball, Meatloaf Muffins, Instant Pot Mac & Cheese to name a few).

Chilean Salads

I have said it before, I didn’t grow up eating a lot of typical American foods. My stepmom often made salads but it was Chilean-style, in other words, a cold vegetable with a simple lemon, salt, and oil dressing. Always with slivers of onions too. Note to self: bring Chilean salads back into my life. The cooked & chilled versions: beets, cauliflower, french-style green beans, and the raw versions tomatoes or celery. Simple. Satisfying. Seriously good.

What IS a ROTEX?

Perhaps you are asking yourself what kind of potato salad is this or what is a ROTEX? ROTEX stands for Rotary Youth Exchange Program. Right after I graduated from high school, I went to Belgium as an exchange student. It was a life changing and amazing experience. Every year, the leaders of the program in Arizona hosted a BBQ for outgoing and returning students and this potato salad was always something I eagerly looked forward to. Hence the nod to the program in the name. I can’t call it anything else since I associate this salad with that gathering. No apologies from me. Deal with it, the salad is really that delicious so the weird name won’t matter!

Why you’ll love it:

• Make ahead–isn’t this one of the best things about BBQs? You can make the sides ahead of time and just concentrate on the protein and the people in the moment.
• Everyday ingredients–Nothing fancy here. **Personally, Italian dressing (both prepared and packaged) are part of my pantry staples list, so I always have what I need to whip this up. **
• Convenient–use your Instant Pot to cook the potatoes and to hard boil the eggs. I have 2, so I ran them simultaneously.

Plugged-in convenience: put your appliances to work!

This salad has a few things that need some hands-on time. Why not simplify your life? Use your Instant pot to cook your potatoes and hard-boil your eggs while you chop the celery, slice the onions, measure the dressing ingredients, and cook the bacon. So many appliances, so much love!

4-4-4 or 5-5-5 for eggs?

It’s funny, I looked up cooking eggs in the Instant Pot and got lots of suggestions for all the numbers besides 5-5-5. Not sure why. I use the 5-5-5 minute method. What does it mean? I will break it down for you: 5 minutes of cook time, sitting time, chilling time. 5 minutes of high-pressure cooking time, 5 minutes just sitting before you release the pressure, 5 minutes of chilling in an ice bath. Then to peel, I smash an egg on the counter and roll it until the shell is completely cracked all over. Then I pick a bit out and usually, the peel releases in one big piece. Sometimes, you get a stubborn one and you have to pick and pick to get the shell off. Using the instant pot makes the cooking and the peeling so much easier. Try it!

Some potato nuggets

For this salad, I used baby reds. I didn’t want to fuss with them while hot, so I cut them up beforehand. I wanted bite-sized pieces but I could easily have just halved or quartered the small spuds. Trivet into the liner, then 1.5 cups of water, then the potatoes. Pressure for 5 minutes and immediately do a quick release. Then drain the potatoes and put them on a sheet pan to cool. If you are making the salad the day before, you can just set them aside. I was in a hurry, so into the fridge on the cookie sheet they went! (Just a note about the IP for potatoes: I always do whole Russets for 15 minutes and whole sweet potatoes a few minutes less unless you want them really soft! It’s hot here, no need to bake the spuds in the oven!)

Several Shameless Shortcuts:

• use a bag of real bacon bits–no splatters or grease to deal with
• buy hard-boiled eggs–get a big bag of them at the warehouse store
• sour cream dip–as a different twist for the dressing. Oh, that is a next thing to try…French-onion potato salad (Civilian wheels are turning!)

Try it, trust me, you will want more and more. Your tastebuds will thank me. Your friends and family will beg for the recipe. You can confidently say, this is civilian salad at its best! Real Food. Real kitchens. Real love.–The Food Civilian