Sarra Ina Garten’s herbed potato salad is small white and red potatoes boiled unpeeled, steamed, and tossed warm with white wine and chicken stock, then dressed in a champagne vinegar vinaigrette loaded with fresh dill, parsley, basil, and scallions. No mayo. It serves 4 to 6 and takes about 45 minutes including the steam time.
This recipe appears in The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook (1999) under the name “French Potato Salad,” and a variant called “Herb Potato Salad” aired on the Barefoot Contessa show. In the headnote, Ina writes that “everyone made American potato salad with mayonnaise until Julia Child showed us how to appreciate the freshness and beauty of perfectly cooked potatoes with green herbs and a flavorful vinaigrette.” She calls this her version of Julia’s dish, and it works best “in early autumn when the small potatoes have been freshly dug and they have a sweet flavor and a creamy texture.”
The technique that makes this salad taste completely different from a mayo version is soaking the warm potatoes in white wine and chicken stock before the vinaigrette goes on. That liquid soak does not add obvious wine or chicken flavor. What it does is carry moisture deep into the warm, porous potatoes so the vinaigrette that follows has something to cling to instead of pooling at the bottom of the bowl. Skip the wine-stock soak and the vinaigrette slides right off.
Ina Garten Herbed Potato Salad Recipe
Course: Salads, SidesCuisine: French, AmericanDifficulty: Easy6
servings10
minutes30
minutes380
kcalIna’s Julia Child-inspired French potato salad from her very first cookbook. No mayo, no cream, just warm potatoes soaked in wine and stock, then dressed in champagne vinaigrette with a generous pile of fresh herbs. The lightest potato salad she makes.
Ingredients
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1 pound (450g) small white boiling potatoes
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1 pound (450g) small red boiling potatoes
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Kosher salt
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2 tablespoons good dry white wine
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2 tablespoons chicken stock, preferably homemade
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3 tablespoons champagne vinegar
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1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
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2 teaspoons kosher salt
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3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
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10 tablespoons (150ml) good olive oil
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1/4 cup (25g) minced scallions, white and green parts
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2 tablespoons minced fresh dill
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2 tablespoons minced flat-leaf parsley
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2 tablespoons chiffonade of fresh basil leaves
Directions
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Boil the potatoes: Drop the white and red potatoes into a large pot of boiling salted water. Cook for 20 to 30 minutes until just cooked through when pierced with a knife. Drain in a colander, place a clean kitchen towel over the potatoes, and let them steam for 10 more minutes.
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Soak in wine and stock: As soon as the potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut in half or quarters depending on size and place in a medium bowl. Toss gently with the white wine and chicken stock. Allow the liquids to soak into the warm potatoes before adding the vinaigrette.
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Make the vinaigrette: Combine the champagne vinegar, Dijon mustard, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a small bowl. Slowly whisk in the olive oil to form an emulsion.
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Dress and serve: Pour the vinaigrette over the potatoes. Add the scallions, dill, parsley, basil, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Toss gently and serve warm or at room temperature.
Notes
- Choose white and red potatoes of similar size so they cook for the same length of time. Mixing both colors adds visual contrast that makes the salad look as good as it tastes.
Do not skip the wine-and-stock soak. The warm potatoes absorb those liquids in about a minute, and that moisture layer helps the vinaigrette cling instead of sliding off.
Ina says you can also use this recipe as a base for her Provençal Potato Salad from the same cookbook, adding tuna, capers, olives, cherry tomatoes, and hard-boiled eggs.
FAQs
Why does Ina soak the potatoes in wine and chicken stock?
The warm potatoes absorb the wine and stock in about a minute, creating a moist layer inside the flesh that the vinaigrette can bind to. Without this step, the oil-based dressing slides off the starchy surface and pools at the bottom of the bowl.
The wine and stock also add a subtle savory depth that is hard to identify in the finished salad but easy to miss if you skip it. You do not taste wine or chicken. You taste potatoes that somehow have more flavor than they should for something so simple.
How is this different from Ina’s dill potato salad?
These are two completely different recipes. Ina’s dill potato salad (the “Old-Fashioned Potato Salad” from At Home, 2006) is American-style with mayonnaise, buttermilk, two mustards, celery, and red onion. It is creamy, rich, and heavy.
This herbed version is French-style with a champagne vinaigrette, no dairy at all, and three fresh herbs instead of just dill. It is lighter, brighter, and works better in warm weather because there is no mayo to worry about sitting in the sun. If you want the creamy version, make Ina’s Dill Potato Salad. If you want the light one, make this.
Can you make herbed potato salad ahead of time?
You can make it a few hours ahead, and the flavors actually improve as the vinaigrette soaks into the potatoes. Store covered at room temperature for up to 3 hours, or refrigerate overnight.
If you refrigerate it, bring the salad back to room temperature before serving. Cold mutes the herbs and tightens the olive oil so the dressing feels heavy instead of light. You may need to add a splash of vinegar or a drizzle of olive oil to refresh the dressing after chilling, since the potatoes keep absorbing liquid as they sit.
What herbs work best in this potato salad?
Ina uses dill, flat-leaf parsley, and basil in her cookbook version, and switched to tarragon and parsley in her show version called “Herb Potato Salad.” Either combination works because the vinaigrette base supports any soft herb.
The key is using fresh herbs, not dried. Two tablespoons of each is generous by most recipe standards, but that is what gives this salad its identity. If you cut the herbs back, you end up with plain dressed potatoes. Chives, chervil, and mint are all good additions if you want to experiment beyond what Ina specifies.
What should you serve herbed potato salad with?
Ina designed this as a French-style side dish, and it pairs naturally with grilled or roasted proteins where a heavy mayo salad would feel wrong. Grilled fish, roast chicken, and seared steak all work because the light vinaigrette does not compete with the main course.
For a summer cookout, set this alongside Ina’s Confetti Corn Salad for two complementary sides that cover different textures and flavors. The warm, buttery corn contrasts with the cool, herbed potatoes, and both are simple enough that neither one takes attention away from whatever is on the grill.
