Bacon and Shallot Potato Salad Recipe (2024)

Deglaze the pan with vinegar (after taking out the shallots and bacon drippings) and add to the dressing.

You should always sprinkle the warm potatoes with vinegar once you cut them up. Makes a huge difference. You could also put a teaspoon or so of sugar as you caramelize the shallots and then deglaze with red wine or sherry vinegar and even add some hard boiled eggs.

Cooked bacon in the oven with red onions. It was excellent!

Excellent potato salad and very easy to make, but hard to believe nutritional analysis with bacon fat/drippings going into final salad...I have made twice and been pouring off and discarding a large proportion of the bacon fat with greater residual comfort in my coronary arteries. I like the suggestions of others using the oven to cook bacon and onions to avoid heavy hit of bacon grease.

I made this for a small group, including children who hate potato salad. Everyone loved it. Very simple. I cooked the bacon in a very hot oven, and poured the fat into a frying pan to sautée the shallots. I let it sit at room temp for about four hours before serving. Delicious.

Very tasty. Easy to make and hold at room temperature. Totally outside my comfort zone but I had the bacon, for some reason, and I have to admit this was a good way to use it. It was devoured.

Made ahead, the night before. Reheated in the microwave and added tarragon in place of the parsley. Incorporated the crisp bacon right before serving. It was a hit! Will definitely make again!

Delicious salad, as challenging as it was! A good way to deal with the boring inside of a boiled potato is by cooking it in water ideally as salty as the ocean–35 g/L, or 3.5%Caramelizing the shallot in the fat with 1/2 teaspoon sugar for at least 5 minutes also made a difference. Deglazing the skillet with vinegar is also essential for a flavorful result. This morning I ate mine with a poached egg on top, which basically turned it into an amazing breakfast meal.

I didn't have shallots handy, so substituted sweet yellow onion and still came out great!

I think everybody else's comments are crazy. This was perfect as-is. Tons of flavor and you don't need more vinegar because there's so much mustard - mustard has vinegar!

How about suggesting using a cloth towel, clean, of course, on which to drain the bacon? We are killing our planet using paper towels and, of course, plastic.

Then you have to wash that greasy cloth, using detergent, electricity, and who knows what else. Do you use paper in your bathroom?

I just made this for a small get-together. It was good but no one was raving about it. I probably won't make it again.

I tried this recipe over Memorial Day weekend. I was very disappointed. It was dry and had no flavor despite the bacon, bacon grease, and shallots.

Vegetarian version with Benevolent Bacon (cooked in one Tbs of butter) was very good. Cut the recipe in half and it was easy and relatively quick to make.

Very good potato salad. Was looking to use up some bacon, and this was perfect. I used Yukon Gold potatoes and Creole mustard. Delicious! This is a keeper.

This is absolutely excellent, and quite easy! Made precisely as called for. The only thing I would do differently next time I make it (and there WILL be a next time) is made extra of the sauce - because it is so delicious, and the potatoes can handle it. Highly recommend.

I had no shallots so I used ramps with this and sautéd I was like the white part briefly. I sliced the green parts and used them as well. This was terrific!!

I usually adore Melissa Clark's recipes but wasn't feeling this one at all. Agree with another comment that said it was dry and lacked flavor. Tested it for an Oktoberfest party, and definitely will not be using.

Add more vinegar

I ended up with a 3lb bag of red potatoes, so I upped the recipe to 1 1/2. It was easy and delicious. I love that there's no mayo or eggs, which might make this a grill out potluck staple.

I doubled the potatoes and shallots, and used 8oz of a center cut no sugar bacon. I kept the dressing amount as written, adding just a bit of the vinegar directly to the potatoes which added a nice mellow bite. The dressing was just right for our taste.

If you don't normally keep bacon in the house, I've found that using bacon bits is a good hack.

Delicious. Like some of the others who made this, I added a few dashes of additional ingredients here and there. Some snipped chives from the garden because I had no parsley. A little spoon of mayonnaise because the mustard I had was too sharp, as well as a bit of fresh horseradish. I also had some left over roasted potatoes, so added those to about half of the boiled, and they added a nice smokey flavor. But the recipe’s fundamental blend of flavors is superb.

Easy recipe. I added 3 chopped hardboiled eggs. Husband loves it.

Made this with the recipe additions suggested in the comments and it’s fantastic. Added thyme and sugar to the shallots and tossed in some hard boiled eggs and scallions when mixing everything together at the end.

I don’t think it’s wise to hold potato salad that has bacon in at room temp beyond 20 minutes.

Awesome! So good. This was a hit at a 4th of july bbq that someone else made, and in trying to reverse engineer it I found my way to the NYT. This cook added gorgonzola crumbles to it; in making it myself I thought it was yummy without but it really knocked it out of the park with the added cheese. They also didn't mix in the fried shallots, they used it on top and they remained super super crunchy which was fun and a potluck lineup standout.

So good and simple prep. Thanks for the suggestion to sprinkle warm/hot potatoes after cooking and cutting into chunks with vinegar.

I had 1.5 lbs of potatoes and used 4 slices of thick bacon. Used about half of the bacon fat that was rendered and everything else as written. It came out perfect & it’s a great dish to keep out at room temp.