Warm Potato Salad with Bacon, Asparagus and Swiss Chard
You don’t even understand how good this potato salad is. A month or two ago, Ryan and I were out on a date. We had just discovered that our new home came complete with a very responsible teenage girl living next door. After our year of non-stop togetherness with four kids, being able to go out on date nights sounded divine. We found ourselves at Earl’s, a local restaurant chain we enjoy. Not feeling particularly picky, we ordered the seasonal special, which included a steak, together with a decent coleslaw and a warm potato salad, whatever that was. Well. It was phenomenal. Now, I’m definitely a red meat girl and I love me some steak. But for some reason, I just kept going back to this salad. The skins were browned to perfection, the bits of vegetables and bacon were succulent, the whole thing was just delicious. I knew I had to try to recreate this recipe. A few weeks ago I attempted it for the first time on an evening when Ryan was out. Not wanting to waste any (that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it), I consumed a rather large portion by my lonesome. I happened to mention what I had made on Facebook and several friends gently hinted that I might have a blog on which I should share such things. Subtle, ladies. Last week, I made it again since Ryan had missed out the first time. There were a few differences the second time around, namely that I substituted spinach for swiss chard (this didn’t really affect it, in my opinion), I used medium potatoes instead of the small nugget ones (again, not a big difference), and I added bacon instead of frying up turkey deli meat (mmm, yes, this was definitely the best change I made). Ryan agreed with me. This was incredible. He thought it was even better than the one we had at Earl’s. I know that the name sounds sounds a bit gourmet and I often shy away from fancy-schmancy recipes myself, but it’s really so simple to make, and not fussy at all. My 2-year-old liked it and the 4-year-old cleaned off her plate, so it’s definitely kid friendly as well. 
Warm Potato Salad with Bacon, Asparagus and Swiss Chard
Ingredients
- 8 medium red or yellow potatoes or 20-25 small potatoes
- 1/2 cup chopped swiss chard spinach is a good substitute
- 1/2 cup asparagus pieces can use 1 cup, if you really like asparagus
- 1/2 cup chopped cooked bacon from clean source of pork I've also used fried deli meat, like turkey, which isn't quite as good but still works well if you don't have/like bacon
- 1/4 cup green onions
- 1-2 cup to 3/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- 1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
- Sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
Instructions
- Roast potatoes at 400 F for about 15-20 minutes (baby potatoes) or 40 minutes for medium ones. You want them to be soft enough to poke a fork into, with brown, crispy skins. The crispier the skins, the better it tastes. Last time I made this, I didn't have small potatoes and in an effort to speed up the process, I cut my medium potatoes in half and roasted them with the cut side down on my stone baking sheet. This was serendipitous, because I had unknowingly added an extra surface that could be crispified.
- While potatoes are cooking, get out a frying pan and saute your other ingredients. First, cook up your bacon then set it aside. Drain out some of the bacon grease, and then use the remaining grease to fry your asparagus pieces, and once they're almost finished (they only take 5 minutes or less if your pan is already hot), then add the swiss chard (spinach, whatever leafy greens you're using) in for the last minute. You only want to wilt the greens, mostly, not cook them to death.
- Let potatoes cool off for a few minutes after coming out of the oven. I cut them in half to speed this up. In the meantime, measure out your olive oil, balsamic vinegar and mayonnaise. Start with 1/2 cup, and you can up it to 3/4 cup mayo if you feel like the potatoes are a bit dry still. Chop up green onions and add them to the bowl, along with your sauteed asparagus, greens, and chopped bacon.
- Cut the potatoes into bite-sized pieces (about 1 inch). I actually like using my kitchen scissors for this job, but you can just chop them on a cutting board.
- Mix it all really well in a serving bowl, add your salt and pepper, and let it sit for 5 minutes so the flavors can mingle a little.
That’s it. Serve while still warm. Though not quite as good, this salad still tastes great as cold leftovers the next day, if you actually have any left over. Enjoy!
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What a knockout combination – pinned!
Thanks, Dena!
This sounds amazing! It doesn’t look very mayo-heavy. Could someone tell it’s in there? Will hates mayo (but I love it). Pinning! Thanks for sharing the recipe! 🙂
Honestly, I don’t think the mayo is super apparent in this recipe. If you were worried about it, you could always cut the mayo down slightly and just use more olive oil for moisture. But I would try it as-is first. Hope Will likes it! Ryan and I both love mayo, so it’s not an issue for us. 😉
I make a similar dish without mayo but use feta cheese and a bit of garlic from the garden. I cook the garlic in a bit of butter. DELICIOUS!!! More of a mediterranean recipe.
Those are delicious sounding changes. I’ll have to try it with the feta and garlic!
Looks delish! Trying to upload into Plan to Eat but couldn’t…manual-entry worthy, though. 🙂
Aww, thanks for going through the effort! Hope you like it 🙂
Oh. My. Goodness. Just made this for supper (with my own homemade mayo) and it was stupendously good!! I love mayo anyway, and I love potatoes, asparagus and greens too, so it was a winner recipe for me 🙂 Thanks for sharing it! I used Yukon golds because that is what I had (may have been less greasy with a drier potato), and I used kale instead of spinach or chard.
Oh good, so glad you liked it! I do think that certain potatoes make it a bit more greasy than others. I had to make it with russets the other night, and it was definitely a little drier than usual. I personally prefer something like a yukon or red potatoes. I haven’t tried it with kale yet, but I really do think that almost any dark leafy would taste good.
Stephanie: Just read your Warm Potato Salad and will try it next week. Made a Guacamole Potato Salad y7esterday and am sure at least Johanna will like it because it has avocados in it and very little mayonnaise, also has lime.
Nana
My husband’s allergic to asparagus, any recommended substitutes? Sounds heavenly. Thanks for sharing!
Made this tonight for dinner – yum!
We didn’t have asparagus, and did have mushrooms and cherry tomatoes, so I sauteed those in place of the asparagus. Turned out great!
I really like the balsamic vinegar – never would have thought to add that.
Thanks for the recipe!