We love potato salad. Absolutely love it!
We’re also fond of it’s near-cousin pasta salad.
We get asked this regularly: How many pounds of potato salad do you need to feed each hungry person at your table?
We appreciate this is a “how long is a piece of string” question to some extent.
There are, however, some useful guidelines regarding potato salad serving. And pasta salad.
How Much Potato Salad Per Person When It’s Part Of A Bigger Meal?
So, you’ve got that tasty homemade potato salad and you want to know how many pounds of potato salad you need?
Well, first let’s assume you’re serving it with something else like pulled pork, baked beans, boiled eggs, etc., and not just potato salad on its own.
In this case, we think you need about 6-8 ounces per person for the perfect potato salad portion.
So, if you’re making potato salad for about 10 people, you’d want to make around 4-4.5 lbs. (That’s around 10 cups too).
Of course, if everyone eating is the size of a linebacker for the 49ers, you might want a little more potato salad per person. We’re offering an average serving size for someone of an average kind of size, feel free to go up to ten ounces and add extra potatoes to a serving portion as needed.
We find that with a large gathering, everything tends to balance out in the end and while some may eat pounds of potatoes by themselves, others will eat far less and it will all balance out. With a BBQ crowd, they may not need as much potato salad because they’re all focused on the meat.
It’s your call.
How Much Potato Salad Per Person If All You’re Eating Is Potato Salad?
How many cups of potato salad do you need when there’s only a potato salad serve available?
Well, here we think you should up the ante, serve the potato salad warm and make that classic potato salad with about 1.5 cups or even 2 cups per person.
In our experience, some people really love a good potato salad and they will ask for more and more even when everyone else has stopped eating, so it’s a good idea to have a little extra on hand for when that time comes.
What Should You Serve With A Potato Salad?
Our favorite use of a potato salad is to replace the mashed potatoes at a BBQ, it’s just an easier dish to get to balance when you’re eating off a plate outdoors, perhaps, in a slightly awkward position.
We also love to serve it with a rich joint of roast beef because it goes really well with a solid gravy.
If there are vegans present, it’s better to use russet potatoes, olive oil, and vinegar as your base for your potato salad (don’t use mayo). You can then put this alongside some oyster mushrooms and tofu to give the meal a bit more of a flavor profile.
How To Make Potato Salad Feed More People?
You can bulk up a potato salad by simply adding more ingredients.
Gordon Ramsay does a delicious potato salad with black pudding and poached egg.
But we love bacon fat, bacon bits, peas, corn, chickpeas, mushrooms, eggs, etc.
Just stay away from traditional watery salad veggies because they dilute the sauces.
And then add as much seasoning as you like! Yum!
Final Thoughts On Potato Salad Portions
If you want to serve potato salad to your guests, it’s pretty easy to work out how much you need for each person. Just follow the simple guidelines above and you’ll be fine.
If you’re interested in what else you might serve alongside your potato salad may we recommend the best Spanish cookbooks, the best cookbooks of all time, and America the cookbook?