“Store-bought is fine” is Ina Garten’s most iconic, accidentally shady catchphrase, and this time I’m really running with it. But instead of swapping homemade mayo for Hellmann’s, or dill from the garden for the kind at the grocery store, I’m subbing potatoes for frozen tater tots. Yes, you heard correctly — the kind that come in a bag and go straight into the oven. Some may say tater tots are too far removed from potatoes, but they work beautifully in Ina Garten’s potato salad recipe.
Originally published in her 2006 cookbook, the Barefoot Contessa’s “old fashioned potato salad” is one of those recipes that’s good to have up your sleeve. Made with boiled red potatoes, tossed with celery, red onion, and a creamy dressing of mayo, buttermilk, whole grain mustard, fresh dill, her recipe is simple, balanced, a little tangy, a little herby, and the perfect thing to bring to a potluck, or make alongside your dinner. There’s of course nothing wrong with it, but a recent trend had me convinced this “old fashioned” recipe could be elevated for the modern age.
The trend of using tater tots in potato salad can be traced back to potato company Potato Utopia, who shared a recipe for a Big Mac potato smashed salad using their Potato Crunchies product, which is the company’s version of tater tots. Creator Liz Miu, whose video on her own tater tot potato salad went majorly viral on TikTok, credits the Potato Utopia for giving her the inspiration. “I saw this originally on @potato_utopia and knew I needed it immediately,” she says. And judging by the millions of views and recreations since, she wasn’t the only one.
I assume all of these new recipes are delicious, but I just couldn’t turn away from Ina Garten’s tried-and-true recipe. So I made her exact recipe — same dressing, same chopped red onion, same fresh dill — but instead of boiling red potatoes, I crisped up a tray of tater tots in the oven, and it made all the difference. The texture of the tater tots not only add a satisfying layer of crunch to the dish, their ridged, golden-brown edges catch onto the dressing like a dream. The creamy mayo-buttermilk mixture clings to every nook and cranny. The mustard seeds and dill tuck into the crispy crevices. Every bite packed a ton of flavor, despite changing nothing else in the recipe.
Would Ina approve? Honestly, she might. Flavor-wise, it’s still Ina’s salad at heart, and she did say store bought is fine. Last I checked, frozen tater tots count — at least that’s what I’ll be telling myself.
Ina Garten Tater Tot Potato Salad Recipe
Ingredients:
- 1 (32 oz) bag frozen tater tots
- Kosher salt
- 1 cup good mayonnaise
- ¼ cup buttermilk, milk, or white wine
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons whole-grain mustard
- ½ cup chopped fresh dill
- Freshly ground black pepper
- ½ cup medium-diced celery
- ½ cup small-diced red onion
Instructions:
- Bake the tater tots according to package instructions until golden and crisp.
- Let cool slightly, then roughly chop or smash them into bite-size pieces. Set aside.
- Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, buttermilk, Dijon and whole-grain mustards, dill, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper. Set aside.
- When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut them into quarters or halves, depending on their size.
- Place the cut potatoes in a large bowl and pour enough dressing over them to moisten. (As the salad sits, you may need to add more dressing.)
- Add the celery and red onion, 2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon pepper.
- Toss well, cover, and refrigerate for a few hours to allow the flavors to blend.
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