Bacon O’Brien Potato Salad

Potato salad made with hash browns isn’t a new idea.  However, I have to admit I wasn’t aware of it. This recipe was put together while I was “smoking” a whole chicken on my new baby pit. (Sold as a table-top grill or side fire-box for a larger grill.) I’m still working out some of the kinks of using a small pit vs. the large pit we’ve had for several years, and the skin on the chicken breast stuck to the foil pan it was in. Since it wasn’t quite done yet, it was necessary to provide some protection for the breast meat.

Enter bacon. Two slices, cut in half, provided the coverage my chicken breast needed. But what to do with the bacon afterward? Sure, it could have just been eaten later. However, I needed a side dish. I had hash browns in the freezer. A cheesy casserole made with the potatoes and bacon would have been good. I just didn’t have enough cheese. (It’s time to go grocery shopping.)  I did have the ingredients to make potato salad, though.

Potato salad isn’t something I make from scratch very often because of all the prep. Thanks to hash browns, I will never buy the deli stuff again. There aren’t very many of those I’ve liked enough to buy a second time, mostly because of the dressing. We don’t care so much for salads heavy on vinegar. Making your own means it can be customized the way you like it. Potato salad should have some tang, and a buttermilk dressing provides acidity without being harsh. It’s also tasty with bacon. If you use the O’Brien potatoes, diced bell pepper and onion are included. They give your salad a fresh element, but if you like pickle relish it can be added. Since I wanted to tame the acidity a bit, it wasn’t included. Prepared yellow mustard has vinegar in it too. It provided some additional bite without overwhelming the flavor of the bacon or veggies.

1 Pkg. O’Brien Potatoes

2-4 Hard Boiled Eggs, diced

2 Slices Bacon, crumbled

¾ c. Mayonnaise

½ c. Plain Yogurt (not low-fat, not Greek)

3 tbsp. Yellow Mustard

1 tbsp. Ranch Dressing Mix

½ tsp. Celery Seeds

Salt & pepper to taste

Prepare a ½ sheet pan with foil and cooking spray.  Spread the package of frozen potatoes/veggies evenly over the pan and place in cold oven. Set temp at 450°F. Leave the potatoes in the oven long enough to warm up and dry out a bit. Stir periodically and keep an eye on them. They may need to be removed before the oven reaches temp.

Set potatoes aside to cool and use remaining ingredients to make dressing in a large bowl. If you put foil on a sheet pan, you can pick up the foil and pour the potatoes into the bowl. Pull the long edges together and use both hands to lift. Combine thoroughly, cover and refrigerate. (It may look like you have too much dressing, but the potatoes will absorb a lot of the liquid.) Allow to sit for at least an hour.

I would say this makes 6-8 servings. For a larger crowd, doubling or tripling doesn’t require complicated math like a baking recipe. So, go forth and make potato salad!

Though I mentioned buttermilk dressing, you will notice plain yogurt in this recipe. If you’re having any digestive issues like bloating, irregularity, or the symptoms of IBS, take a close look at the ingredient list of the foods you consume. Carrageenan is an additive found in some dairy products and many non-dairy substitutes to provide a creamy mouth feel. However, it doesn’t agree with everyone. Cultured buttermilk is just one of many products where you will find it. Rather than making “buttermilk” with milk and an acid, I use whole milk plain yogurt (2 ingredients - milk and culture) as a substitute. For recipes like quick breads, pancakes or waffles I combine yogurt and milk. A half & half ratio is a good rule of thumb. Exp:. For 1 ½ cups of buttermilk use ¾ c. each of yogurt and milk. Besides giving you the consistency of store-bought buttermilk, it’s faster. Milk with an acid added to it needs at least 5 minutes to curdle. Put your yogurt and milk in a liquids measuring cup and beat it with a whisk. Viola! Buttermilk in less than 2 minutes. Put the yogurt in first. It’s OK if it isn’t an exact measurement. Just top off with milk to the amount needed and combine.

I used this green gadget to dice my hard-boiled eggs.

I used to have an egg slicer with the wires you push down through the egg.

It was starting to show its age though, and some wires broke recently.

While making my potato salad, I found this item in my utensil drawer.

My husband used to be an orchestra teacher and I think it came
from one of his fundraisers.

Hard-boiled eggs can be slippery.

This little number did a decent job of keeping my eggs where I wanted them

while slicing with a paring knife.

The Project Queen