Spice up your next barbeque with this cajun potato salad recipe. Loaded with vegetables and dressed in a tangy cajun dressing, this cajun potato salad will wow your friends at the next potluck, picnic, or outing.
Cajun potato salad? Oh yes! Instead of plain, traditional potato salad, try this cajun potato salad recipe. When I think about the taste of cajun food, it makes me warm and fuzzy inside. I love spicy food, but cajun potato salad is in a league all its own. Cajun seasoning has a bold, spicy flavor with its subtle earthiness that adds a satisfying flavor to any food.
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The results are astounding when you pair cajun seasoning with creamy potato salad. So, let's make a tasty vegan cajun potato salad recipe to bring to your next potluck or barbeque.
The beauty of using any spice is adding the exact spice level to please the individual palate. For instance, I love it spicy. However, this cajun potato salad recipe tastes mild. If you want to spice it up, add more cajun spice. Remember, though, spice is easy to add but cannot be removed once added, so thread lightly.
What Does Cajun Taste Like?
Although many people make their own cajun spice blend, my favorite brand is Slap Ya Mama Cajun Natural Cajun Seasoning from Louisiana. Not too spicy and full of flavor, this cajun blend works with any dish. Use as a rub for grilling, smoking, or baking vegetables or tofu. Add cajun flavor to jambalaya, gumbo, vegan cajun pasta, or cajun pasta salad. Even add some spice to your Bloody Mary or beer if you dare!
Salad Ingredients
Whenever I make cajun potato salad, I choose Yukon Gold potatoes for their thin, smooth, eye-free skin and yellow-tinged flesh, and buttery taste.
- Yukon gold potatoes: Yukon gold potatoes' golden flesh is richly flavored and fairly firm and moist, with medium starch content. A perfect compromise between dry, fluffy russet potatoes and moist, waxy varieties, Yukon Golds are incredibly versatile. They're superb for mashing and in soups and chowders, and they're great for roasting and sauteeing, too.
- Green onions (scallions): Scallions have the sharp, somewhat spicy, peppery flavor that white and yellow onions produce. This makes them a nice substitute for small amounts of chopped onions, in a pinch.
- Carrots: Carrots are sweet, woody, and earthy with a noticeable harshness.
- Parsley: Parsley has a bright, herbaceous, and slightly bitter taste that serves as a contrast to emphasize the other flavors in a dish, similar to lemon zest
- Celery: Celery has a strong yet subtle earthy and grassy taste while Lettuce has a mild grassy and slightly sweet flavor. It brings a fabulous crunch to potato salad.
- Red bell pepper: Red bells are sweeter, not bitter, and often have a slight citrus flavor.
- Jalapeno: Jalapenos are actually mild in comparison to many hot peppers. Always use gloves when handling jalapenos. Remove the seeds and veins. However, if you want to add more heat, add a few seeds.
Salad Ingredient Substitutions
- Choose any desired potatoes; skins on or off.
- Use green or yellow bell peppers or baby bell peppers for a variety of colors.
- Replace green onions with red onions for a sweeter onion flavor.
- Fresno chili peppers are often substituted for jalapeno peppers.
- Substitute parsley with cilantro or basil for a different herb flavor.
Salad Dressing Ingredients
To make the dressing, start with vegan cashew mayo and add the following ingredients:
- Dijon mustard: Dijon mustard has a tangy, sharp, and strong flavor with a bit of spice.
- Yellow mustard: Yellow mustard has a crisp, tart-and-tangy flavor that won't be clearing anyone's sinuses with spice.
- Garlic: Overall, garlic has a flavor profile of onion, herbaceous, and pungent with slight sulfurous notes.
- Smoked paprika: Smoked paprika has a smoky and spicy flavor with hints of sweetness. Mildly hot smoked paprika does not have much sweetness, but it has some heat in the flavor
- Cajun seasoning: Cajun Seasoning has a bold spicy flavor (from the cayenne and paprika) with a subtle earthiness (provided by the garlic, onion, and herbs)
Dressing Substitutions
- For a nut-free option, use silken tofu or white beans instead of nuts.
- For a less smokey flavor, choose paprika instead of smoked paprika.
- Stone ground mustard is a good substitute for dijon mustard.
- Make your own cajun seasoning with paprika, cayenne, garlic powder, pepper, and oregano.
Next, mix the dressing into the ingredients by folding it gently into the potatoes and vegetables in the large bowl.
How to Make Cajun Potato Salad
- First, cut the Yukon gold potatoes into equal bite-sized pieces. Not only does this ensure equal cooking, but it also allows for easy eating! Leave the skins on for optimum nutrition, or remove the skins.
- Once cut into pieces, boil the potatoes for 20 minutes or until the potatoes pierce through easily with a fork. However, time may vary depending on the size of the pieces of potatoes; larger ones require longer cooking, and smaller pieces, less time.
- To cool the potatoes correctly, drain them in a colander and immediately run cold water over them, making sure to reach all the potatoes in the colander.
- When the potatoes are cool to the touch, transfer them to a large bowl and add the assorted vegetables.
- Next, mix the dressing into the ingredients by folding it gently into the potatoes and vegetables in the large bowl.
- As a result, the potatoes remain intact, and the potato salad is ready for refrigeration.
The flavors enhance as the cajun potato salad chills, so don't add any extra seasoning until after it chills for about an hour. Then, taste and adjust.
I served this potato salad recipe with a buffalo chickpea wrap, but this slightly spicy potato salad goes well with tofu burgers, vegan sloppy joes, and grilled vegetable kabobs.
Recipe FAQs
The boiling time depends on the size of the cut potatoes. For potato salad, we recommend chopping medium to large potatoes into large chunks before boiling. After they're cooked, chop them into bite-sized pieces: this helps the potatoes to cook more evenly and stay together.
The key to perfectly cooked potatoes is starting them in a pot of cold water where they're fully submerged.
It's important to let your potatoes cool before adding any type of dressing, whether it's mayonnaise-based or vinegar-based.
Tips
- Leave the skins on the potatoes for added texture and nutritional value.
- Cut potatoes into equal sizes, so they cook evenly.
- Use a vegetable chopper for a quick and easy way to cut uniform-sized vegetables.
- Allow potatoes to cool before adding them to the other ingredients and dressing.
- Once dressed, place the salad in the refrigerator for an hour or more, so the flavors develop.
If you like it spicy, try this cajun potato salad recipe at your next family barbeque or get-together!
Recommended Salad Recipes
If you love this cajun potato salad, give us a 5-star review and drop a comment below. We would love to hear from you!
📖 Recipe
Cajun Potato Salad
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds of Yukon gold potatoes cut into equal bite-sized pieces
- 1 bunch green onions scallions, sliced thin
- ½ cup diced carrots
- ½ cup chopped parsley
- ½ cup diced celery
- ½ cup diced red bell pepper
- 1 jalapeno seeds and stem removed, diced
Cajun Dressing
- ½ cup vegan cashew mayo or vegan mayo of choice or substitute nuts with white beans or silken tofu
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 Tablespoon dijon mustard
2 Tablespoons yellow mustard
- 2 teaspoons cajun seasoning add more only after chilling; then taste and adjust
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
Instructions
Cajun Potato Salad
- Wash and cut Yukon Gold Potatoes into equal bite-sized pieces.
- Fill a large pot halfway full of cold water; this allows the potatoes to cook evenly—all 2 teaspoons of salt.
- Then add cut potatoes to the pot of cold water and salt.
- Bring water to a boil, and then reduce heat to medium-high and boil for 20 minutes.
- Test potatoes by using a fork to pierce through the potato pieces. Cooking time may vary based on the sizes of the potato pieces.
- Transfer cooked potatoes to a colander in the skin, and immediately run cold water over potatoes, stopping the cooking process.
- Be sure to move the colander through the water, so all the potato pieces are cooled evenly.
- Now, transfer the cooled potatoes to a bowl.
- Add the diced and chopped vegetables.
- Then, make the dressing.
Cajun Dressing
- Make 1 recipe of cashew mayo, use a vegan mayo of choice, or substitute nuts with white beans or silken tofu
- Take 1 cup vegan cashew mayo and place in a small bowl.
- Add the other ingredients and stir to combine.
- Fold into potatoes and vegetables.
- Cover and chill for at least an hour before serving.
- Taste and adjust cajun seasoning. If you like it hotter, add 1 teaspoon at a time, but be cautious. Everyone has a different spice meter.
- Serve as a side dish with your favorite foods.
Notes
- Cut potatoes into equal-sized pieces so potatoes boil evenly.
- Rinse potatoes in cold water if you are in a hurry to cool the potatoes. If not, drain the potatoes and cool them completely before adding other potato salad ingredients or the dressing.
- For a nut-free option, choose store-bought vegan mayo, or substitute silken tofu or white beans for the nuts in the dressing.
- Use a vegetable chopper to expedite chopping and dicing vegetables of the same size.
Nutrition
Hi! My name is Kathy, I am a retired high school English teacher & vegan enthusiast and blogger. My entire blog is fully plant-based vegan. I truly believe what we eat & how we live determines our health & the preservation of our planet! 🙂
Jeanne B
Yes I did
Kathy Carmichael
I'm so glad!
JJM
"1 bunch green onions scallions, sliced think"
Should this be THIN or THICK?
Kathy Carmichael
Jen, thank you for the correction. I appreciate it. The answer is thin, but if you prefer them thicker, that works too 🙂 I hope you enjoy the cajun potato salad.
Todd Hebert
As a Cajun this recipe is an insult to my heritage. We're sick of people throwing "Cajun spices" (a term used by no Cajuns ever) into some menagerie of ingredients then thinking it's not an insult to an entire culture. "Cajun" isn't just recipes, it's an entire sub-culture and articles/recipes diminish our heritage and insult it at the same time.
Valerie
Sounds tasty - how much yellow mustard for the dressing?
Kathy Carmichael
H Valarie, 2 Tablespoons of yellow mustard. I hope you enjoy the recipe.