Ina Garten's Unconventional Cooking Method For Potato Salad That Isn't Mushy

Soft potatoes, crunchy celery, creamy mayo — the textural contrast between ingredients is one of the many reasons why potato salad is so delicious. It's important to carefully get the textures in a potato salad recipe right in order to create the unique balance that makes every bite so satisfying, and that starts with cooking the potatoes so they're perfectly soft — not over- or undercooked. Also known as the Barefoot Contessa, chef, TV personality, and cookbook author Ina Garten's potato prep method is the perfect way to ensure that your potatoes are the right consistency before you start mixing up potato salad. 

Garten doesn't recommend cooking your potatoes all the way through before you get started on your favorite potato salad recipe. Instead, she says that you should get started by parboiling your potatoes. While it sounds fancy, parboiling simply means to partially cook an ingredient by placing it in boiling water (or chicken broth, if you want to seriously boost the decadence of your dish) — you simply remove the food from the hot water before it's cooked all the way through. After you've finished parboiling your potatoes, Garten recommends steaming them to complete the cooking process. This creates perfectly-cooked, soft potatoes that are the right texture to support both the crunchiness and creaminess of the other ingredients in your potato salad.

Starting with the right type of potatoes is key for creating perfectly-textured potato salad. Waxy potatoes are best when it comes to holding their shape and getting tender without becoming mushy. There's a simple way to tell whether your potatoes are waxy — simply look for red or yellow skin. 

Getting your potatoes to the not-too-soft, not-too-firm, Goldilocks consistency isn't the only part of creating spot-on potato salad. Paying attention to other textural elements can help you create a dish that's not just flavorful — but also interesting, satisfying, and surprising. To increase the creamy factor of your homemade potato salad, go big by making your own mayo (add some bacon fat to the mix for a super-rich result). It doesn't take long to create mayo from scratch, but doing so can make all the difference in creating a creamy dressing that will set your potato salad apart.

When it comes to adding crunch to your potato salad, you've got tons of options. Adding crispy crumbled bacon (try sprinkling your bacon with flour before baking to create a super-crispy result), fried onions, toasted pine nuts, chopped carrots, or a sprinkling of toasted bread crumbs can all add a bit of crunch. Try separating your crunchy additions into two batches — one to mix into your potato salad, and one to sprinkle on top.