Make Plain Potato Salad Cookout-Worthy With One Italian Addition

If you plan on making classic potato salad for your next cookout, why not impress your friends and family by preparing this traditional side dish with an impactful, Italian-style ingredient? Whether you're making a classic potato salad with creamy mayonnaise or herbed potato salad with mustard and apple cider vinegar, there is one unconventional meat-based ingredient that is sure to give your next batch a heartier bite: mortadella. By adding some of this cubed, spiced Italian meat to your go-to potato salad recipe, you're creating a complex, one-of-kind side dish that packs varying textures and flavors all in the same bowl.

The Italian pork-based meat is classified as a cured meat, but it has small identifiable chunks of fat throughout its interior along with spices and add-ons like pistachio pieces, myrtle berries, and peppercorns. It stands out from other deli meats you might commonly find at the store — specifically, when identifying the differences between mortadella and a more classic grocery deli meat like bologna, you can visibly see the added ingredients in mortadella but not in bologna. Flavor-wise, mortadella has a more complex taste, which pairs well with neutral-flavored potatoes.

To level up your salad with this cured meat, simply cut small, evenly sized cubes from a large chunk of mortadella. (You can request a large piece at the deli counter of your neighborhood supermarket.) Or, you can cut ribbons from pieces of pre-sliced mortadella, which is usually available near the other sliced meats and cheeses in the grocery store. While you can certainly add mortadella to all styles of potato salad, consider using a lighter dressing to allow the inherent flavors of this meat to shine through.

Now you know how to add mortadella to your potato salad — the next move is to make it stand out as the star of the dish. The key is to dress your next batch in a simple vinaigrette and use a variety of ingredients to bring out the flavor of the meat. For instance, use quality extra-virgin olive oil and zesty Italian staples like green olives, capers, chopped garlic, and Calabrian chili paste in the recipe. You can also incorporate a flavorful cheese like aged provolone or a milder variety like mozzarella. To transform this dish into a heartier all-in-one meal, besides using extra mortadella, add in another style of cured Italian meat like salami or pepperoni.

You can also upgrade your next batch of potato salad with brighter, fresh-tasting ingredients like chopped cherry tomatoes, baby spinach, and minced herbs like Italian flat-leaf parsley and basil. Speaking of basil, to give your mortadella-style potato salad a whole new flavor, swap out the olive oil for the bold Italian sauce that's a game changer in potato salad. Basil pesto is not only creamy and vibrant in color, but has a bold and savory flavor thanks to its flavorful lineup of ingredients including pine nuts, Parmesan cheese, fresh garlic, and lemon juice.

Lastly, for a creamier potato salad similar to more traditional varieties, simply incorporate some mortadella sausage into your favorite mayo-based recipe. Or, go one step further and make your own variation of Russian Olivier salad with mayo, hard-boiled eggs, peas, carrots, and cubed mortadella sausage.