This Flavor-Packed Seed Is Your Secret For An Unforgettable Potato Salad

Some potato salads barely require a shopping list. Potatoes, mayonnaise, salt, and pepper technically make for a serviceable, if aggressively bland, side dish. Typical additions, such as celery, carrots, and onions, are also pretty easy to remember. But potato salad-enhancing seeds are less likely to be top of mind, even though they can be some of the most flavorful mix-ins a person can use. Mustard seeds in particular take the flavor of the classic condiment that you might already stir into your potato salad, and concentrate that essence into a more powerful little pod with way more texture than the everyday spread.

Although Dijon and spicy brown mustard are among the most familiar, there are plenty more varieties where those came from. It would be misleading to say mustard seeds taste like "mustard" in general, because you also have to answer which mustard you mean. There are also different kinds of mustard seeds with their own use cases. If you're shopping for mustard seeds at a regular grocery store or supermarket, you can expect to come across the fairly common yellow variety somewhat easily. Yellow mustard seeds are relatively mild, but with enough tangy, entry-level heat to make an impact amid your plain spuds and mayo. As easily sourced as mustard seeds are, they make for a unique potato salad that's far from everyday.

Yellow mustard seeds are about the same size as sesame seeds. They also often come in smaller bottles than the rest of what might populate your spice collection. That can almost make it seem reasonable to just dump half the thing right into your potato salad, but even these babies can overwhelm, so be a little more intentional about how you incorporate them. Start by adding about 1 tablespoon of mustard seeds to the potato salad recipe of your choice, and increasing to taste from there.

The easiest way to make those to-taste adjustments in a single batch of potato salad is to add your seasonings and other flavor enhancers to the dressing first, so stir together your mayo, mustard seeds, salt, pepper, and whatever herbs or other items you like, give it all a try, and boost this or that as you go. Maybe you'll want to toss in another tablespoon of mustard seeds, or maybe you'll be happy you exercised a little restraint. Once you have your binder just right, you can confidently coat the potatoes for a winning carb salad with a zippy twist.