Skip Diced Onions: This Flavor-Packed Swap Takes Potato Salad To New Heights

There's a formula for a good old fashioned potato salad, which is probably why it has earned its place as a cookout crowd-pleaser. Some of the go-to ingredients found in potato salad include diced raw onions, mayonnaise, pickles, Dijon mustard, vinegar, lemon juice, and a hard-boiled egg if you like your potato salad with a Southern flair that rivals your grandma's. If you're looking for something slightly different to awaken your taste buds, switch up the raw diced onions for sweeter, caramelized ones instead.

While raw diced onions bring texture, crunch, and a bright color to the spud-based dish, caramelized onions add a sweeter, gentler complexity. The process of caramelizing onions is based on slowly cooking the chopped onions so that they release sugars and moisture and become extra flavorful. It can involve adding fat, salt, and sugar to enhance the natural sweetness. In this sense you get a sweet and softened batch of onions which pair nicely with the starchy and savory potatoes. The caramelized onions can be sliced or diced, depending on your preference in size. There are several herbs that can be added to the potato salad as well, including dill, oregano, parsley, and others to elevate the flavors even further.

One of the best ways to guarantee delicious results is to choose a fat that will unlock the best flavors. Butter is a go-to choice for caramelized onions that are extra indulgent due to the milk solids. Other fats to use include lard, vegetable oil, bacon fat, avocado oil, or olive oil. You can also combine butter and oil to get the flavor of the former and the high smoke point of the latter.

You can use a variety of onions when caramelizing for your meal. Red onions offer depth and a distinct bite, sweet onions have a gentler flavor, and yellow onions caramelize with a balance of sweetness and bitterness.

Another important step for ensuring that the caramelized onions complement your salad is to build the bowl with flavors that balance the palate. Other ingredients to include are stone-ground mustard for warmth and depth, garlic for a punchy aroma, and apple cider vinegar for a sweet acidity that contrasts with the sweeter notes from the onions and starchiness of the potatoes. You may also wish to add bacon for added saltiness and savory tastes.