Your Potato Salad Is Missing This Beloved Creamy Mix-In That Adds Better Flavor And Texture

Potato salad and mayo are such a familiar pair that swapping out the mayo can sound a little risky. Cottage cheese, though, makes a surprising amount of sense. It's creamy, mild, and just tangy enough to fit in with mustard, dill, pickles, onion, and the other flavors that usually show up in potato salad. You can use it on its own if you want to skip mayo entirely, or mix the two together if you'd rather keep some of that classic richness. There's no need to treat it like an all-or-nothing swap.

Texture is where cottage cheese gives you a little more room to play. Straight from the container, the curds add some extra bite throughout the salad. If you'd rather have something closer to a traditional creamy dressing, blend the cottage cheese until smooth before mixing it with the potatoes. Full-fat cottage cheese will give you a richer result, while lower-fat varieties can feel a little lighter. Dijon, lemon juice, herbs, or pickle brine can help round out the dressing, too. And that slight tang that cottage cheese adds is because it's a cultured dairy product, and starter cultures produce lactic acid during fermentation.

Red potatoes or Yukon Golds are both good choices for potato salad because they hold their shape well enough for the dish without turning to mush. Let them drain well after cooking, then season them while they're still warm. Seasoning the potatoes before they cool gives them a chance to absorb more flavor before the creamy dressing goes in. Alton Brown, for example, tosses cooked red potatoes with apple cider vinegar before chilling them. Once they've cooled a bit (so the dairy won't curdle), fold in the cottage cheese as-is or in dressing form, however you'd like to use it, along with crunchy or sharp add-ins like celery, scallions, chopped pickles, or red onion.

Fresh dill or parsley can bring in a fresher note, while mustard or a splash of pickle brine adds some extra sharpness. Just taste as you go, since cottage cheese and pickles can both bring plenty of salt on their own. Giving the finished salad some time in the fridge can help the flavors of ingredients like mustard, onion, herbs, and pickles settle in and come through the creaminess of the cottage cheese before serving, too.