Make Store-Bought Potato Salad Taste Homemade With These 10 Tweaks

Whether you're making a quick dinner for the family or hosting friends for a party, picking up pre-packaged potato salad is an easy fix when you want to serve the dish but don't have the time to make it from scratch. Some store-bought potato salads are better than others, but they can almost always use a few extra ingredients to give them a more homemade-style flavor profile.

There are plenty of tips for boosting potato salad's flavor that you can pull right from homemade recipes. In most cases, it involves the addition of ingredients, whether to add crunch to a salad that's soft, acidity to one that's too rich, or balance to a salad that's too tangy. Seasonings are always a good idea, but we're skipping the typical seasoning suggestions for this one and instead offering a few different seasoning blend ideas that would work well in a potato salad — no measuring required. And sometimes, patience is a virtue when it comes to giving that potato salad even stronger flavor.

Fresh herbs always make food taste like it was just made. The exact herbs you add are up to you, but fresh parsley and dill are great for bright, earthy flavor. You can also add a little mint to the potato salad for a refreshing contrast against the rich mayonnaise. If you're serving the potato salad in winter, stick with cozy, earthy herbs like finely chopped rosemary, thyme, or even sage leaves. You can incorporate other aromatics alongside the herbs, too, like garlic powder, onion powder, and black pepper.

Since store-bought potato salad is often made with mayonnaise and not much else, it usually needs a hint of acidity. Every homemade potato salad has good balance, so add a splash of fresh lemon juice or vinegar to the dish. You can use red or white wine vinegar; red has a slightly fruiter flavor but tends to be more robust, while white is a bit lighter and milder. And in addition to lemon juice, incorporate lemon zest for a fruitier, semi-sweet acidity, too.

There are so many potato salad variations around the world, but at the supermarket you'll likely only get the standard version. Give it a homemade spin with ingredients like carrots, peas, and boiled eggs for a traditional Spanish-style potato salad flare. Japanese style potato salad incorporates cucumbers and carrots, plus acidity from rice wine vinegar and scallions, while parts of Germany make it with fresh parsley and dill pickles. There's no wrong way to build on the potatoes, as long as the flavors marry well.

A crunchy element builds texture in a soft potato salad. You can go in plenty of directions here. Chopped celery adds crunch, and nothing else; it won't give the salad much flavor, but that's fine if you don't need it. Crispy onions or crumbled bacon are great options if you're looking to add salty crunch (pro tip: save the bacon grease and add a little bit into the potato salad as well.) Red or white onion work well, too, if the potato salad is bland and needs some more bite.

Flavor contrasts are just as important as texture contrasts. If you want to up the potato salad's base flavor but don't know where to start, add a spoonful of Dijon. Its acidity and tang balance so well with the rich mayo, and those complementary flavors will make the potato salad taste like it was scratch-made. For a savory boost, add some kosher salt to taste alongside the Dijon.

It's not too often that you find store-bought spicy potato salad, so adding some spice will have everyone comparing it to homemade. Hot sauce, crushed Calabrian chilies, or even crushed red pepper create a spicy flavor profile with different textures. The liquid hot sauce is great if the potato salad is thick. Crushed Calabrian chilies are a blend between liquid and solid, while crushed red pepper flakes are perfect if the potato salad is too thin for more liquid to be added. For a garlicky, spicy flavor, add some chili crisp.

All of these other flavors are great, but what if you just want to highlight that starchy potato flavor? To build texture while keeping the potato flavor the star, smash small potatoes, add some olive oil and salt, and roast them until they're extra crispy. Then, fold them into the existing salad for a pleasant crunch. You can call it homemade if you made the smashed potatoes yourself, right?

Seasoning packets are a great way to boost flavor in so many dishes without spending money on heaps of containers of dried herbs and spices. A packet of ranch seasoning, onion soup mix, or even Italian seasoning are all great ways to give it your own homemade twist to potato salad without any extra chopping or dicing. Plus, when you add a seasoning packet, you can skip measuring out the individual herbs.

You can buy sealed and packed potato salad that's shipped into the store, or you can buy it fresh (or fresher, at least) from the deli counter. But fresh potato salad means its flavors haven't always had a chance to marry and settle. If the potato salad was packed on the same day you bought it — it should have dates — leave it in the fridge overnight. Give the flavors a chance to come together as it sits, and you'll be surprised how much it could taste like a homemade version.

Store-bought potato salad is usually a mayonnaise base, but it can sometimes have too much acidity from mismeasured vinegar or mustard added in. If the potato salad is too tangy, give it balance with a spoonful of mayo. Mix the mayo into the salad, and let it sit for a few minutes before tasting. Add more mayo if needed. If it's still too tangy, you can also balance it with a pinch of sugar.