Give Potato Salad A Twist With The Help Of French Fries

Potato salad is a classic side dish that comes together with just two main ingredients: potatoes and mayonnaise. Of course, there are countless other ways to make this recipe unique, including different dairy ingredients like sour cream or Greek yogurt, as well as plenty of other add-ins for texture and flavor. But if you're looking for a way to get a little crunch in that potato salad, it might just be another form of potato: the french fry.

It seems silly, but french fries' crispy exterior is actually a perfect addition to those softer potatoes. No need to go through the drive-thru, either; just cook up a bag of frozen fries. Fries can be chopped and used on their own as the base for potato salad, but if you don't want the entire salad's base to be made with something fried, they can be mixed in with softer potatoes for a 50-50 split. If you can't find french fries, this trick also works with tater tots or smashed crispy potatoes.

Frozen french fries are often already salted, so they add the perfect savory flavor in addition to texture. You can also build flavor with a number of other seasonings or ingredients; try making a dill mayonnaise base using Fresh dill, lemon juice, and garlic powder in addition to regular mayo. (It also serves as a tasty dipping sauce for any leftover french fries you didn't use). Or, you can create a chipotle mayo with some chipotles in adobo sauce, lime juice, and garlic powder together with mayonnaise.

Although the fries will add crunch, you can also add crispy veggies, such as celery or red onion, to the potato salad. And seasonings like garlic powder, onion powder, and chipotle powder are easy to include as well. If needed, you can sprinkle some extra salt, but taste the fries in the salad first to decide whether it needs more.