The Secret Ingredient That Makes Ina Garten's Potato Salad So Creamy

Potato salad: so simple, yet infinitely adaptable to anyone's tastes. While you may have a recipe you always stick to, the Barefoot Contessa herself, beloved chef Ina Garten, has an unexpected potato salad hack that's sure to change the game for your next summer picnic. (We're talking about classic, creamy American potato salad here, so please take the German versus American potato salad debate elsewhere.)

In her 2022 cookbook "Go-To Dinners," Garten passes on a potato salad tip learned from no less than the legendary Julia Child. To set up a comparison real quick, when boiling pasta, it's common keep a bit of the leftover pasta water in reserve (except in the case of lasagna, as Garten herself recommends that we don't boil lasagna noodles). The starchy water, when incorporated into your sauce, helps to bind it together and make it smooth, enabling it to effectively coat the cooked noodles. 

Using similar logic, Garten reserves the water left over from boiled potatoes when making homemade potato salad. The result is a creamier salad dressing that perfectly complements the potatoes, guaranteeing flavorful bites from start to finish.

Step one for potato salad worthy enough to serve to Ina Garten's beloved husband, Jeffrey: Be sure to properly boil the potatoes to yield the perfect starchy water for your dressing. Starchy water comes from starchy potatoes (as opposed to creamy or "waxy" kinds), so look for a classic Idaho or Russet potato to get the most out of Garten's hack.

Once you've picked your spuds, achieving the perfectly boiled potato is simple. First, clean and peel the tubers. Then, cut them into equally-sized quarters to ensure more even cooking. Add the cut potatoes to a pot with just enough salted cold water to cover the top of the spuds and bring to a boil. Once boiling, bring the heat down to a simmer and cover the pot. To determine doneness, stick a fork into a potato; it should go through without any crumbling. Reserve about ⅓ cut the cooking water once the potatoes are done.

In Garten's "Potato Salad à la Julia Child" recipe (found on the Barefoot Contessa website), she instructs her readers to drizzle the drained potatoes with vinegar and the reserved starchy water and then let it sit before mixing them with the already-prepared salad dressing.

While expert advice can certainly help, the fun thing about potato salad is that there's no wrong way to prepare it. There are countless variations out there that can elevate the dish for your next barbecue — including not even boiling the potatoes in the first place. Our comprehensive list of potato salad hacks recommends poaching, frying, and even salt-roasting — that is, surrounding the potatoes in a thick layer of salt and blasting them at high heat, resulting in a protective crust that seals in more flavor.

Of course, sometimes just a little swap makes a big difference in your potato salad recipe. Not big on mayonnaise? Try using more traditional salad vinaigrettes, or even just a simple mix of olive oil and lemon with herbs for a heart-healthy option. Or, trade the mayo for Miracle Whip and give this sweet pickle salad dressing a go. Dill is a common potato salad ingredient, so why not take it a step further and use pickle juice? Also, if you've never tried German potato salad, the vinegary, bacon-forward variant may be the only change you need. Start with this super-fast German potato salad recipe that trades potatoes for ready-made potato gnocchi.