Bacon Ranch Loaded Potato Salad (2024)

By Julie Kotzbach Published in 4th of July

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Bacon Ranch Loaded Potato Salad is a flavorful side dish that’s perfect for potlucks or your next game day party! Your guests will love it!

Potato salad is one of my favorite side dishes this time of year. While I’m a picky ass about my potato salads. There are some flavors that are just made to go with potatoes and there’s no denying it. Bacon, cheese, and green onions definitely fall into that category.

So now I’m turning my favorite potato salad recipeup a notch with this Loaded Bacon Ranch Potato Salad! This recipe is crazy good. One bite and everyone will be asking for the recipe. Promise.

Loaded Potato Salad Recipe Ingredients

Red potatoes
Thick-cut bacon
Mayonnaise
Sour cream (or plain Greek yogurt)
Yellow mustard
Ranch dressing mix
Salt & pepper
Onion powder
Paprika
Shredded cheddar cheese
Green onion

All your favorite baked potato toppings + potato salad = ??

Now, I know this is bacon RANCH potato salad, but if you don’t care for ranch (like Mike) leave out the ranch mix. You’ll have loaded baked potato salad.

How to Make Loaded Potato Salad

This salad is super easy to make. Boil some potatoes. Cook up some crispy bacon. Throw everything in a bowl and mix, and that’s it!

Okay, there are couple more steps than just that…

To start, fill a large pot with water and bring it to a boil. Carefully add the cubed potatoes and cook until they are fork-tender. Drain the potatoes in a colander and let them hang out while you make the dressing.
While the potatoes are cooking, fry up the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat or bake it in the oven. Transfer the cooked bacon to a paper towel-lined plate until it’s cool enough to touch. Chop the bacon up and set it aside for now.
Next, you’ll make the dressing. Add the sour cream, mayonnaise, mustard, ranch mix, salt, pepper, onion powder, and paprika to a large bowl and whisk it all together.
Then, add the potatoes to the dressing and gently stir with a spoon until the potatoes are completely coated in the dressing.
After that, add in almost all of the bacon bits, cheese, and green onion and stir to combine everything together. I like to set a little of each aside to sprinkle on top of the potato salad after it’s all mixed up. After mixing transfer the potato salad to a serving bowl.
Cover the bowl and chill it in the fridge until you’re ready to serve the salad – at least 2 hours to cool completely. The flavors need time to marry.
When you’re ready to eat, uncover the bowl and top the potato salad with more cheese, bacon, and green onion.

The tangy ranch flavors go great with the classic loaded baked potato toppings.The best part is you can add more cheese, bacon, and green onion to your liking.

And it never hurts to sprinkle some of the potato toppings on the salad to add some color for extra presentation points.

Bacon Ranch Loaded Potato Salad

Julie Kotzbach

Bacon Ranch Loaded Potato Salad is a flavorful side dish that's perfect for potlucks or your next game day party!Your guests will love it!

3.89 from 194 votes

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Ingredients

6 red potatoes cut into bite-sized pieces (2 pounds)
5 strips thick cut bacon diced
1 cup mayonnaise
½ cup sour cream
½ tablespoon yellow mustard
1 ounce packet ranch dressing mix
¾ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon paprika
½ cup cheddar cheese shredded
3 tablespoons green onion thinly sliced

Instructions

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the potatoes and cook until fork tender, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.
While the potatoes are cooked, cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat until crispy, about 8 minutes. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl whisk together the mayo, sour cream and mustard until combined and smooth. Add the ranch dressing mix, salt, pepper, onion powder, and paprika. Whisk to combine.
Add the potatoes to the dressing and stir with a wooden spoon until the potatoes are evenly coated in the dressing.
Add almost all of the cheese, bacon, and green onion to the potatoes. (Reserve a little of each to garnish the top of the salad.) Gently mix everything together.
Transfer the potato salad to a serving bowl, and garnish with the reserved cheese, bacon, and green onion.
Serve immediately (if you don't mind a warm potato salad) or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Notes

I prefer to let my potato salads chill in the fridge to the flavors have more time to marry together. That being said, this salad is great to eat right away too.
If you can't find ranch dressing mix packets at the store, you can substitute 3 tablespoons of my mom's homemade ranch dressing mix.

Nutrition

Calories: 464kcalCarbohydrates: 28gProtein: 8gFat: 35gSaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 41mgSodium: 905mgPotassium: 810mgFiber: 2gSugar: 3gVitamin A: 250IUVitamin C: 14.3mgCalcium: 87mgIron: 1.4mg

All nutritional information is based on third party calculations and is only an estimate. Each recipe and nutritional value will vary depending on the brands you use, measuring methods and portion sizes per household.

Keyword loaded potato salad

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If you’re a potato lover too, get ready to drool! We’re having a potato party for this month’s ! All these recipes are perfect for parties and taste as good as they look. Get the recipe for your favorites by clicking the links below.