BLT Potato Salad with Bacon Vinaigrette

What is summer salad season without a good potato salad!?

You’ll love how easy this salad comes together, and full of flavour it is.  Since it uses a bacon vinaigrette instead of mayonnaise, it is the perfect salad to pack up and take on a picnic or bring to a BBQ.

Bacon Lettuce and Tomato

The king of sandwiches.  There is nothing like ripe and juicy tomato slices layered over crispy bacon and fresh crunchy lettuce and trapped between two slices of toast.  I could eat this sandwich once a week, all year round.  So let’s take those ingredients and add them to another classic, potato salad.

You will need grape or cherry tomatoes, rashers of bacon, little gems lettuce or even arugula, and red onion to round out the ingredients along with the potatoes and dressing.

Mini or Fingerling Potatoes

This version of potato salad is somewhat inspired by my German Roasted Potato Salad.  So no goopy mayonnaise based dressing.  Rather, a lighter vinaigrette which puts some of the bacon fat to work. Bacon fat adds a lovely salty and smokey quality to the final dressing.

For the dressing you will reserve some of the bacon fat rendered down when preparing the bacon for the salad.  It will be combined with apple cider vinegar, olive oil, dijon mustard, honey, salt and pepper and garlic powder to create a tangy slightly savory dressing.  Very simple.  You will make the dressing first, in preparation for the next step.  For all the times I make bacon, I save the bacon drippings in a jar stored under the sink, so even if I am not cooking off fresh bacon, I can always make this dressing!

Instead of roasting the potatoes though, let’s just boil up mini or baby potatoes.  You can also use fingerling potatoes.  And yes, if you only have larger potatoes in the pantry, go ahead and use them instead, just cubing them into large bite-sized pieces. 

Once a knife can just slide into the simmering potatoes, drain them and place them in a bowl.  Let them cool down slightly.  Then drizzle some of the bacon vinaigrette over them, tossing them gently to be evenly coated.  As they cool down, the potatoes will absorb the dressing, giving them a head start on the great flavour for this salad.  This is key, just as with pasta for pasta salad, you want to dress them with a little of the dressing instead of tossing them with water or just olive oil to help separate them while they are cooling down.

Prepping Ahead

This salad is great for prepping ahead.  The dressing can be made well in advance, and stored in the fridge till needed.  Just make sure to bring back up to room temperature before using, even for tossing the warm potatoes in. If you do store it in the fridge, the bacon fat in the dressing will solidify, no worries. The jar of dressing can be placed into a bowl of hot water.  Then just whisk.  Or else you can place the contents into a small sauce pan to warm through, again whisking to get the dressing smooth again. I won’t lie, if I know that I will be using the dressing within a day or so, I just keep it on the counter.

This also means that the bacon can be cooked off and broken up and stored in a sealed container till ready to make the salad.

Seasoning this salad: Because of the nature of starches, like pasta, rice or potatoes, a lot of dressing and seasoning gets absorbed. Better to make extra dressing to have on hand for a final toss before serving. You also don’t want to under-season them.  Start with less salt and pepper, but be prepared to use more.  Especially once everything is made and cooled down.  Taste a potato and see how much more you need to add.  

Final Thoughts

Feel free to add cubed cheese to your salad.  Whether cheddar cheese, manchego, harvarti, or parmesan cheese, small cubes will add a lovely hearty and punchy addition. Freshly torn herbs like basil or parsley will also work great in this salad.

This salad makes about six full cups.  You may want to double if you are bringing it to a potluck or BBQ. Sometimes I just want this salad as lunch or dinner.  But if you want some grilled sausages or chicken wings on the side, that works great too!

An alternative dressing is a simple olive oil, lemon, vinegar, Dijon mustard, honey, herb and garlic vinaigrette.  I always have a jar of this dressing in the fridge, it is just so very versatile.  See my Master Vinaigrette.  And sometimes, when I am just really lazy, I only use the olive oil, lemon, mustard, honey and salt and pepper- it still makes a fantastic dressing!

If you make this easy and bright BLT Potato Salad, please be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! It’s always lovely to hear from you guys, and I always do my best to respond to each comment or question. And of course, if you do make this recipe, and you post it on Instagram, don’t forget to also tag me so I can see! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is such a treat.

Love Jen

5 from 1 vote

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BLT Potato Salad with Bacon Vinaigrette

Adding the best flavours of a classic bacon lettuce and tomato sandwich to a simple potato salad creates a perfect summer salad. Light, not heavy, since we are using a bacon vinaigrette instead of a mayonnaise based dressing means that this salad travels well, is perfect for picnics, and last for a few days in the fridge

Course Salad

Cuisine North American

Keyword Bacon Vinaigrette, BLT, Potato Salad

Prep Time 40 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Servings 6 cups

Ingredients

• 6 oz (170 grams) rashers of bacon (approximately 6-7 rashers)
• 1 1/2 lbs (680 grams) mini or baby potatoes, fingerling potatoes will also work
• salt and pepper
• 1 1/2 cups packed chopped little gems lettuce, arugula, frisee, or other fresh greens of your choosing
• 1 cup halved grape tomatoes
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
• 3/4 cup cubed cheese, optional, cheddar, havariti, parmesan, manchego, or your favourite firmer cheese

Bacon Vinaigrette, make in advance

• 4 tbsp bacon drippings, if not enough bacon drippings are in the skillet, supplement with olive oil
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 4 tbsp apple cider or white wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard, or more to taste
• 1 tbsp runny honey, or more to taste
• 3/4 tsp salt, more to taste
• 3/4 tsp pepper, more to taste
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder

Instructions

Prepare the Dressing first

1. Cook off the bacon in a skillet over medium-low to medium heat (the lower the heat, the more evenly the bacon will cook). Once nicely crisp, remove from the skillet to a paper towel lined plate. Drain the bacon drippings into a measuring cup. Set the bacon aside to cool. When cool, break up into bite sized pieces.
2. Combine the bacon drippings, olive oil, vinegar, mustard, honey, salt and pepper and garlic powder in a small bowl or jar with a lid. Either whisk or place the lid on the jar and shake, till well combined. Taste and re-season as desired.

Salad

1. Place the baby potatoes into a pot with well salted water. Cover with a lid. Bring to a boil and then reduce to medium, with the lid off. Simmer till just tender enough for a sharp knife to slide into the centre of the potato, about 10-12 minutes (longer if you are using larger potatoes).
2. Drain well through a sieve or colander. As soon as they are cool enough to handle, slice each potato in half. If using larger potatoes, cut into large bite sized pieces. Place all the potatoes into a large bowl and drizzle with some of the bacon dressing to coat well. Toss gently. Also season with salt and pepper. Set these aside to cool completely.

Assemble

1. When ready to assemble the salad, add the chopped greens, halved tomatoes and broken bacon. Add in the sliced onion.
2. Drizzle the dressing over the salad, Let the dressing absorb for a few minutes, then taste. Season with salt and pepper as needed, as well as more dressing if the salad seems a little dry.

Storage

1. Leftovers can be stored in the fridge for a few days. The dressing may stiffen up, so bring the salad to room temperature and toss to redistribute the now loosened dressing.
2. See the blog post for more details.

Recipe Notes

Dressing: The Bacon Vinaigrette can be made in advance and stored in the fridge till needed, Just bring to room temperature before using. Placing the jar in a bowl of warm to hot water will help speed this up. Or you can pour the dressing into a small sauce pan set over low, whisk to smooth it out.
An alternative dressing for this salad is my Master Vinaigrette.