Avocado Is The Tasty Secret To Mayo-Free Potato Salad

When you think of potato salad, you probably think of mayo as the key creamy ingredient, but it doesn't have to be. Perhaps you're making potato salad for a barbecue, where it will likely sit out in the sweltering sun for longer than the two hours (or just one hour if above 90 F) that the USDA recommends for safety. Alternatively, maybe you have a family member who is staying away from eggs, or you would simply rather opt for an ingredient with a little more nutritional value than mayonnaise.

All of the above are excellent reasons to swap out your mayo for avocado. Not only will you get more vitamins and minerals with a fruit instead of a product made of mostly eggs and oil, but avocado is also a superb replacement in terms of taste. You'll still get a creamy, buttery-smooth texture with the added benefit of a little nutty avocado flavor and a lighter consistency than mayo, which is typically rich from all of the eggs involved. Plus, avocado pairs perfectly with pretty much all of the other ingredients that make up potato salad, like spuds, eggs, and veggies.

You can deploy avocado in your potato salad in two ways: chopped up, like in our vegan avocado potato salad, or mashed, so that it can smoothly replace the mayo as the main creamy element in your dish. The former will create an even lighter dish with a fresher feel, while the latter will more closely replicate the mayo-based potato salad that you're used to. If you choose the dicing route, you can just toss the avocado pieces into the bowl with the rest of the ingredients. Then, finish off your refreshing salad with a light dressing — possibly a simple oil and vinegar combo, or a mixture of lime juice and herbs to complement the avocado.

If you're relying on your fruit for creaminess, however, you'll want to mash it up and use it in a dressing. Once the texture is almost completely smooth, feel free to stir in some combination of olive oil, vinegar, mustard, garlic, herbs, lemon or lime juice, cumin, chili powder, and paprika. Then, after you've mixed the rest of your salad together, you can toss it with your avocado-based dressing. Keep in mind that while this fruit can typically sit out for longer than mayo, it may start to turn brown after four hours or so. While this shouldn't impact the taste, added lemon or lime juice can also help your fruit retain its pretty green color in addition to boosting the flavor.