Russian Potato Salad (Olivier Salad)
Olivier Salad, or Russian potato salad, is a meal on its own. Loaded with lots of vegetables, meats and eggs and finished with creamy mayo, this Russian salad is so satisfying and filling!
While I was born and raised in Mongolia, I grew up in a small Russian community. And inevitably, Russian cuisine was part of my childhood.
You can’t imagine Russian cuisine without Olivier salad/Салат Оливье. Actually, it’s not just Russian, it’s a Slavic thing. And because Mongolia was heavily influenced by Russian culture, this Russian salad is also very popular in Mongolia.
It’s a staple at every holiday dinner table, especially on New Year’s Eve.
And I’m SO excited to share with you my version of this Russian potato salad recipe.
WHAT IS OLIVIER SALAD/RUSSIAN POTATO SALAD?
Russian potato salad, also known as Olivier Salad, is more than just a potato salad. It’s basically a loaded potato salad with lots of add-ins like meats, peas and carrots, hard-boiled eggs and fresh herbs.
I don’t believe there’s one and only traditional version of this salad. Every family has their own variation.
- Some use bologna, others use smoked sausage.
- And some use pickles, others use fresh cucumbers.
- Some cook the potatoes and carrots and then dice them. Some dice them and then cook them.
And that’s the beauty fo this salad. You can try it as written first, and then adjust it to your own liking.
- Not a dill fan? Add parsley then.
- Want more mayo? Add more mayo.
- Sub red onion for the scallions.
- Use your favorite sausage, salami, or even cooked chicken.
Choice is yours. I personally like to use summer sausage in my potato salad.
HOW TO MAKE RUSSIAN POTATO SALAD:
Step 1. Cook the vegetables.
- I like to dice the potatoes and carrots first and then cook them. It’s a sticky mess to cut cooked potatoes, I don’t like that.
TIP: Since it’s easy to overcook the diced potatoes and turn them into a mush. And to prevent that, add half a tablespoon of white vinegar in the water and your potato cubes will hold the shape perfectly!
Step 2. Hard boil eggs.
- And if you’re not a fan of peeling cooked eggs, try this genius trick for no-peel hard-boiled eggs!
Step 3. Prepare the rest of the ingredients.
- While potatoes and carrots are cooking, chop up onions, sausage, pickles and herbs.
Step 4. Mix everything up.
- Now, the easy part. Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix everything up.
And your hearty Russian salad is ready to be devoured!
While you can serve this potato salad right away, I like it when it’s nicely chilled.
By the way, it’s a perfect make-ahead salad!
I love this Olivier salad! It brings warm and fuzzy feeling from my childhood and holiday spirit whenever I make it.
I usually make a huge batch, and enjoy bowlfull for several days. It keeps really well in the fridge. Actually, the longer it sits, the better it becomes.
Merry Christmas, my dear friends! May your home be filled with love, laughter and wonderful memories! Cheers!
Russian Potato Salad (Салат Оливье)
This classic Russian potato salad is a meal on its own. Loaded with colorful, flavorful vegetables, sausage and eggs and finished with creamy mayo, this salad is satisfying and filling!
Yield: About 10 cups
Prep Time:25 minutes
Cook Time:20 minutes
Total Time:45 minutes
Ingredients:
- 4 medium potatoes (about 2lbs/900gr), washed and peeled, if desired
- 3 medium carrots (about 10oz/300gr), washed and peeled
- 1 tablespoon salt
- ½ tablespoon white vinegar (Note 1)
- 4 hard-boiled eggs (Note 2)
- 7oz (200gr) summer sausage (Note 3)
- 4oz (100gr) dill pickles
- 1 can (15oz) sweet peas, drained
- 1 teaspoon dill paste (or fresh dill)
- 4-5 green onions (Note 4)
- 1 cup mayo
- Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
- Cut the potatoes and carrots into small uniform cubes.
- Place them in a large pot and fill with water.
- Add salt and vinegar. Bring it to a boil over medium high heat, and then reduce the heat to medium and continue to cook until the potatoes are cooked through, about 15 minutes. Drain the potatoes and let it cool to room temperature.
- Meanwhile, cut the sausage and pickles into small cubes, and chop the green onions.
- Cut the hard-boiled eggs into small cubes as well.
- If using fresh dill, chop them as well.
- In a large bowl, combine potatoes, carrots, sausage, pickles, peas and green onions.
- Add mayo and dill and mix until well combined.
- Salt and pepper to taste. Cover with a plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.
Note 1: Adding vinegar prevents the potatoes from falling apart. The vegetables won’t taste vinegary, but they’ll hold their shape perfectly.
Note 2: I use an egg slicer like this. But if you don’t want to deal with peeling hard-boiled eggs, this genius trick would be perfect!
Note 3: Instead of summer sausage, you may use bologna, or any smoked sausage.
Note 4: You can also use regular yellow onion, or shallots, instead of green onions.
Nutrition Information
Yield: About 10 cups, Serving Size: 1 serving
- Amount Per Serving:
- Calories: 320 Calories
- Total Fat: 24.1g
- Cholesterol: 95.2mg
- Sodium: 1181.5mg
- Carbohydrates: 19.1g
- Sugar: 3.5g
- Protein: 7.1g
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This recipe was originally published on December 24, 2014, and last updated on May 11, 2020.
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Can I use chicken apple sausages?
Hi, Karen. I’ve never tried this with chicken apple sausage. But bologna, summer sausage, salami are typically best for this salad. Hope this helps.
Haven’t made it yet but I’m going too.
Yay, let us know your feedback, Harlan.
I grew up in a home where we kept kosher do we had it as a meat dish with diced salami or as a dairy dish with sour cream or with neither, veggie and mayo. OMG my mom had to make A LOT because we’d eat it 2 meals a daddy until it was gone.
Hi, Yudita! We make a huge batch of this salad as well. Never lasts long! 🙂
This recipe is on point!! Growing up Russian, this is a true classic & your recipe is pretty amazing!! Needed some comfort today(didn’t know all exact ingredients) & thankfully found your recipe 🙂 thanks for sharing!!!
So glad you loved it, Bella. This is definitely one of the best comfort foods. 🙂 Thank you for your feedback!
This looks so good. Can’t wait to try. BTW, beautiful pictures. What kind of camera do you use?
God bless
Hi, Rebecca. Thank you for your compliment! This was shot with my Canon 60D camera.
Lovely! I love the addition of pickle to potato salads but have never seen meat/sausage added. FYI when I did a Rosolli Salad at Christmas (grated beet, carrot and potato), I learned that if you cook the carrots whole, skins on, you can easily wipe off the skins once they’re cooked and the carrots are so easy to dice up and better yet, they hold their shape.
Awesome tip, Alanna. Thank you! For some reason, I always hated cubing boiled carrots and potatoes when I was a kid. And that feeling never left. Hehe. 🙂
I love the combination of pickles, hard-boiled eggs and potatoes. Well, and the sausage and peas to. So pretty much everything. Thank you for sharing a recipe from your childhood.
My pleasure, Jameson. Thank you!
I am so excited to find this recipe. Years ago when we lived in Florida, I could get the best Russian potato salad from a local restaurant. I’ve never had it since. Now I can make it!
Hope you enjoy this salad. Thanks, Christie!
I love old family recipes and this potato salad looks delicious!
Thank you, Martha!
Just in time for Julian Christmas. Thank you very much, Shinee, for this beautiful recipe. My dad used to make his version of potato salad by adding sliced cucumber, corn, and bell pepper to the Russian recipe. Guess it was his way of keeping his Russo-Japanese heritage alive. For this Christmas, however, I’ll make the potato salad strictly Russian using your recipe. Can’t wait to try it. Thank you once again.
Itsuki, yeah, this salad can be customize many different ways. I’ve added fresh cucumbers and corn kernels in the past too, depending on what I had on hand. But this classic version is always great. I hope you enjoy this salad as much as we do.
А вы монголка? Хорошо! Моя бабушка по отцовской линии русская, с небольшой примесью монгольской крови. Откуда знаете хорошо русский?
Да, я монголка. 🙂 В Эрдэнэте, город где я выросла, много русских жили. И я там училась в русской школе. Вот так вот.
Очень приятно по-русски общаться с вами.
My parents are from Ukraine and we eat this too! I’m inspired to make this next week for Ukrainian Xmas and have it with some bubbly. Yum! Comfort indeed 😉
Oh, this would be perfect with some bubbly on Christmas next week. In fact, that’s what I’ve been eating all day today. 🙂
Hi Shinee! Loving this salad. I actually made it before the holidays. It was always a traditional holiday salad around the holidays growing up. Love your background…grew up in Mongolia and now living in North Dakota. Wow! What a jump 🙂 Where in the world did you learn to speak Russian?! That’s pretty awesome.
Haha I know, life is a crazy thing! You never know where you end up living. 🙂 My hometown had a large Russian community, and growing up I went to Russian kindergarden and school. So yeah, Russian is like my second native language.
I’m so interested in this! I have never heard of Russian potato salad but I am LOVING this!! Thank you!! I am forever in pursuit of the “ultimate” potato salad and I see this one getting a try out…. 🙂
I hope you’ll love this one. It’d the best, in my opinion. 🙂
We love this in Estonia, too, though we simply call it kartulisalat or potato salad. I don’t really like peas in my salad, however, and our dressing is always sour cream AND mayo, never just mayo (actually you could omit the mayonnaise altogether and simply use sour cream with a splash of mustard, for example).
Merry Christmas!
That’s interesting, Pille. Thank you for sharing your version. I’ve made this salad with mayo/sour cream combo in the past, and it’s delicious too. However, I’ve never tried without mayo all together. Oh and mustard is actually really good too! Merry Christmas to you too! 🙂
I grew up on potato salad too.. my Russian grandmother used to make it every Sunday for family lunch! Thanks for reminding me how delicious it is Shinee, this is something I need to make soon.
Thalia, that’s awesome. I hope you make some real soon. 🙂