Vegan Creamy Potato Salad (Gluten-free)

Recipe
Vegan Creamy Potato Salad

Adapted very slightly from:
The Blender Girl at www.healthyblenderrecipes.com

So I was in the grocery store last week when I remembered I needed to make potato salad for a meal I was bringing to a friend (she’s battling cancer and has a hubby and three little ones). I googled “vegan potato salad” on my iPhone and found this recipe.

I was in a hurry, so I missed a few ingredients on the list. No harm done. It was still absolutely delicious. And – bonus! – I discovered a very helpful website with tons of great vegan recipes.

You can search Tess Masters’ “Healthy Blender Recipes” website for easy vegan, vegetarian, raw, and gluten-free recipes which can all be made in a blender, mixer, or food processor.

When you ‘like’ her Facebook page and sign up for her email list, you will get a link to download her free eBook, “Best of Healthy Blender Recipes.com.” Sweet, right?!

Back to the potato salad. This one is creamy, crunchy and full of flavor. You would never guess that it’s vegan. Hubs (who is not vegan) only eats potato salad that doesn’t have egg in it (he hates eggs). And he can be a bit of a potato salad snob.

Fortunately, he loved what little was left of this one (I gave most of it to our friends).

You will need a 3 lb. bag of red skin potatoes. Cut the potatoes into large cubes.

Place the potatoes in a large pot and cover them with cold water.

Add 2 Tbsp of sea salt to the water and bring to a boil over high heat.

Reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes or until just done. (While potatoes are simmering, cut up your veggies – see below.)

Rinse potatoes with cold water and drain thoroughly.

• 1 cup (about one bunch) green onions, finely chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
• 1 cup (about 4 large stalks) celery, finely chopped
• 1 cup broccoli stalk, finely chopped*
• ½ cup red onion, finely chopped* 
• 1 cup parsley (or dill) finely chopped* (You will add this at the very end.)

Notes

*I didn’t have any broccoli stalks, so I used extra celery. But the salad didn’t need the extra. In my opinion, you only need the celery or the broccoli stalks, not both (or use half the amount of each). I forgot to buy red onion, so I skipped it. I felt like there was plenty of onion flavor already with the green onions.

Again, I think you could use either one (you don’t really need both). I’m not a huge parsley fan, so I used fresh dill instead. And I think you can get away with much less than a cup. It just depends on your personal taste.

Combine the potatoes and chopped veggies (except for the parsley).

For the dressing, you will need:

• 1 cup of vegan mayonnaise* (I used this one.)
• 2 Tbsp. dijon mustard
• ½ tsp. apple cider vinegar

Combine these three ingredients using a blender.

Pour the dressing over the vegetables and mix thoroughly.

Stir in the chopped parsley (or dill), then season with sea salt and black pepper to taste.

Notes

*The original recipe calls for one batch of The Blender Girl’s Vegan Mayonnaise, but I didn’t have all the ingredients on hand. So I cheated with vegenaise (and it still tasted great). Next time, I’ll try it the real way.

Chill or serve at room temperature.

It’s a good thing I was making this for our friends because I might have eaten the whole bowl if left to my own devices. It’s that good.

Enjoy!