Roasted Potato Salad With Pesto is an easy and healthy side dish loaded with baby potatoes, cucumbers, radishes, and creamy homemade Basil Cashew Pesto. The salad is light, very quick to make, and tastes great with any BBQ meat!
Roasted potatoes are the star dish of this salad along with fresh pesto that adds SO much flavor. The salad is light but you can customize it further with crispy bacon, chickpeas, nuts, or gluten-free croutons for a lovely crunch (you can easily make these at home).
If you like this healthy potato salad be sure to check out these recipes next time: Creamy Au Gratin Potatoes, and Sweet Potato Fries with Truffle Oil or simply type the word ''potato'' into the search bar.
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Best Potato for a Potato Salad
- Baby new potatoes - best for potato salad, other salads, soups.
- Red potatoes - great for salads, steamed potatoes, and baked potatoes.
- Purple potatoes - I haven't tried these for a salad, but heard they are a safe option as well! If you do try these out, please share your feedback and photos on Instagram tagging @theyummy_bowl. Thank you!
- Safe, in-the-middle option - Yukon gold potatoes (medium-starch) that are multipurpose.
Ingredients
- Radishes - a type of root vegetable that has a little ''hot'' flavoring to it thanks to the red skins. I'd recommend leaving the skin on which gives that needed ''zing'' to the salad.
- Potatoes - oven-roasted baby potatoes, red potatoes, or fingerling potatoes. These can be made in the oven or on the grill. See my next paragraph below for more in-depth reading about the types of potatoes. Lisa gives a great insight about this as well.
- I prefer roasted potatoes for their texture and lightly charred flavor but you can definitely get great results by just boiling the potatoes until just fork tender like in my Potato Salad Without Eggs. I just love potatoes and any potato salad really, I am from Northern Europe!
- Chives can be substituted with green or spring onions, parsley or fresh basil.
- Arugula - adds a nice peppery mustard flavor to the salad! Arugula, often mistaken for lettuce, actually belongs to the mustard greens family. While both wild and cultivated arugula offer a peppery or mustard-like flavor, wild arugula is more intense and slightly bitter than its milder cultivated counterpart.
- Basil Cashew Pesto - creamy and smooth pesto loaded with basil nut and parmesan flavors. It only takes about 5 minutes and a food processor to whip this up. Any green pesto (such as arugula pesto or other types of basil pesto) from the store will do if you don't have extra time for another recipe. My recipe makes about 1 cup basil pesto and any leftovers can be mixed in pasta, pasta salads or baked or air fryer fish.
Check the step-by-step photos below the recipe card.
Tips
- Cashew Basil Pesto - creamy and decadent basil pesto with parmesan cheese and toasted cashew or pine nuts. Any green pesto is great, either homemade or store-bought. You only need a little, about ¼ cup to ½ cup when mixing into potatoes. Serve the potato salad with a jar of pesto sauce for the guest to help themselves.
- Let potatoes cool a little before mixing them with pesto and arugula. Arugula may become too soft and wilted and simply become unappetizing.
- What I like to do for a beautiful presentation is to only mix the pesto in potatoes, leaving the rest ingredients untouched. I arrange the arugula, cucumber, and radish on a serving platter, top with pesto potatoes, and only then add more pesto on top. Decorate with fresh basil leaves.
Storing Instructions
- Unfortunately, this pesto potato salad recipe won't store for long in the fridge. Arugula will wilt after refrigerating.
- However, you can easily store any leftover potatoes! Place the potatoes in an airtight container and keep them in the fridge for 3-4 days. Freeze the same way or in a zip lock bag for up to 2-3 months.
- To reheat, arrange frozen potatoes (thawed for 30 minutes for an even reheating) on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake a preheated oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 10-15 minutes.
Arugula Too Bitter? Try This!
The pesto helps to mask the bitterness pretty well. However if you need more, try blanching the arugula leaves:
- Soak arugula leaves in ice water for 5-10 minutes to reduce bitterness without cooking them.
- Drain and pat dry with a clean towel before using in salads or dishes. This method works for blanching spinach too!
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Recipe Card
20-minute Roasted Potato Salad (With Pesto!)
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Wash and dry the potatoes. Cut them in at least 1 inch thick slices or the very small ones just in half. Place potatoes on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or foil and drizzle or spray with a small amount of olive oil and seasonings.1 pound baby gold or red potatoes, 2 tablespoon olive oil
- Bake for 10-15 minutes. Insert a knife into one potato to see if it's done. It should slide out easily.
- Meanwhile prepare arugula in a large bowl, drizzle with olive oil and massage the leaves gently. Transfer onto serving platter. You may not need all remaining amount of oil for this.2 tablespoon olive oil, 3-4 cups arugula
- Let warm potatoes cool down a little (but not cold) and transfer them into a large bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients: chives, pesto, more salt and pepper if needed, lemon juice, radishes and cucumbers. Mix thoroughly and arrange on a serving platter on top of arugula. Serve while the potatoes are still warm with lemon zest, lemon slices, basil leaves and more pesto.¼ cup chives or green onions, ½ cup cashew basil pesto, 2 small cucumber, 5-8 medium radishes, lemon juice to taste, salt, black pepper to taste, fresh basil for garnish
- This salad can be served both, cold and warm. Potatoes will soak up more pesto flavor while still warm which is exactly what we want here.
Nutrition
Video
Notes
- Unfortunately, this pesto potato salad recipe won't store for long in the fridge. Arugula will wilt after refrigerating.
- However, you can easily store any leftover potatoes! Place the potatoes in an airtight container and keep them in the fridge for 3-4 days. Freeze the same way or in a zip lock bag for up to 2-3 months.
- To reheat, arrange frozen potatoes (thawed for 30 minutes for an even reheating) on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake a preheated oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 10-15 minutes.
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Let us know how it was!Note: Nutrition information is estimated and varies based on the products used.
Full Nutrition Disclaimer can be found here.
Instructions + Step By Step Photos
This pesto potato salad is easy to make in just a few easy steps.
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Wash and dry the potatoes. Cut them in at least 1-inch thick slices or the very small ones just in half. Place potatoes on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or foil and drizzle with olive oil and seasonings.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes. Insert a knife into one potato to see if it's done. It should slide out easily.
- Meanwhile prepare arugula in a large bowl, drizzle with olive oil and massage the leaves gently. Transfer onto serving platter.
- Let warm potatoes cool down a little (but not cold) and transfer them into a large bowl.
- Add the rest of the ingredients: chives, pesto, more salt and pepper if needed, lemon juice, radishes and cucumbers. Mix thoroughly and arrange on a serving platter on top of arugula. Serve while the potatoes are still warm with lemon zest, lemon slices fresh basil and more pesto.
This potato salad can be served both, cold and warm. Potatoes will soak up more pesto flavor while still warm which is exactly what we want here. Enjoy!
FAQ
Ideally, you'll want to avoid starchy potatoes such as Russet potato (best for mashed potatoes), which will become mushy and fall apart during the cooking, stirring process.
For potato salad you can do both: boil or bake the potatoes. Both have their own techniques and difficulties. Boiled potatoes will hold their texture and last a little longer in a potato salad rather than oven roasted potatoes (my personal opinion, but I love the baked potatoes flavor more). If you boil the potatoes don't overcook or undercook them, soak them in water first, and leave the skins on. Boiled potatoes should be soft and tender inside. When oven roasting the potatoes keep an eye that the oven temperature is not too cold or overly hot (they will dry and burn quickly!). And that there is plenty of space between each potato fort hem to crisp up. Baking in batches will also take you longer than simply boiling them.
No you definitely don't need to boil the potatoes before roasting. There is no need for that type of ''double'' cooking. What gives the potatoes great texture and helps them to crisp on the outside is soaking the potatoes in a cold water ''ice bath'' preferably with ice water (with actual ice cubes) for at least 30 minutes to 2 hours or even more (if making ahead it's ok too).
Normally a traditional potato salad would last for 3-4 days in the fridge and 2-3 months in the freezer. In this particular recipe baked potatoes are mixed with fresh ingredients, pesto and arugula that just are not the best candidates for storing or freezing.
Store the cashew pesto properly sealed in a glass container for up to 2-3 days in the fridge or for 2-3 months in a freezer bag in the freezer. Thaw overnight in the fridge and use in your favorite recipes.
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Julia | The Yummy Bowl
Can't miss this summery fresh pesto potato salad made with homemade basil cashew pesto!