Pickled Beet Potato Salad

Pickled Beet Potato Salad is a sweet and creamy side dish paired perfectly with chicken or roast beef; a perfect summer potluck take-along side dish! Vibrantly pink and quite frankly, a bit odd, but super delicious and a conversation starter too! What more could you ask for in a potato salad?

PICKED BEET POTATO SALAD

This bright pink potato salad is very traditional in Newfoundland.  Rarely seen alone, it is usually paired with two other forms of potato salad all on the same dish, called a Cold Plate. Everyone seems to have a favourite, and this Picked Beet Potato Salad was my sister’s favourite, I think.

I don’t think I have a favourite, but I do have one that I will make over the other two if I’m only preparing one potato salad for dinner! I’ll let you guess which one shortly!  Even though three different types of potato salad is not necessary. Oftentimes, Newfoundlanders will prepare all three types.  This post will focus only on the pickled beet variety. 

For my family, potato salads (all three types) was a Sunday dinner tradition.  My mom always made the potato salads on Sunday morning before church.  They were always served with some kind of meat. It was usually a whole baked chicken, but sometimes roast beef, pineapple glazed ham, or turkey. 

A coleslaw, a macaroni salad, a jelly salad, and a dinner roll were present. There was also a fresh slice of tomato and a few iceberg lettuce leaves. Sometimes there would be company for dinner. But, even if there wasn’t, my mom prepared the same meal every Sunday just for the five of us.  I’d give anything to have one of those Sunday dinners just once more! This meal was called a Cold Plate.

LET’S TALK ABOUT COLD PLATES!

Traditional Newfoundland Cold plates consist of three types of potato salads – there’s the Vegetable Potato Salad, (sometimes called White Salad) Pickled Beet Potato Salad, and the Mustard Potato Salad. There’s also a macaroni or pasta salad, and always a coleslaw too. Depending on who’s preparing the plate, there may or may not be a jello salad – I left that out, because it wasn’t common for us and I actually do not like it!

Then you have your main, which in most cases is a turkey. We only had turkey on special occasions. When mom prepared Cold Plates for a regular Sunday night dinner, she would most likely include roasted chicken, sometimes roast beef, or rarely, glazed ham.

If there was turkey, you could count on there being dressing (stuffing) as well. And lastly, there were the little add-ins, like the slice of black forest ham that had been tightly rolled and pierced with a toothpick; the slice of tomato sitting atop some iceberg lettuce; the cranberry sauce; and, of course, the dinner roll.

All of this created the most popular and most recognized meal on the island. It probably still is! And, more importantly, it created my all-time favourite meal. I could seriously eat this every day and never grow tired of it.

INGREDIENTS NEEDED TO PREPARE THIS RECIPE

The following is a list of the ingredients needed to prepare this recipe. For exact amounts and measurements, refer to the printable recipe card located near the bottom of this post.

• Potatoes – Use 6-8 medium-sized white flesh potatoes. You can easily double or even triple this recipe if you need to feed more than eight people.
• Mayonnaise – You can use any mayonnaise, even the fat free stuff!
• Sugar – Traditional Newfoundland potato salads are a little sweet. I use just two tablespoons in my version, but some people like to add much more.
• Pickled Beets – You can buy pickled beets from a grocery store, but I prefer to make my own.
• Salt

HOW TO MAKE A PICKLED BEET POTATO SALAD

Once the potatoes are peeled and chopped, add them to a large pot and cover the potatoes with cold water. Add a good pinch of salt and bring to a boil. Cook until potatoes are fork-tender. Drain and set aside to cool slightly.

Using a hand-held potato masher, or a potato ricer, mash the potatoes leaving no lumps. Add all of the other ingredients, except for 1/4 cup of the beet juice, and using a large spoon, vigorously mix all of the ingredients together.

Taste for seasoning and sweetness and adjust accordingly. Add more beet juice if you would like a deep pink potato salad, but only add the extra beet juice if the potato salad is not already too moist. Transfer to a glass bowl with a tight fitting lid. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight for best results.

WHAT TYPE OF BEETS CAN BE USED?

When I was a child, I actually didn’t like pickled beet potato salad at all.  I’m certain the main reason was that my mom used store-bought beets. The were already diced an in a thick sauce. I wasn’t a fan of those particular store-bought beets for potato salad, however, they work really well with pan-fried liver.  God, I miss eating liver!

When I was married, my ex wife and her mother used to make pickled beet potato salad using homemade pickled beets.  Once I tasted it that way, I was converted, and I will only make it that way myself now. 

I should mention that if you don’t have homemade pickled beets, you can certainly make your own.  Here’s a recipe for pickled beets that I got from my dad: Dad’s Canned Pickled Beets.

If you don’t have the time to prepare your own pickled beets, you can certainly buy a jar of whole pickled beets at the grocery store.  I recommend the Bick’s brand.  Be sure to buy the whole beets if at all possible.  First of all, the whole beets are smaller in diameter. This means you have a more tender, young beet, and will be more flavourful.  Secondly, the sliced type are made up of older beets, damaged or bruised beets. 

NEWFOUNDLANDERS KNOW A GOOD POTATO SALAD

I was born and raised in Newfoundland. Do you know what that means? Among other things, it means that I know potato salad better than anyone! As a food blogger, it is my job to try recipes, and I’ve tried more potato salads that I care to count. However, you can bet that if I were to make a list, this Pickled Beet Potato Salad would be in the top three!

My absolute favourite type of potato salad is this Vegetable Potato Salad. If you travel across the island, you will discover that just about everyone makes it just a little differently. But, there are a few constant staples. For example, almost all Newfoundlanders will use canned mixed vegetables in their potato salad. And, by doing so, they are right!

Some of them will add apples. But, I’d rather be trapped in a butterfly conservatory. Those of you who know me well can just imagine how horrifying that would be for me! Some people add raw onion. I love the flavour of onion, but not raw, and certainly not in a potato salad. It overpowers the whole recipe! Some will add egg. I do. I love the texture and taste of eggs in a Vegetable Potato Salad.

There’s also a Mustard Potato Salad that make up the last of the three most common varieties. That one is just potatoes, mustard, sugar, and mayonnaise. I like to add a canned of mixed vegetables to my mustard salad as well – just like I do for the white vegetable salad. But, again that varies from home to home.

CONCLUSION:

The result, whether you buy prepared pickled beets, or if you prepare your own, will be favourable. But, as you no doubt know, using your own beets will yield a better tasting potato salad.  And, in a recipe so simple as this, with just a few ingredients, you want to use only the best you can get!