Southwestern Potato Salad

by Sabrina Snyder

Last Update:

6 Comments

5 from 1 vote
10 Servings
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Refrigerate 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes
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Southwestern Potato Salad is colorful, hearty, and easy to make. It is delicious and the perfect addition to BBQs, potlucks, and Summer meals.

Once you picked the main dish, all that is left is picking the perfect Sides. From Bacon Blue Cheese Potato Salad to Loaded Baked Potato Salad, you have tons of options to serve up at the next cookout or potluck you go to.

Ingredients mixed together ready to serve
Ingredients ready to be mixed together with dressing
Closeup of the mixed ingredients with dressing

Sabrina’s Southwestern Potato Salad Recipe

One of the best things about Southwestern Potato Salad is that it tastes even better after it has chilled for a few hours. It’s also easy to prepare ahead of time, making it a stress free addition to parties and family meals. Every bite is packed with bold flavors and colorful ingredients, making it a side dish that’s just as beautiful on the table as it is delicious to eat. No matter how you serve it, this potato salad is always a crowd pleaser and one of those recipes everyone will be asking you to bring to the next cookout.

Recipe Card

Dinner, then Dessert

Southwestern Potato Salad Recipe

Southwestern Potato Salad is colorful, hearty, and easy to make. It is delicious and the perfect addition to BBQs, potlucks, and Summer meals.
Yield 10 Servings
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Course Dinner
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder
Ingredients mixed together ready to serve
PrintRate

Ingredients
 

  • 2 pounds russet potatoes , peeled and cut into 2” chunks
  • 2 chicken breasts , chopped and cooked
  • 1 jalapeno , deveined deseeded and minced
  • 1 cup sweet corn
  • 1 15-oz. can black beans , drained and rinsed
  • 1 cup cheddar cheese , shredded
  • 2 cups cherry tomatoes , halved
  • 2 avocados , diced
  • 1/3 cup cilantro , chopped

Dressing:

  • 1 cup mayonnaise
  • 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
  • 2 limes , juiced
  • 2 tablespoons taco seasoning
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Instructions

  • Add potatoes and water and bring to a boil, cooking 10-12 minutes until potatoes are fork tender.
  • Drain and and cool, 5 minutes.
  • Meanwhile, make dressing: Whisk all ingredients together. Taste and add salt as desired.
  • Stir corn, black beans, cheese, tomatoes, avocados, chicken and cilantro in with potatoes. Toss with dressing.
  • Cover tightly and refrigerate 1 hour before serving.

Nutrition

Calories: 412kcal | Carbohydrates: 26g | Protein: 16g | Fat: 28g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 11g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 0.05g | Cholesterol: 50mg | Sodium: 437mg | Potassium: 874mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 492IU | Vitamin C: 23mg | Calcium: 109mg | Iron: 2mg

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Sabrina’s Tip

For the best texture, cook the potatoes until they are fork tender but not falling apart. Allow them to cool slightly before tossing them with the dressing so they absorb the flavors without becoming mushy, and fold in delicate ingredients like avocado just before serving to keep them fresh.

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About This Recipe

Classic potato salad is all well and good, but sometimes you need to change things up a little. My take on a traditional potato salad recipe uses all of the basic ingredients plus a variety of southwestern flavors, from chicken and sweet corn to fresh lime juice and avocado. If you’re looking for a fun side dish to fit a southwestern-themed meal you should try out this recipe. This salad is designed to be served chilled, so if you have a lot to get done the day of your cookout you can make the salad the day before and keep it in the fridge until you’re ready to serve it up.

How To Store

  • Serve: Because of the mayo in the recipe, you shouldn’t leave the potato salad out for longer than 2 hours before refrigerating.
  • Store: Potato salad leftovers are good in the fridge for about 3 days before they go bad.
  • Freeze: I don’t recommend freezing this salad, the mayo doesn’t thaw out well so you’ll end up with a mushy mess.

Ideas to Serve

  • Classic Pot Roast: Is there anything that pot roast isn’t delicious with? Maybe ice cream, but you never know until you try. Potato salad is a great side dish to contrast with the rich, meaty flavor of the roast because of how light, cool and summery the salad is.
  • Oven Baked Beef Tacos: If you want to go with the summer taste, cook up some beef tacos. They’re great for sharing, but I won’t judge if you want them all for yourself.
  • Grilled Pork Tenderloin: If you’re planning a dinner you can grill up on the BBQ, you should try this pork recipe. The tenderloin ends up moist and juicy instead of drying out like a lot of meat does over an open fire. The pork tenderloin goes really well with the potato salad and both make great leftovers for later.

Variations

  • Onion: For a little bit of a bite, add diced red onion, green onion or scallions to the Southwestern potato salad. You only need to add a little bit, as the flavor goes a long way.
  • Spices: Try mixing cumin, red pepper flakes, dijon mustard, or cayenne pepper into the dressing if you want to mix up the taste a little.
  • Veggies: You can go nuts with the veggies for this recipe. Finely chop a red bell pepper and some celery to add a pleasant crunch.
  • BBQ: Mix some BBQ sauce into the dressing to give your potato salad even more of a southwest flavor. The BBQ sauce goes really well with the tang of the lime juice.
  • Vegan: To make this recipe vegan friendly, all you have to do is switch out the mayo and the cheese for diary-free substitutes. Apart from those two elements, Southwestern potato salad is made up of completely vegan ingredients.
  • Sour cream: Top the potato salad off with a spoonful of sour cream. The cream gives it a little extra flavor and adds to the texture.

Creamy Deli Salads

Collage of potato salad with colorful additions

Photos Used In Previous Posts:

Ingredients in a bowl ready to be mixed
Bowl of potato salad with dressing shot from above
Side view of potato salad

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

See more posts by Sabrina

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  2. Question on the salad itself, how many chicken breast are there? They are listed twice, both the second and last ingredients. Just wondering if you meant to do that or it is a typo that was missed.

    Reply

    1. Thanks for catching that! Not enough coffee that day or maybe too much haha, it’s only 2 chicken breasts. I updated the recipe card.

      Reply

  3. Their wonderful. I already had cooked chicken breasts. Went together super quick. Thank you.
    One comment about the name: I’m from Texas and I’ve never seen anything like this I’m 70 years.
    It reminds me of restaurants serving Texas style brisket but instead of just salt and pepper rub they use a sweet, Kansas City rub.
    Sorry I vented. This site and Woks of Life are the best recipe blogs on the web.
    Blue

    Reply