Change up your side dish routine and make this Smoky Chipotle Grilled Potato Salad. No need to precook the potatoes before they hit the grill!
Let me interrupt your regularly scheduled programming of cocktails and baked goods with hidden veggies for a moment to bring you this wonderful summer side dish - Smoky Chipotle Grilled Potato Salad.
Okay, so I've been in a little bit of a rut these past few weeks. But let's be honest - I don't really think a rut of homemade fruity cocktails and delicious home-baked goods is really all that bad. And there will probably be more to come, just to warn you. But for now, let's talk about these potatoes.
I almost never eat potato salad. Hubby doesn't like mayo, so I don't make it at home. I usually skip it if I'm at a potluck or barbecue because it usually seems like it's more mayo than anything else, and that just doesn't appeal to me.
But every once in a while, I'll have a really great non-mayo-based salad. This smoky chipotle version is kind of a happy medium. While it does have a little bit of mayo (only 1 Tablespoon for a 4 serving recipe), it's not enough that you would even notice it's there.
What you do taste, is a wonderful smokiness from the grilled potatoes, bacon, and chipotle peppers, as well as a bit of heat from the latter.
This side dish is great to make when you're already heating up the grill for your entree, say a burger or other grilled meat.
There is no precooking of the potatoes required - the grill does all of the work. The only time you'll ever need to step into your kitchen is to cook the bacon, and you can do that ahead of time if you really want.
How to make Smoky Chipotle Grilled Potato Salad:
This potato salad is cooked almost completely on the grill. The only cooking that doesn't happen on the grill is cooking the bacon. And of course, if you have a side burner for your grill, you could use that. Or use pre-cooked bacon.
The potato and onion for this salad are both cooked on the grill. To prevent the sliced onions from falling apart while they're cooking, I like to use a toothpick to hold them together.
After the grilling is done, simply toss the warm potatoes and onions with the dressing, bacon, and some scallions, and you've got a delicious salad to serve with your main course.
Smoky Chipotle Grilled Potato Salad Ingredients:
- Bacon: Either regular pork bacon or turkey bacon are fine. If you want to save time and/or indoor cooking, feel free to use pre-cooked bacon.
- apple cider vinegar
- Mayonnaise: either regular or light
- Chipotle pepper in adobo sauce: buy them already minced if you can, otherwise simply mince it yourself.
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Olive oil
- Small red potatoes
- Onion
- Scallion
Want more Grilling recipes?
Smoky Chipotle Grilled Potato Salad Nutrition Notes:
While it's necessary to contribute to the smoky flavor of the Grilled Potato Salad, the bacon is a significant source of fat, saturated fat, and calories. If you're looking to cut down, use turkey bacon instead.
You could also use light mayo instead of regular, but it won't make a huge difference overall, because the amount used in the recipe is so small anyway.
Since the potatoes are cooked with the skin on, this recipe is a good source of fiber and potassium.
Smoky Chipotle Grilled Potato Salad
Ingredients
- 3 slices bacon, coarsely chopped
- 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon minced chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil (plus extra for brushing)
- 1 ½ pounds small red potatoes, scrubbed clean and halved lengthwise
- 1 small onion
- 1 large scallion, sliced thin
Instructions
- Cook bacon in a small skillet over medium heat until crisp, about 5-7 minutes. Transfer bacon to a paper towel lined plate to drain. Reserve 1 Tablespoon of the bacon grease.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the red wine vinegar, mayonnaise, chipotle, ¼ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper until combined. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil and continue whisking until the mixture is emulsified. Set aside.
- Turn all burners of your grill to high and heat for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and clean and oil grill.
- Peel onion and cut it into ½ inch slices (you'll probably only get 3-4 slices from a small onion). Stick a toothpick horizontally through each slice to keep it from falling apart. Lightly brush both sides of each onion slice with oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss potato halves with the reserved bacon grease and ¼ teaspoon of salt.
- Place potatoes (cut side down) and onions on the grill. Cook until the bottoms are browned and have defined grill marks, about 10-12 minutes. Flip both potatoes and onions and continue cooking until the bottoms are browned with grill marks, 10-14 more minutes. Transfer potatoes and onions to a large plate to cool.
- Remove toothpicks from onions and coarsely chop. Cut potatoes into bite-sized (about ½-1 inch) pieces. Add potatoes, onions, bacon and scallions to the bowl with the dressing and toss to coat.
Nutrition
Judy C. says
Okay, this is has to be yummy! We absolutely love side dishes made on the grill and this one will definitely be in the lineup. We might even try to TexMex it up a bit by tossing in some cilantro and coriander but I suspect the recipe is perfect the way it is. Can't wait to try it tonight. Thanks for posting this!
Carissa says
I hope you love it as much as I do!