Name: Home Kitchen Bacon Cheddar Ranch Potato Salad
Prep time: 1 h
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 2 h
Yield: 10 servings
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 3 pounds baby redskin potatoes (washed and towel dried); 1.5 tablespoon olive oil; kosher salt; 8 slices center cut bacon (cooked and crumbled plus); 1 tablespoon bacon fat (reserved); 3 green onions (sliced); 1/2 cup ranch dressing (more or less to taste); 6 ounces sharp cheddar cheese (freshly grated)

Some say Memorial Day technically kicks off the grilling season.

Even though we’ve been grilling since late February, I do believe it’s this particular weekend when we collectively grill allthethings and serve them with fresh colorful salads, grilled vegetables, potato chips and ice cold beverages. Can you tell I’m excited? I so am.

Today I have an oldie but goodie I’m re-sharing with all of you. This dish dates back to April of 2011. I had a little dressing left over and instead of having it going to waste, I tossed it in with leftover roasted potatoes, crispy bacon, sharp cheddar and green onions. Which is exactly how this dish was born. It was the go-to thing to come out of my kitchen that year and I’ve made it several times since.

Bacon. Cheddar. Ranch. Potato Salad.

Is there a more savory string of words? I don’t think so. 😉

To cook this Bacon Cheddar Ranch Potato Salad Set out:

baby potatoes – I use a blend of potatoes, but use what you can find.
olive oil – Lends fat, flavor and helps soften while roasting.
kosher salt – Enhances the flavors of the recipe.
bacon – I like to use center cut bacon in this method.
sharp cheddar – I like it cut into small cubes, however shredding it is fine too.
green onion – Adds a pop of color and fresh onion flavor.
parsley – Lends fresh herbaceous flavor.

For this dish, you can either use my Jet’s Ranch Dressing or this Buttermilk Ranch Dressing – Both are equally strong and it all depends on how much work you want to put into making ranch dressing.

Preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C.

Wash and towel dry 3 pounds of baby potatoes. Place them onto a rimmed metal sheet pan and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with 3/4 teaspoon of kosher salt. Toss to combine and slide into your preheated oven for 30 minutes or until fork tender.

Then remove and allow the potatoes to cool completely before making the potato salad. Waiting for the potatoes to cool is important. Otherwise they’ll absorb all of the ranch making the salad kind of dry.

Meanwhile, cook 8 strips of center cut bacon until crispy. Transfer the crispy bacon to a paper towel lined plate. Reserve 1 tablespoon bacon fat. Once the bacon has cooled, finely chop.

Once the potatoes have cooled, add them to a large bowl. If the potatoes are a little bigger than bite-size, cut them in half.nDrizzle with 1 tablespoon warm bacon fat and toss to coat. Next add in all of the chopped bacon, 3 sliced green onions and 6 ounces of cubed cheddar.

Then pour a 1/2 cup of the ranch over top. The cool thing about this potato salad is that all the herbs and spices are all ready in the ranch! There’s garlic, dill, parsley, chives, salt, pepper etc.

Majority of the flavor-work has already been done.

Toss together. Taste-test and season with more salt if needed.

Bacon Cheddar Ranch Potato Salad
And serve or chill in your fridge until you’re ready to eat. Then serve this will grilled chicken, burgers, ribs, brats or steak. Truly any and all the grilled food, because it’s reliable with anything!