I Tried And Ranked 7 Walmart Potato Salads From Worst To Best

All my justifications for not buying deli potato salad were blown to smithereens when I took on the assignment to taste test all of Walmart's Freshness Guaranteed label potato salads. First of all, I had no idea there were so many kinds. My local Walmart stocks seven types of private label potato salad. There were a few varieties I hadn't heard of, and some had ingredients I've never seen included in a potato salad before.

Another reason I usually pass on store-bought potato salad is that it conjures up an image of a glass display case full of vats of discolored salads that are getting crusty at the edges and have bits of contamination from neighboring salad vats in them. Shudder. I am relieved to learn that Walmart's premade salads are made fresh at a factory and packed in plastic tubs. Once shipped to the store, they can be found stacked in sanitary rows in the refrigerated case. Of course, food safety protocols still must be followed to prevent food poisoning, but I feel better knowing the salads have been prepared and stored safely from the get-go.

Lastly, I just always thought my family's potato salad recipe was better than anything I could buy at a store. Much to my surprise (and my mom's disappointment) I discovered premade potato salads can, in fact, be delicious. There are some that have drab flavors or unpleasant textures, but I did discover quite a few varieties of potato salad that I will be purchasing again.

In an ironic twist of fate, Original Potato Salad, the one which apparently started it all, was my least favorite. While it is the grandmother of the potato salad, the innovative flavor spin-offs were more flavorful and interesting to eat. Like many "grandmother recipes" this one hasn't been updated and just doesn't interest the modern palate. This potato salad had all the requisite characteristics: The dressing was creamy, the potatoes firm-but-tender, and there were soft and crunchy elements. However, the slightly sweet, somewhat vinegary dressing was overpowered by the sharp tang of the red pepper bits, which permeated the salad with a distinct bitterness.

This original potato salad was also visibly inferior compared to the other salads I sampled. The dressing seemed thin and pale in an unappetizing way. All potato salads contain an emulsifier — typically mayonnaise, Miracle Whip, or sour cream — which keeps everything sticking together, but each has its own flavor and mouthfeel. Different types of mayonnaise can alter the taste and texture – The Takeout has an opinion on which store-bought brands are best. Additionally, mayonnaise variations eaten around the world can change the salad's flavor profile and moisture content. I doubt the mayo base used in this salad was anything imported or premium. In the end, the Original Potato Salad was just a regular, boring variety that finished dead last in this taste test.

It's important that a potato salad's potatoes are cooked to the perfect texture — not too soft and not too hard. This is generally accomplished by using the right kind of potatoes and cutting these into uniform sized pieces so that they keep their shape. All of the other deli salads I tried had well cooked potatoes, but these chunks were inconsistent in texture and a few bites even tasted crunchy and raw. The bits of celery were also particularly crunchy, but what was most disturbing were the random, firm bits of something tiny, like raw dill weed or celery, that refused to break down when chewing a mouthful of salad.

Considering its name, a deviled egg potato salad has to feature certain ingredients: Eggs, paprika, mayo, and mustard. This salad did have a good amount of hard-cooked egg pieces, though the whites are oddly chewy. The dressing was a creamy, buttery-yellow mix of mayo and mustard speckled with spices, including paprika, which not only adds color, but also a hint of heat.

Unlike its inspiration, the Deviled Egg Potato Salad contained a generous amount of both salt and sugar. In fact, the dressing was sweeter than I expected it to be. A quick glance at the nutritional information confirmed it had a higher amount of sugar than many of the other varieties. Overall, this salad didn't deliver in taste or texture, which is why it landed second to last on this ranking.

The influence of Amish culture on the Midwest is most obvious in the regional cuisine, which borrows heavily from traditional Amish dishes. Amish-style potato salad may be common in Pennsylvania, but it is foreign in the Western United States where the default deli potato salad is savory. That explains why this was my first taste of the Amish variation. I've never seen it at a store before.

My first impression was that Amish Potato Salad is super sweet. It contains the same mayo, mustard, vinegar, and pickle relish that mustard potato salads do. The differences are that the Amish mix sugar directly into the dressing, and they use sweet pickles instead of dill pickles. I could taste all 10 grams of sugar, which is the third ingredient after potatoes and mayonnaise in this variety. Incidentally, my Walmart also sells a premade Amish Macaroni Salad which is even sweeter. It contains a whopping 16 grams of sugar per serving. It really is surprising the amount of sugar hiding in some supermarket products. 

Despite its dull color and the abundant sugar content, this was a pretty tasty potato salad, with a unique sweet-and-sour flavor from the sweet pickle relish, and some soft and crunchy textural contrast from the potatoes, onions, and celery. It just didn't excite as much as some of the other flavors I sampled, which is why it landed in the bottom three. 

No one is more surprised than me that I liked this salad. Normally, I can't handle the heat of jalapeño peppers and I don't like the flavor, so I typically swap in less spicy peppers for my poppers. Needless to say, I was reluctant to taste the Jalapeño Popper Potato Salad. However, my curiosity overcame my trepidation. I had a stack of crackers at the ready to cleanse my palate, but I was pleasantly surprised that there was no bitter buzz in my bite. Turns out, the salad contains more Anaheim peppers than actual jalapeño peppers, as revealed on the list of ingredients. The peppers do have a pop of acid and a warm, but subtle, heat that is rounded out by the other flavors. These include smoky bacon, tangy sour cream, and three kinds of rich and creamy cheeses (pepper jack, cheddar, and mozzarella). 

However, because the cubes of al dente potatoes get lost in the gobs of thick, rich "dressing," which behaves more like a cream cheese-based dip or a thick and sticky mashed potato side dish, I'm not even sure whether to call this delicious combination of ingredients a lip-smacking twist on a potato salad or a cold pepper popper dip with bits of potato. That does not mean I would not proudly take this to my next picnic dinner. I just wouldn't call it a potato salad.

There's no question what kind of potato salad you are eating when you bite into this one. It absolutely tastes like a cold, but fully loaded, baked potato with the requisite cheddar cheese, sour cream, and bacon. This was different than the other potato salads which got their acid from vinegar or pickles, because it relied on the tang of sour cream to brighten the dish. When a salad is less acidic, all of the other ingredients get a chance to stand out more in the dish.

The bacon flavor was the most prevalent. It added a smoky and salty tone. And, this was real bacon, not crunchy bacon bits, which was made obvious when one of the more gristly pieces put up a pretty good fight while I tried to chew through it. The shredded cheddar cheese added a bright color to the mostly white salad. Its sharp flavor notes and creamy mouthfeel were a reminder of why cheese actually makes a great addition to potato salad. The diced potatoes, which were plentiful, were on the firm side of soft and lent an earthy flavor to the salad.

Of course, the best way to enjoy a loaded potato is hot and melty. But, the next best way is to luxuriate in its smoky, savory flavors, and creamy goodness in Walmart's Freshnes Guaranteed Premium Loaded Potato Salad.

This classic potato salad recipe is the one I grew up with, so to me, it tasted like a picnic. It's the same story for many others which is why this mustard-based salad rates highly among grocery store varieties. I loved the creamy and tangy mix of mayonnaise and mustard as the base. When combined with the briny pop of sweet pickles, it was the perfect complementary flavor to capture the attention of my taste buds.

There was plenty of textural contrast in this salad, too. The potato pieces were firm enough to not fall apart in the dressing but were soft enough when chewed. The addition of crisp celery created a crunchy contrast. What I liked most about this salad was its rich, yellow hue (due to the turmeric in the mustard). There were a lot of salty notes and an above average presence of zing, which was less from the white vinegar and more likely mustered up by the mustard's acidic ingredients.

This variety of potato salad is pretty common so it isn't hard to find at any store or deli. With its bright color and punch of flavors, it's the kind of side dish that is the perfect pairing for a simple sandwich or a welcome contribution to a BBQ spread.

Of all the different types, waxy red potatoes are widely accepted as among the best variety to use for potato salad. First, they are low in starch content, which helps keep their shape when cooked. Second, they have thin skin, which eliminates the need to peel them, as this doesn't impact the mouthfeel of the salad.

These unique characteristics are what separated this salad from the others. Breaking the mold of diced taters, the red-skinned potatoes were cut in slices, which filled my mouth with substantial, but easily chewed, coins of earthy potato taste. Between the large pieces and skin-on flavor, this was the most potato-forward of all the salad varieties. The root vegetables did not lose their identity to become just a lump in the silky, smooth, rich, and well-seasoned salad dressing — they were the headliner.

That's not to downplay the salad's other winning elements. The dressing was ultra-creamy and tangy, and the bursts of acid and crunch from minced vegetables and pickles were satisfyingly briny and flavorful. Most of all, there was an addictive zing of seasoning speckled throughout the salad that made me want to keep coming back for more.

To determine the ranking for Walmart's Freshness Guaranteed potato salads, I compared them to my expectations for homemade potato salads. First and foremost, they had to taste good and the ingredients had to work together. I paid attention to texture, looking for a good cook on the vegetables and complementing textures from follow-up ingredients. I rated brighter-tasting salads higher than those that with less acidity or more muted flavors. My opinions were heavily swayed by appearance. I wasn't going to give full marks to a salad that looked like a sad deli salad. I wanted one that looked homemade. Walmart's Freshness Guaranteed potato salads lived up to their name, remaining surprisingly fresh as I sampled them over the course of a few days.