The Perfect Summer Side: Ranch Potato Salad

Looking for the perfect side dish for every potluck, BBQ, cookout and family event you’ll be attending in the coming months? We’ve got this delicious ranch potato salad that will make the guests at every summer meal you attend smile.

Nearly every family I know has their own recipe for ‘The Best Potato Salad.” My family’s no different. This is a dilly of a potato salad! It’s so light and refreshing due to the fresh dill, crunchy celery and tossing in my skinny ranch dressing. Normally potato salad is prepared with lots of mayo. I’m also using a bag of multicolored potatoes but using all red potatoes or yellow ones will work just as well. Each serving has 140 calories, 3 grams of fat and 4Weight Watchers POINTS PLUS.

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

2 pounds red (new potatoes), yellow potatoes or a combination of both, cut into cubes (I used Trader Joe’s mixed bag of yellow, red and purple)

½ cup fresh dill, chopped

½ cup scallions, chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped fine

½ cup The BEST Skinny Ranch Dressing (3 ingredients)

½ teaspoon salt or to taste

Black pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Put potatoes in a medium saucepan and cover with cold water.

2. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and cook until soft (10-15 minutes). Do not overcook.

3. Drain and rinse in cold water.

4. In a large bowl, add the cooked potatoes and all remaining ingredients.

5. Gently toss, using a rubber spatula.

6. Store in refrigerator until ready to use. This potato salad will keep for several days.

Serves 6 (each serving, ¾ cup)

Food Facts
Potato salad became very popular in the second half of the 19^th century. It’s now a staple of both home and deli kitchens. The American style of making potato salad with mayonnaise has no recorded history.

New potatoes are young potatoes. They haven’t have time to completely convert their sugar fully into starch. They have a crisp, waxy texture and thin underdeveloped wispy skin. Because they keep their shape when cooked, they are particularly good to use for potato salad.

Fresh dill has been around for thousands of years. The 1^st-century Romans thought it to be a good luck symbol.

Healthy Benefits
Potatoes have surprising health benefits. No need to keep them out of your diet. They’re rich in complex carbohydrates that can supply energy. They are low in calories and contain no fat. A medium size potato contains about 120 calories and 5 grams of fiber. They contain more potassium than any other fresh vegetable, even more than bananas! Potatoes also contain vitamins C and B6.

Fresh dill has a long history of medicinal uses dating back as far as the Middle Ages. Dill helps to relieve the symptoms of such things as hiccups. One of the more recent health benefits of dill is its possible anti-cancer potential. Dill is high in substances known as monoterpenes, which have been shown to have anti-cancer activity.

Prep Tip
It’s essential that you use a rubber spatula to mix any potato salad. If you use a metal spoon, it will break the potatoes and they will become more like mashed potatoes.

Weight Watchers (old points) 3
Weight Watchers POINTS PLUS 4

SKINNY FACTS: for a ¾ cup serving
140 calories, 3g fat, 9g protein 26g carbs, 2g fiber, 113mg sodium, 1g sugar.

FAT FACTS: for a side order of KFC potato salad
230 calories, 14g fat, 4g protein, 23g carbs, 3g fiber, 540mg sodium, 9g sugar

Nancy shares amazing recipes over at her website SkinnyKitchen. Her recipes include skinny and fat facts and essential Weight Watchers Points information. Stop by and say hi and be sure to tell her we sent you.