When I first hit publish on this recipe, the text was a list of things I wanted to do before I hit 30. Now at 28 I’ve done most of those things and for some, priorities have changed – I’m not planning on doing another yoga teacher training in the near future, for example. I’m still waiting on adding a pet to the family, though!
I know that resonated with many of you, but I’ve chosen to remove it now as I’m updating the post with information relevant to the recipe. And because I don’t know if I can learn another language in the next year and a half.
This French potato salad is a far cry from the German potato salad I grew up eating. No mayo, no bacon – but lentils! Roasted new potatoes, chewy lentils, greens, and plenty of herbs, all topped off with a mustard vinaigrette. It’s a classic made into a solid vegan weeknight meal.
A handful of alternative potato salad recipes grew out of this one, mostly based on requests I’ve received from readers. This curry potato salad, a version with asparagus, and a winter rosemary potato salad.
Ingredients
- New potatoes
- Olive oil
- Sea salt
- Black or French (beluga or le puy) lentils
- Spinach or other greens (see substitutions)
- Fresh dill
- Fresh chives
- White wine vinegar
- Dijon mustard
- Maple syrup (or honey, if not vegan)
- Black pepper
Method
Preheat the oven and prep a large baking sheet. You don’t need parchment paper, but it might be preferable in case any potatoes stick. Cut any potatoes as needed to make sure they’re all about the same size and place them onto the sheet. Add the oil and salt, mixing very well, to fully coat the potatoes.
Roast the potatoes for 40-50 minutes, or until very golden and the skins look crispy. While the potatoes are in the oven, cook the lentils if they’re not already cooked, and make the vinaigrette.
Place the spinach and lentils into a large bowl, then add the roasted potatoes. Top with the vinaigrette and mix very well. The vinaigrette will partly soak into the potatoes, that’s a good thing. Serve immediately, topped with extra herbs if you’d like.
Tips and Notes
The big, important thing for this recipe is to mix everything together while the potatoes are still very hot. Have everything but the vinaigrette already in a large bowl ready for the roasted potatoes so they can go straight in.
If you’re cooking lentils specifically for this recipe, or any time, really, salt the water they’re cooked in. It makes a particular difference here to have seasoned lentils but is generally better.
Mixing the herbs with the vinaigrette rather than the spinach, for example, does improve the salad. Fats (like olive oil) help to carry flavour throughout the whole dish and it’s noticeable here. That’s also why you add the vanilla or lemon zest to the butter mixture, for example, rather than the flour, when you bake a (traditional) cake.
Leftovers are still pretty good for this potato salad, though maybe not as good as one that’s made to sit for a few hours before serving. This is at its very best when served warm, but I also like to make it for picnics and leftovers are still quite tasty the following day.
You might notice that some of the potatoes I used are red, and some are partly peeled. They’re from my garden (second early, mostly Annabelle) and some had slight potato scab which I cut off. I don’t recommend peeling your potatoes for this recipe.
Substitutions
Okay – I make this all the time. I’m talking at least once a week, so buckle in here. Though my favourite time of year for this salad is in late spring or summer, when my own new potatoes are fresh from the garden and the herbs are in full swing, it can be made all year with some variations. The recipe as written is how it’s the very best, though.
Dried dill is one of the few herbs that dries very well, so it can be used in place of fresh. A tablespoon or do will do it. Freeze dried chives are best if you want to sub them, or use green onion or very finely sliced red onion. Any regular mustard (not yellow hotdog mustard) can be used in place of Dijon.
Red wine vinegar will work, as will plain white vinegar in a pinch, though I recommend using a smaller amount as the acidity is higher. You can also use lemon juice.
French green (le puy), black (beluga), or brown (mountain) lentils all work in the same way here and I use them interchangeably. Red lentils and the big brown/green ones are not nice in this recipe and are not recommended. I’ve used black in the photos because they’re least expensive and easiest to find where I’m currently living.
Spinach, rucola, chard, baby kale, or any greens you like when they aren’t really cooked – just wilted – are great! I do rucola and spinach in the warmer months and then switch to mostly chard over the winter here because I have it in the garden.
You can also use larger potatoes cut into cubes instead of new, baby potatoes. I like it a bit less this way, and the texture changes, but it’s still good. It’s not necessary to go out and buy a bag of overpriced small potatoes if you have perfectly good larger ones sitting around.
More Potato Recipes
Lentil and Potato Stew
Creamy Cauliflower Potato Soup
Potato Pea Curry
Potato Leek Soup with Lemon
Kale and Olive Oil Mashed Potatoes
Let’s connect! For more OE, follow along on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest, purchase the Occasionally Eggs cookbook, or subscribe for new posts via email. If you make this recipe, I’d love to see! Tag your instagram versions with @occasionallyeggs and #occasionallyeggs.
Roasted New Potato Salad with Lentils and Herb Dressing
This roasted French potato salad with lentils and a herby dressing is a far cry from standard mayo-filled potato salad - it's very light and a meal in itself with protein-packed lentils and spinach. The herb vinaigrette lifts everything up here, with dill, chives, and a little spicy mustard, perfect for picnics and barbecues.
Ingredients
Roasted Potato Salad
- 1 kilogram (2 lb.) new potatoes
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 300 grams (2 cups) cooked black or green lentils (belgua or le puy)
- 50 grams (2 cups) fresh rucola or spinach
Herb Vinaigrette
- 60 ml (1/4 cup) extra virgin olive oil
- 10 grams (1/4 cup) dill, finely chopped
- 10 grams (1/4 cup) chives, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon honey or maple syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200C (400F) and line a baking tray with parchment paper. Scrub the potatoes and cut any larger ones so that they're all roughly the same size (about the size of a golf ball).
- Add the olive oil and salt and use your hands to mix until the potatoes are well coated. Roast for 40-50 minutes, or until very golden.
- To make the dressing, add the olive oil, dill, chives, vinegar, mustard, maple syrup, salt, and pepper to a jar or small bowl and mix to fully combine. It should be a light golden colour and not separated.
- To assemble the salad, place the spinach and lentils into a large bowl. Top with the potatoes immediately after coming out of the oven.
- Pour the dressing over the salad and mix until the potatoes are fully coated with dressing and the spinach is wilted. Serve immediately.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 196Total Fat: 6gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 27mgCarbohydrates: 30gFiber: 12gSugar: 2gProtein: 14g
This data is provided by a calculator and is a rough estimation of the nutritional information in this recipe.
Newsletter
This post was originally published in August 2016. It has been updated with new photos and improvements to the text and recipe as of September 2020.
traci | Vanilla And Bean says
Ohhh I'm in loooove with this pot salad.. just enough vinager for a punch, but the herbs shine! And I love the idea of roasting! Sooo good! Sounds like you've got your priorites in order. It's good to have clear goals. Sometimes there's so much I want to do, I get overwhelmed and do nothing .. (what's that?!) Sheesh! I love your decision on a small wedding – super wise for a woman your age. It's easy for some to get caught up in the glitz and glamor… but the real deal comes after the wedding.. for years. I think a trip or house is longer lasting than an expensive wedding for sure! Good for you for taking off from grad school. I know that must have been a hard decision, but in hindsight, you know now it was the right one. You've so much coming up/going on! Yay you! That cookbook will happen soon. I can't wait!
Alexandra Daum says
I do the same thing sometimes! We all need a break every once in a while though. Traci, you're the sweetest! Thank you!
Markus Mueller says
This looks delicious! Potato salad has always been part of the traditional meal for Christmas. I like the addition of the lentils and your herb dressing looks so good with the salad!
Dylan says
These potatoes are cooked to perfection! Your list of goals is fun to read. I am still in grad school and dream of all my creative blogging goals but as you alluded to, while in grad school I can only focus on a few of them right now! Eek. What did you study?
Samantha @mykitchenlove says
Looks fantastic! I wish dill was still in season – these photos of me craving it. Your list is extensive! And Twitter deserve it's own spot 😉 JK. All your points sound like great life experiences. Good luck!
Culinary Cool says
That herb dressing looks so fresh and irresistible. Love the list of goals. It's always nice to put those things into writing and cross them off once they happen!
Anonymous says
Hey thanks so much for this recipe. It's really lite for a spud salad and it has now replaced our usual 'german style' potato salad. I forgot to buy potatoes so I'm about to try it with sweet potato….here goes….
Chey says
How was it with sweet potatoes?
Alexandra Daum says
I'm happy to hear it! I hope it works out! I make a sweet potato salad that I adapted from this recipe but add extra spices to the sweet potatoes before roasting – I find the texture is different but it still tastes good.
David Friesen says
These were delicious. I paired them with a maple-dijon green bean dish.
Alexandra Daum says
Happy to hear it, David!
Jill Jackling says
Great recipe, not sure we can get avocado oil in the UK, can you recommend an alternative?
Alexandra Daum says
Hi Jill! You could use coconut oil as a good high-heat alternative, and choose refined if you're concerned about any coconut taste. Otherwise olive is good!
Belinda Symons says
Oh my goodness, this is delicious! I made it for dinner a few nights ago & I'm still dreaming about it.
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe.
Just read another comment regarding sweet potatoes. What spices do you cook those in when you make this salad?
Alexandra Daum says
I'm so happy to hear that, Belinda! I use cumin, turmeric, & coriander in equal amounts, and then a little cardamom and salt and pepper. I use parsley or cilantro instead of the dill and chives and leave the mustard out of the dressing. Hope that helps!
Erin G says
I love roasted potatoes but they never soften all the way through when I just roast. Did you parboil these before sticking them in the oven? Looks delectable!
Alexandra Daum says
Thanks Erin! No, I don't parboil them, just the direct roast. They're in the oven for an hour though, I've never had any problems with undercooked potatoes for this recipe. If you have a lot of issues with under cooking, then I imagine you could parboil them.
Anonymous says
this looks delicious and the photos make it look amazing!
Delin says
I didn't have fresh dill so subbed dry…and no chives so I roasted an onion with the potatoes. I've made several vegan potato salad recipes in the past month. This was THE winner!
kc bodiford says
I loved this recipe! I put it on a bed of spinach/arugula because these potatoes are so good it's easy to sneak more of my greens in! And you inspired me to make a by-30 list (and a by-35 list since 30 isn't too far away for me). Thanks for the inspiration!
Alexandra Daum says
Woohoo so happy to hear that, and I hope you complete everything on your list and more!
Kimberly Baxter says
Made this for dinner last night. So good! Thanks for the recipe.
anna says
You’re a fantastic cook.
NinaD says
Super Yummy . I made this for a dinner for board members of a non profit. They were star struck!! I parired with vegan barbecue meat balls and quinoa and black bean salad for this veggie and vegan crowd.
Meghan says
I’ve been eyeing this recipe for so long now, and I finally had the chance to make it! It was absolutely incredible! It worked beautifully with green lentils and red wine vinegar.
Josie says
This is the BEST potato salad ever! Tasty, healthy, light but filling! Soooooooo good! Thank you for sharing! I just want to make it again & again… xxx