Korean Potato Salad With Apples

Korean Potato Salad With Apples

The Spruce / Stephanie Goldfinger

Prep: 15 mins
Cook: 10 mins
Total: 25 mins
Servings: 6 servings

Potato salad is popular in Korea, which surprises many non-Asians. Besides being enjoyed as a side dish, it is used as a sandwich filling, an idea that is uncommon in Western cuisine.

So what makes Korean potato salad quintessentially Korean and different from American potato salad (with its heavy emphasis on mayonnaise) and German potato salad (with its bacon and vinegar ingredients)?

Unlike Western versions of this popular side dish, Korean potato salad can include fruit and vegetables. This version, for example, includes a carrot, an apple, and half a cucumber, along with the expected potatoes. It also includes half an onion, which adds some tangy flavor to the mix but is not uncommon in Western recipes.

There's also no vinegary component to this Korean potato salad—the recipe relies only on mayonnaise to blend the various ingredients.

Finally, feel free to experiment with some of your own additions to this Korean potato salad. Half a cup of sweet corn can add some nice flavor, and some people even use macaroni elbows in their potato salads.

Ingredients

  • 4 small to medium potatoes, peeled and cubed

  • 1 small carrot, cut into small chunks

  • 2 large hard-boiled eggs

  • 1/2 small cucumber, thinly sliced

  • 1/2 small yellow onion, or sweet onion, thinly sliced and diced

  • 1 small apple, cut into small chunks

  • 3/4 cup mayonnaise

  • Salt, to taste

  • Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

    Korean Potato Salad With Apples ingredients

    The Spruce / Stephanie Goldfinger

  2. Boil potatoes until tender, about 10 minutes.

    potatoes boiling in a pot of water

    The Spruce / Stephanie Goldfinger

  3. Add the carrot for the last 8 minutes.

    carrots and potatoes in a pot of water

    The Spruce / Stephanie Goldfinger

  4. While cooking, sprinkle salt on the cucumber and onion and let them sweat for about 10 minutes.

    cucumbers and onions in a bowl

    The Spruce / Stephanie Goldfinger

  5. Remove potatoes and carrot and let cool.

    potatoes and carrots in a colander

    The Spruce / Stephanie Goldfinger

  6. Rinse cucumber and onion lightly and squeeze out excess water with paper towels.

    cucumber in a colander with a paper towel

    The Spruce / Stephanie Goldfinger

  7. Separate egg whites from the yolks; cut egg whites in to small chunks and in a small bowl, use a fork to mash up the yolks into a fine powder.

    egg yolks and white separated and cut into pieces

    The Spruce / Stephanie Goldfinger

  8. In a large bowl, add mayonnaise and all of the other ingredients except for the egg yolks, and mix gently. Taste and add salt and pepper as desired. Garnish the top with the fluffy egg yolks.

    Korean Potato Salad With Apples in a bowl

    The Spruce / Stephanie Goldfinger

Recipe Variations

  • You can leave the skin on the potatoes if you're using red potatoes.
  • As an option, you can include ham or Canadian bacon (not American bacon), which is especially desired when using it as a sandwich filling. Meat may be omitted if you are using it as banchan (side dish).
  • When making sandwiches from your potato salad, consider using toasted bread instead of plain bread—it will hold up better to this hearty, somewhat heavy mix.
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
376 Calories
23g Fat
38g Carbs
6g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 6
Amount per serving
Calories 376
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 23g 29%
Saturated Fat 4g 19%
Cholesterol 74mg 25%
Sodium 318mg 14%
Total Carbohydrate 38g 14%
Dietary Fiber 5g 16%
Total Sugars 7g
Protein 6g
Vitamin C 17mg 86%
Calcium 46mg 4%
Iron 2mg 11%
Potassium 914mg 19%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

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