Korean Potato Salad (Gamja Salad)
Creamy Korean potato salad is a popular side dish often served in Korean BBQ restaurants and homes. Fluffy mashed potatoes are combined with crunchy vegetables and simple ingredients to create a delightful taste and pleasant texture.
Living in Korea has its perks, especially when it comes to fresh produce. This time of year, the local markets are brimming with newly harvested young potatoes. It reminded me of a dish I used to adore—Korean potato salad.
So, I picked up a few potatoes and decided to make it just like my mom used to. Simple and delicious. Known as gamja salad (감자 사라다), this Korean-style potato salad is famous for its creamy texture, smoother than its Western cousin.
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It’s made with boiled and mashed potatoes, hard-boiled eggs, and crunchy veggies like cucumber and carrot. Sometimes, fresh fruits like apples and even raisins find their way in, adding a delightful sweetness.
This mayonnaise-based salad is usually a side dish, and let me tell you, it was always the first to disappear at family gatherings. In Korea, it’s also popular as a breakfast sandwich filling. They stuff it into soft dinner rolls, which are called morning bread (모닝빵) here. A potato salad sandwich for breakfast? Yes, please!
My recipe for Korean potato salad is straightforward with a few household ingredients, and it comes together quickly. I added a bit of chopped onion for extra savory flavor, and it turned out great. Give this Korean potato side dish a try. It’s unique and delicious!
Ingredient highlights
- Potatoes: Korean potatoes are incredibly creamy and smooth, almost velvety when mashed. If you can’t find Korean potatoes, Yukon Golds are the closest variety available in the West.
- If Yukon Golds are not an option, fingerling or russet potatoes can be substituted.
- Hard-Boiled Eggs: For convenience, you can use pre-boiled eggs from the store. Otherwise, boil the eggs separately and peel off the shells.
- Vegetables: Cucumber, carrot, and onion add a crunchy texture and a savory taste to the salad, balancing the creaminess of the potatoes.
- Dressing: This is a mayonnaise-based potato salad, so mayonnaise is the key component. You will also need yellow mustard for some zing and honey for a little sweetness.
- I like to add a tablespoon of melted butter to enhance the creaminess and create a more cohesive texture.
How to make Korean potato salad
Prepare the Vegetables
Season sliced cucumber and chopped carrot and onion with salt, sugar, and vinegar in a bowl to draw out moisture. Then, squeeze the veggies to remove the excess water.
Cook the Potatoes
Boil potato chunks until tender and drain. Mash them with a fork or potato masher until fluffy.
Mix the Salad
Combine the mashed potatoes with the veggies, chopped eggs, mayonnaise, mustard, honey and melted butter, then mix well. Adjust seasoning with more salt if needed.
Finely chop the hard-boiled eggs, reserving 1-2 yolks for garnish.
Optional Garnish
Reserve a couple of egg yolks for garnish. Press them through a mesh strainer over the salad to create fine yellow crumbs, adding a beautiful touch.
Helpful Tips
- Enjoy potato salad at room temperature or chilled. Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
- For a heartier taste and crunchy texture, try adding finely chopped deli ham, apples, raisins, or other small pieces of dried fruit.
- Typically, Korean potato salad is served as a side dish, but you can stuff it in soft rolls or sandwich bread to enjoy as a breakfast sandwich, similar to an egg salad sandwich, if you don’t mind a carb-rich breakfast.
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Korean Potato Salad (Gamja Salad)
Recipe Video
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 lb (600 g) potatoes, yukon or russet
- 1/2 English cucumber or 1 Lebanese cucumber, thinly sliced
- 1/2 small carrot, finely chopped
- 1/4 medium onion, finely chopped
- 3 hard boiled eggs
- 4 tbsp mayonnaise
- 2 tsp yellow mustard
- 1-2 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp melted butter
- salt and pepper, to taste
Optional add-ins
- 1/2 cup deli ham, chopped
- 1/2 sweet apple, chopped
- 3 tbsp raisin
Instructions
- Combine thinly sliced cucumber, chopped carrots, and onion pieces in a bowl. Add salt, sugar, and vinegar, toss well, and set aside for 10 minutes. Squeeze out excess moisture from the vegetables and set aside.
- Bring water to boil and add a big pinch of salt. Boil potatoes in salted water until fork-tender. Drain, place in a large mixing bowl, and mash with a fork or potato masher.
- Finely chop the hard-boiled eggs, reserving 1-2 yolks for garnish.
- Add the reserved vegetables, chopped eggs, mayonnaise, mustard, honey, melted butter, salt, and pepper to the mashed potatoes. Mix well until creamy and well incorporated. Adjust seasoning with more salt if needed. Place the potato salad in a serving bowl.
- To garnish, press the reserved egg yolks through a mesh strainer over the salad to create fine yellow crumbs on top. It makes a beautiful presentation.
- Optional: For a heartier taste and crunchy texture, try adding finely chopped deli ham, apples, raisins, or other small pieces of dried fruit.
Not a huge fan. I like chunky potato salad and not so sweet.
Hi! Just found your blog. The comment about Gangnam style is funny-understandable. Recently tried spicy cold buckwheat noodles in broth at a local Korean spot in So.Cal.
Soo good. Do you have something simular?
Kham sa hap ne da! 🙂
Korean potato is very similar to Japanese potato, but I LOVE your egg york trick – SUPER pretty!!!! And not to mention, I love your potato salad bowl. I miss having special bowls like that we can find everywhere in Japan. 🙂
I know. I love Asian style pottery-ware and wish to find some here but not much luck. I got that bowl in Korea. Isn’t it nice?
Nice variation on potato salad. I like the idea of mashing up the potatoes, and you’ve added some ingredients that aren’t in any of the potato salads I typically make. Very nice recipe – thank you.
Hi! Just ran across your site! I’m Korean, but hadn’t had this potato salad until I went to a restaurant a few months ago. In their version they add sweetness with chohpped apples-the additional crispness adds some nice texture!
I have eaten the salad with apples, too. That adds nice crispness. You have to finish the salad the same day, though, because the apples can make the salad soggy after a while
Yum! I might have to make this just so I can have a potato salad sandwich!
HAHA…your “Gangnam style” comment totally cracked me up! That music video is hilarious, isn’t it?! Some friends and I did a parody of it to cheer up one of our Korean friends who is recovering from a bad accident…and now I always have that song stuck in my head!
It is addictive. I crack up every time I watch.
I would love to see your parody version. It is so nice of you to cheer your friend that way. That song has been stuck in my head for the past few days too.
hehe, i would love to share the video, but my friends might refuse to be my friends anymore if i shared it… all i can say is that it is now very good blackmaterial ^_^
Ha ha!
The Korean restaurant in my area also makes a potato salad that’s on the sweet side a little bit. I recreated it on Youtube a few years ago but their version didn’t include raisins.
I think hubby will like like this very much. 🙂
I like the sweet bites from the raisins. It is quite unusual in potato salads but I like it.
This looks amazing!
This is very interesting Holly. I always thought korean potato salad is very similar to the japanese potato salad, just mashed egg with potato, chopped cucmber and kewpie mayo. This is very different, love the sieved egg yolk idea ;). Thanks for sharing, will definitely try to make this.
Thanks Esther. I wouldn’t be so surprised if Korean and Japanese salads taste similar.