Swabian potato salad is the only potato salad that has no place for mayonnaise. Its binding comes from warm stock, apple cider vinegar and rapeseed oil, which combine on the still-warm potato slices to form a light, juicy dressing. Anyone who has made it properly once will never want to put a heavy northern German mayo salad next to a schnitzel again.
We have been making this salad for years as a staple side dish with Maultaschen, schnitzel and Swabian sausages. A colleague from Stuttgart gave us the ratio: 400 g stock to 600 g potatoes, 50 g apple cider vinegar, 50 g rapeseed oil. That sounds like a lot of liquid, but it is exactly the amount that waxy potatoes can absorb without turning mushy. And the Thermomix® delivers two advantages here that we simply would not get with a pot and a sieve.
Swabian Potato Salad with the Thermomix®
Ingredients 0 / 7 ✓
- 1 large onion
- 50 g rapeseed oil
- 400 g vegetable stock
- 600 g waxy potatoes
- 1 bunch chives
- 50 g apple cider vinegar
- pepper
Instructions 0 / 6
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1
Chop the onion.
Peel the onion, halve it, place it in the mixing bowl and chop for 3 sec / speed 5.
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2
Sweat the onion.
Add the oil and sweat for 3 min / Varoma / speed 1.
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3
Steam the potatoes.
Add the vegetable stock, peel the potatoes, cut into slices approximately 3 mm thick, place in the steaming basket, insert the steaming basket and steam for 25 min / Varoma / speed 1.
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4
Cut the chives.
Meanwhile, wash the chives and cut into fine rings.
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5
Mix the dressing.
Transfer the potatoes to a bowl. Add the apple cider vinegar, pepper and chives to the mixing bowl and mix for 8 sec / reverse direction / speed 3.
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6
Serve the potato salad.
Combine the dressing with the potatoes and leave to soak for at least one hour.
Tip: You can also prepare the potato salad the day before and store it in the fridge.
Video
Nutrition per serving
Why stock and not mayo
The difference lies in the binding. Mayo coats the potato in a layer of fat and makes it heavy. Stock penetrates the warm potato and makes it juicy. This is not a flavour difference, it is a texture difference. Mayo salad sits in your stomach; Swabian potato salad is almost refreshing.
Apple cider vinegar and pepper give the dressing enough sharpness so it does not taste sweet. The rapeseed oil balances the acidity and gives the stock some body. We once made the salad with sunflower oil, which was too neutral, and once with olive oil, which was too dominant. Rapeseed oil is the right choice here because it is nutty enough to add a note without masking the potato flavour.
Anyone tasting the salad for the first time will think at first: this is a soup. After one hour of resting time the stock has gone, absorbed into the potato, and the salad has exactly the juicy consistency that Swabian potato salad is famous for.
Waxy is essential, floury falls apart
There is no debate about the potato variety for this salad. Waxy, nothing else. Linda, Annabelle, Belana or Nicola are our standard varieties. They hold their shape even after 25 minutes steaming in the Varoma and being doused with hot stock afterwards.
Floury potatoes disintegrate immediately. We once tried it with a floury variety because we had nothing else in the house. After 15 minutes the slices were a mush. Mostly waxy will do at a pinch, but they are right on the edge. If you are unsure, ask at a farm shop. The packet labelling in supermarkets usually shows the cooking type along the bottom edge.
The potatoes are peeled and cut into slices 3 mm thick before going into the steaming basket. Thin is important here: thicker slices only absorb the dressing on the surface rather than all the way through. At 3 mm the stock soaks in completely within the one-hour resting time.
The absorption window: pour while warm, rest for one hour
This is the real trick with Swabian potato salad, and the point where most people go wrong. The potatoes must still be warm when the dressing is added. Warm potatoes absorb liquid like a sponge. Cold potatoes close off their starch structure, the stock sits only on the outside and runs off when you serve it.
In the Thermomix® the absorption window runs automatically at the right moment. We steam the potatoes for 25 minutes in the Varoma above the stock. The stock in the mixing bowl already takes on the flavours from the sweated onion and the rapeseed oil. When the potatoes are done, the stock is still hot. We transfer the potatoes to a large bowl, mix the apple cider vinegar, pepper and chives into the hot stock for 8 sec / reverse direction / speed 3 and pour the dressing directly over the still-steaming slices.
Reverse direction is important here so that the chive rings are not chopped up. In normal direction at speed 3 the chives turn to a paste that makes the dressing greenish and bitter.
Then leave to rest for one hour. Not in the fridge, but on the worktop. At room temperature the stock actively soaks in; in the fridge it stays on the surface. Anyone preparing the salad in the morning can refrigerate it after the resting time. But the first hour belongs to the absorption phase.
What can go wrong
Salad is swimming in stock. The potatoes were too cold when the dressing was added, or the slices were cut too thick. Fix: place the bowl briefly in the oven (50°C, five minutes) and the stock will soak in. Next time, transfer the potatoes straight from the steaming basket into the bowl without letting them cool down first.
Salad is dry. This happens when it has been in the fridge overnight and the potatoes have absorbed all the stock. Fix: just before serving, add a splash of warm stock and a dash of vinegar. Swabian potato salad tolerates a top-up well because its binding comes from the stock, not from a thickener.
Salad tastes bland. Usually the stock was too weak. We use a strong vegetable stock, preferably home-made or a good-quality powder stock with real vegetables. If the stock has no flavour, the salad has no flavour. Add pepper generously, freshly ground if possible. The salad normally does not need extra salt because the stock is already seasoned.
Salad is mushy. Wrong potato variety or steamed for too long. With waxy potatoes in 3 mm slices, 25 minutes in the Varoma is the upper limit. Speed 1 is important because at a higher speed the stock in the mixing bowl boils too vigorously and the potatoes in the steaming basket fall apart.
Variations we like
With bacon. Strictly speaking this is a Baden variation, but we like it. Fry 100 g diced bacon in a pan until crispy and add it along with the rendered fat to the finished salad. Skip any extra salting of the stock in that case.
With cucumber. Finely slice a small cucumber, salt it, leave for 10 minutes and squeeze out the liquid. Fold it into the salad just before serving, otherwise it releases water into the dressing.
With mustard. A teaspoon of medium-hot mustard added to the dressing gives the acidity more depth. Add the mustard to the mixing bowl together with the apple cider vinegar.
With frankfurters. Slice Swabian Saiten sausages or frankfurters thinly and fold them into the finished salad. It then becomes a hybrid of sausage salad and potato salad and works well as a complete evening meal.
What to serve alongside
Classic alongside Maultaschen, schnitzel or pan-fried meat. In summer it goes well with everything from the grill, complementing heavy bratwurst or fatty steak perfectly because the stock-based dressing is light. A sauce hollandaise alongside does not work, it becomes too much. A green lamb’s lettuce salad with pumpkin seed oil as a second side dish works much better.
How long it keeps
In the fridge for two days. On the second day it is actually better than on the first, because the flavours have had more time to develop. Take it out and bring to room temperature before serving, as it tastes bland when cold. If it has dried out, stir in a tablespoon of warm stock and a dash of vinegar.
Also goes well with: Radishes.
Freezing does not work. The potatoes turn floury on thawing and the stock separates. This is one of those dishes where the Thermomix® can do a great deal, but cannot overcome the physics of a thawed potato.
More Swabian and classic German side dishes:
- Potato Salad with Mayo, Thermomix®
- Maultaschen with the Thermomix®
- Spaetzle with the Thermomix®
