This is my favorite banchan at Kbbq! I’m not sure why, but I always end up asking for refills on this one.
The difference between Korean potato salad and American potato salad is mostly sugar. Korean potato salad is much sweeter, and also crunchier with the addition of apples and cucumbers.
Although this is not a traditional Korean dish, it has been part of Korean cuisine for as long as I can remember. I’m pretty sure this is an adapted recipe from the classic American potato salad, but I wasn’t able to trace its origins. My guess is that it became a thing after US military bases began occupying parts of South Korea.
Other common ingredients are carrots, onions and raisins.
My version does not have any of these ingredients. In my opinion, a great Korean potato salad only needs cucumbers and apples for texture and flavor.
I don’t care for the flavors that carrots and onions add, and I absolutely HATE raisins. But you can totally add these if you want to 🙂
Korean Potato Salad
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb Russet potato peeled and washed
- 2 large eggs
- 1 Persian cucumber diced and deseeded
- 1/4 cup apple diced
- 1/4 cup kewpie mayo or regular mayo
- 1 tbsp rice syrup or sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- Pinch of white pepper
Instructions
- Cut the potato into 2 inch pieces
- Dice and deseed the cucumber into small pieces. Mix with 1/4 tsp of salt and let it sweat for 10 minutes. Cucumbers hold a lot of water and we don't want any of it leaking into the potato salad.
- Hard boil your eggs however you want, but this is how I do it and they come out perfect every time: Bring a pot of water to a boil (enough to cover the eggs). Gently drop the eggs in and boil them for 7 minutes uncovered
- Take the eggs out and let them cool before peeling. Keep the water boiling, add the potatoes and cover. Boil for 20 minutes on medium high heat
- When the potatoes can be easily pierced with a chopstick, turn off the heat and drain
- Let the potatoes rest for 5 minutes. Do not skip this step.
- Add the egg whites and 1 1/2 yolks. You can just add all of the yolks if you don't care to garnish nicely at the end
- Mash everything together until smooth
- Add the kewpie mayo, rice syrup, and white pepper. Mix
- Add the cucumber and apple last. Mix again
- Finely grate the rest of the egg yolk over the potato salad
- Serve at room temp or cold from the fridge. Keeps in the fridge for up to 4 days
