A potato salad guide when you're serving a large group or gathering. Serving sizes by volume and weight, how many people you can feed with 5 pounds of potato salad and much more!
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Potato salad is a popular crowd favorite side dish at picnics, BBQs, summer parties, weddings, large gatherings, and family reunions. If you're serving up potato salad for a crowd, it can be challenging to know how much you'll need.
Use this guide to help you make a good decision about how much potato salad to buy or arrange for people to bring to the potluck.
I've also listed which ingredients in potato salad are not suitable for vegans. So, if you have anyone plant-based coming to the party, be sure to accommodate them by providing a vegan potato salad option.
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🍽 Potato salad serving sizes
The serving size for a potato salad side dish for an adult is ½ cup - ⅔ cup. This is about 5-7 ounces by weight.
The serving size for a potato salad side dish for a child is ¼ cup - ½ cup. This is about 2.5-5 ounces by weight.
🥔 Potato salad per person serving guide
This serving guide provides a rough estimate of how much potato salad you will need to feed the people at your party or large gathering.
These amounts are based on a ½ cup or about 4.8 ounces (rounded up to 5 ounces on the chart for clarity) serving size. This is about as much for a side dish serving.
Five pounds of potato salad will serve about 16 people, when served as a side dish.
Keep in mind that some people will not want potato salad and some people may want more than ½ cup serving.
Also, will there be a lot of children at your gathering? Or, is it all adults? This will affect how much food you need.
As a general rule, it's usually better to have extra food than to run out.
| Number of Guests | Pounds of Potato Salad Needed for Side Dish (Weight Measurement) | Quarts or Cups of Potato Salad Needed for Side Dish (Volume Measurement) | Individual Serving Size by Volume and Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0.3 lb | ½ cup | ½ cup or 5 oz |
| 2 | 0.6 lb | 1 cup | ½ cup or 5 oz |
| 3 | 0.9 lb | 1.5 cups | ½ cup or 5 oz |
| 4 | 1.2 lb | 2 cups | ½ cup or 5 oz |
| 5 | 1.5 lb | 2.5 cups | ½ cup or 5 oz |
| 6 | 1.8 lb | 3 cups | ½ cup or 5 oz |
| 8 | 2.4 lb | 4 cups (1 quart) | ½ cup or 5 oz |
| 10 | 3 lb | 5 cups | ½ cup or 5 oz |
| 12 | 3.6 lb | 6 cups (1.5 quarts) | ½ cup or 5 oz |
| 15 | 4.5 lb | 7.5 cups | ½ cup or 5 oz |
| 20 | 6 lb | 10 cups (2.5 quarts) | ½ cup or 5 oz |
| 25 | 7.5 lb | 12.5 cups | ½ cup or 5 oz |
| 30 | 9 lb | 15 cups | ½ cup or 5 oz |
| 40 | 12 lb | 20 cups (5 quarts) | ½ cup or 5 oz |
| 50 | 15 lb | 6.25 quarts | ½ cup or 5 oz |
| 75 | 22.5 lb | 9.38 quarts | ½ cup or 5 oz |
| 100 | 30 lb | 12.5 quarts | ½ cup or 5 oz |
| 150 | 45 lb | 18.75 quarts | ½ cup or 5 oz |
| 200 | 60 lb | 25 quarts | ½ cup or 5 oz |
| 300 | 90 lb | 37.5 quarts | ½ cup or 5 oz |
🥔 Standard potato salad ingredients
Standard American potato salad is a classic dish and may contain the following ingredients:
- Cooked potatoes with or without skins - these potatoes may be russet potatoes, yukon gold potatoes, red potatoes, quartered small potatoes, or waxy potatoes. Pro Tip: Steam potatoes in your Instant Pot ahead of time to use in potato salad.
- Fresh celery or celery seed
- Onion - white onion, purple onion, green onions
- Hard-boiled eggs or egg yolks - not suitable for vegans, as it's an animal product
- Sweet pickle relish or chopped dill pickles, with or without extra pickle juice
- Mayonnaise - not suitable for vegans, as it contains egg - use my vegan mayo recipe as a substitute
- Sour cream - not suitable for vegans, as it contains dairy - use my vegan sour cream recipe as a substitute
- Bacon bits or bacon fat - not suitable for vegans, as it's an animal product
- Yellow mustard
- Red bell pepper or pimentos
- Celery seed
- Vinegar - white vinegar, apple cider vinegar
- Sugar
- Salt
- Black Pepper
- Cayenne Pepper
- Other ingredients not listed here - always check the ingredient list for store-bought potato salad to check for allergens.
German potato salad (typically made without mayo and eggs) is a good alternative for vegans and those who are dairy-free. Or, make this vegan Southern potato salad recipe.
Pasta salad would also be good alternative to potato salad.
A basic potato salad recipe is made by:
- Peel potatoes and cut them in large chunks
- Boil the potatoes in salted water in a large pot
- Once potatoes are just barely fork tender, drain them and set them aside to cool. Do not overcook them.
- In a large bowl, add cooled potatoes, cut celery and onion, along with mayo (use vegan mayo if serving vegans), mustard, relish, salt and pepper.
- Mix everything together and taste. Adjust seasonings, as needed.
- Chill and serve.
🧯 Food safety concerns
- Always wash hands with soap and water before cooking
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods. This is especially dangerous at large gatherings or parties outside, where the weather may be hot. Potato salad contains egg usually (unless it's a vegan potato salad recipe) which can go bad very quickly and should be kept cold.
- Never leave cooking food unattended
- Cover food when serving outside at a picnic
- Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove
See more food safety guidelines at USDA.gov.
⭐️ Expert serving tips for large gathering
- It's a good idea to keep prepared potato salad refrigerated or cold in an ice chest until it's being served. Only pull out a small amount at a time and replace the potato salad with some that's been kept cold when you run out in the serving line.
- To keep your serving sizes consistent, use a spoon that has ½ cup volume. Using a ½ cup measure with a handle works well. Or, use an ice cream scoop. And, show your server how much should be served per person, to be sure you have enough for everyone.
- Don't allow people to come for seconds until everyone has had a chance to get a plate.
🥡 Make ahead and storage tips
You can make potato salad ahead of time. In fact, a good potato salad is usually better the day after it's made.
To break up the prep, you can even chop and boil the potatoes ahead of time for the potato salad and assemble it another day.
Keep potato salad stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container. Once cooked, potato salad will last about 7 days.
Potato salad does not freeze well. It's not recommended to freeze it for storage.
❓ FAQ
You will need 6 pounds of potato salad to serve 20 people as a side dish. The serving size would be ½ cup by volume or about 5 ounces by weight.
Three pounds of prepared potato salad will feed about 10 people as a side dish. The serving size would be ½ cup by volume or about 5 ounces by weight.
You will need 23 pounds of potato salad to feed 75 people as a side dish. The serving size would be ½ cup by volume or about 5 ounces by weight.
No, regular American potato salad is not vegan or plant-based, because it contains mayo, which has egg in it. Potato salad also sometimes has boiled eggs, which is an animal product that vegans do not eat.
You need 4-5 pounds of potatoes to make 5 pounds of potato salad. This is because you're likely going to peel the potatoes (which takes away some weight). Then, you're going to add ingredients to the boiled potatoes (which adds some weight). So, depending on your recipe, you'll end up with about 5 pounds of potato salad, if you start with 4-5 pounds of raw potatoes.
🤠 Texas and Southern Recipes
If you're serving up potato salad, check out these down-home Southern plant-based recipes from the heart of my Houston, Texas kitchen!
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