Russian Salad Recipe (2024)

My Polish family makes a variation of this. The differences:1. No meat because it gets served with ham, kielbasa, porkloin, etc.Add:2. A bit of finely sliced fresh chives3. Diced peeled apple4. Finely chopped fresh parsleyTo serve, we spread a thin layer of mayo over the top to create a canvas for the decoratively cut veggies that we arrange to look like pressed flowers and grasses.

I grew up in the Former Soviet Union. The Olivier salad was a staple at every family gathering of any significance. Over the years, the combination of my laziness (or lack of time) and the desire to eat more healthily led me to make a few shortcuts. First, I peel the potatoes before boiling them. Second, I use raw carrots (diced). Third, I use low-fat sour cream for dressing, instead of mayo. Last (and this was the norm in many homes when I was growing up), I use canned green peas, drained.

The first time I had and heard of this salad, it was an on-the-house gift from a restaurant owner in Buenos Aires. She consoled our small group of Americans just days after 9-11 with it, and I still think of her and her loving kindness when I run across it. Thanks for sharing this and making it possible to recreate it at home.

Beware, o fellow Americans! You shouldn't use Hellman's mayo for this salad; you have to use sunflower oil-based mayo such as Mr. Kensington's, Thomy, or Dijamant - the devil is in that detail! Also, xtra gherkin brine is puzzling; it might separate and ruin the salad. Instead of it, to add light zing, peel and cut up a Granny Smith apple, and mix it in! Finally, if you find red potatoes which are golden inside, bingo; if not, stick with Russets. Garnish with parsley. Prijatno!

For my French mother, this was salade russe, made with homemade mayonnaise and served in a large platter at parties, garnished with ham, anchovies, smoked salmon, olives, etc. It was one of my favorite leftovers, if there were any. Interestingly, the potato-carrot-pea combination was called macedoine (Macedonia) de legumes and a regular side dish at dinner.

My Georgian family makes it with these ingredients producing a homerun every time:Potatoes (Yukon preferred), diced and boiled carrots and beets, scallions, sweet peas, dill, parsley, mayonnaise, salt, freshly cracked pepper, chopped cornichons, and hard boiled eggs. If you know Eastern European cooking and recipes, it would be hard to say that Georgian cuisine isn't anything but extraordinary and flavorful, and they deliver that with their version of Olivier salad too!

A spider is a long-handled spoon with a fine-mesh basket in the shape of a shallow bowl.

In Spain they call it Ensaladilla Rusa. I follow a low carb diet so instead of potatoes, I use streamed cauliflower florets

This salad used to be a staple in our house, when I was growing up in Russia. Variations we had were: canned peas instead of frozen, boiled chicken breast or canned crab meat instead of ham, fresh cucumbers and/or Granny Smith apple for a bit of acidity if not adding pickles and brine. We also always added finely diced white onion, about 1/4 cup or less.

One third cream fraiche and two thirds mayonnaise makes it lighter yet.

If you swap out the ham for high quality canned tuna in oil (well drained) this could be the Spanish version of ensalada Russa. I lived in Spain and a friend would always bring it to potlucks. So good! There are versions with and without tuna at many Spanish bars, but they all have peas.

FYI the brine will not cause anything to separate. In my family it us always added to any mayo based "salad" as it thins the mayo a bit and adds a great flavor. I am making this Saturday. It reminds me of a very similar dish my German grandmom made.

I ate this salad all over Buenos Aires. No ham however. It was great for a low sodium diet. It might be even tastier with Japanese mayonnaise.

I will say that I absolutely love all the posts aka reviews on this particular recipe. I love how a recipe transports us to another time and place - reminds us of our beloved families even specific gatherings. :-)Thank you all for a smile and chuckle.

Gherkins. They cannot have added sugar at all. The clearer the brine, the smaller the pickles, the better. If in an ethnic market, look for the ones from Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, N. Macedonia, Bulgaria. And get sunflower oil mayo when you're at it because that is the key. (Avocado oil mayo will probably do too.) I wouldn't add extra brine, better add extra gherkins!

I peeled and diced potatoes and carrots prior boiling. Added a few capers and a grind of salt to the finished salad. Delicious!

This recipe is much improved by using Japanese Mayo instead of Hellmans!

Madeline made and said it was good. Her picture looked so tasty!

Madeline made….said it was good. Her picture made me want to eat some!

No ham, diced watermelon radish, diced apple based on comments, dill pickles substitution (didn't have cornichons) plenty of fresh dill and parsley. Everyone really liked it.

A Swiss friend of mine used to make this with a bag of frozen mixed vegetables, the kind with corn, peas, carrots, etc. He would vary the protein with almost any kind of meat, seafood, or poultry. Sometimes he would leave out the protein and serve it as a side dish. He just called it Winter Salad.

In Spain, we call it ensaladilla rusa, as another reader mentioned, but instead of ham we use tuna and we add olives to it, preferably the anchovy filled ones for some brininess.

What I love about this salad is all of the variations people make--and they're all good. To feed 20 or so (where there are a lot of other side dishes and salads) I may only use 2 or 3 largish potatoes, along with all or many of the other things mentioned below: gherkins, fresh cucumber, thawed frozen peas, onion or green onion, cooked or raw carrot, mayonnaise, sour cream, ham or chicken or bologna (or no meat). There can be as much or as little of any of these things as you want.

Made as is without meat (added half a green apple) and served after refrigerating for only an hour. The bowl was wiped clean. Will make again!

A tip I got from a food blogger and stick to it 》 boil whole potatoes and carrots with skin on the night before , cool in the fridge and then peel and chop 》》makes the salad taste so much better!I tend to use freshly squeezed lemon juice in place of brine as that's how my mum has always made it. I love the ham-less version with granny smith apple which adds zest and crunch to it.My Russian friend likes to add herbs like dill to the salad , which I'm yet to try.

I first encountered this salad when I was 18 and visiting a friend in Copenhagen. His grandmother served. Over a decade later it turned up again when I met my future wife's grandmother in Genoa, Italy. So it truly is an international dish.

In my Hungarian family growing up, this was French salad, made with no meat, and served with deviled eggs, casino eggs to Hungarians, at Easter with our ham. A tradition I keep to this day.

Made it lower carb by subbing riced cauliflower for potatoes, which I microwaved with a bag of frozen peas and carrots. The rest as written. So good!

I read this recipe and realized I had all the ingredients on hand, right down to the Hellman's! I was surprised how what seemed to be an odd combination of veggies, pickle and mayo was absolutely delicious! I followed the recipe with only 2 minor changes - I had small yellow potatoes, so I just weighed them out (it did take quite a while to slip them out of their skins). I also wasn't sure about the boiled ham part, so I used sliced deli ham instead. Served with fish, and it was terrific.

Salad Olivier--such a treat. I like using diced, cooked chicken in place of ham, which my Russian friends say is legit. They grew up having chopped hot dogs in it (!) but no, I wouldn't. Also, I'd use Duke's mayo, or even the Kewpie mayo found in Asian markets. Good mayo makes all the difference. This, and "Herring Under a Fur Coat" are my favorite Russian dishes.