There's been a lot of great meat sizzling on our grill lately, from tender pork spareribs to spicy turkey burgers, and a main course that good deserves an equally sensational side. Lately we've been experimenting with different ways of creating the old barbecue meal standby of potato salad. Today we'll look at two very different versions of this classic side dish: a traditional vegetable potato salad and a chicken bacon ranch salad.
For our first standard potato salad we diced celery, green bell pepper, red onion, white onion, and some anaheim pepper to give the dish color and a bit of crunch.
The base of a potato salad recipe is simple baking potatoes, cut into small squares or wedges with the skin left on, and boiled as though you were making mashed potatoes. After the potatoes are tender enough to easily be pierced with a fork, we add in the veggies.
Some fresh ground pepper and a little salt is all the seasonings we went with for this classic take on potato salad.
Finishing off the dish is a mixture of mayonnaise and sour cream, which is mixed in thoroughly until everything is evenly coated. A few hours cooling off in the fridge and you've got a fantastic side for just about any meat-based meal. This version of the potato salad ended up going on the side (along with baked beans and corn on the cob) of our smoky raspberry beef ribs. This recipe is easy to change up and make your own by using different mustards, adding in different seasonings, and using different vegetables or varieties of potatoes.
For an all-around flavor, we're going to both coat the drumsticks and inject them. To start off, we mixed some of the ranch seasoning packet with onion and garlic powder.
For the injection, we mixed most of the ranch seasoning packet with a good amount of melted butter, which is whisked together.
It's easiest the add the outer coating first, as the injection tends to get a bit messy. Here I'm patting the ranch rub all over the outside of the drumsticks.
Next is to fill the inside of the meat with ranch flavor by injecting the seasonings and butter directly into the meat.
These are the drumsticks with all the seasonings added and injecting complete, as they are about to hit the oven.
For our chicken bacon ranch salad we're using both regular baking potatoes and red potatoes, which are cooked in boiling water the same as with the last variety.
Of course we need a good deal of delicious crispy bacon to make a proper chicken bacon ranch concoction!
All the bacon is sliced up into small squares in the same way I diced the vegetables for the previous potato salad.
When I think of a chicken bacon ranch sandwich I usually envision tomato, so to translate that to potato salad we're using grape tomatoes sliced in half or quartered, depending on their size. To keep things more in the potato salad realm, I've also got green onion and a bit of anaheim pepper here.
We love avocado on sandwiches, so it seemed like a great addition to this salad. To add a little bit of heat, we also diced up some jalapeno. If you want more info on how to use peppers such as anaheim and jalepeno, check out our extensive pepper comparison guide.
Now that all that chopping and baking is finally done everything is staring to come together. Here we've combined the cooked potatoes with the veggies.
The crispy bacon pieces get thrown in next as this mouth-watering twist on an old favorite is getting nearly done.
After the chicken drumsticks cooled I removed the meat from the bone, which was then chopped up into small pieces and added to the salad.
The dressing gets added in and mixed well to coat the vegetables, chicken, and bacon for an unusual but delicious take on potato salad.
Since there was already vegetables and meat in the salad, we decided to just have a bowl for dinner that night, and here's the finished product after cooling off the fridge.
There's more potato salad variations coming up in the future, including a southwest chipotle variety and a unique blend we came up with where Italian pasta salad and potato salad collide. Also on the horizon are more homemade barbecue sauces, succulent root beer ribs, and a grilled double-pork monstrosity you have to see to believe!
The base of a potato salad recipe is simple baking potatoes, cut into small squares or wedges with the skin left on, and boiled as though you were making mashed potatoes. After the potatoes are tender enough to easily be pierced with a fork, we add in the veggies.
Some fresh ground pepper and a little salt is all the seasonings we went with for this classic take on potato salad.
Finishing off the dish is a mixture of mayonnaise and sour cream, which is mixed in thoroughly until everything is evenly coated. A few hours cooling off in the fridge and you've got a fantastic side for just about any meat-based meal. This version of the potato salad ended up going on the side (along with baked beans and corn on the cob) of our smoky raspberry beef ribs. This recipe is easy to change up and make your own by using different mustards, adding in different seasonings, and using different vegetables or varieties of potatoes.
While the traditional potato salad always hits the spot, we also wanted to try something a little more daring and off the beaten path, so we decided to translate the chicken bacon ranch sandwich into a potato salad. Here we've got some chicken drumsticks about to have the skin removed, along with a packet of ranch dressing mix.
For an all-around flavor, we're going to both coat the drumsticks and inject them. To start off, we mixed some of the ranch seasoning packet with onion and garlic powder.
For the injection, we mixed most of the ranch seasoning packet with a good amount of melted butter, which is whisked together.
It's easiest the add the outer coating first, as the injection tends to get a bit messy. Here I'm patting the ranch rub all over the outside of the drumsticks.
Next is to fill the inside of the meat with ranch flavor by injecting the seasonings and butter directly into the meat.
These are the drumsticks with all the seasonings added and injecting complete, as they are about to hit the oven.
What came out was unexpectedly amazing - the strong ranch scent and flavor turns average chicken into something truly extraordinary. We had a hard time not just easting these as they were instead of using them for potato salad. We've made some really fantastic poultry meals before, from our orange chicken to Asian rice bowls and many others, but this easily among the best we've ever tasted - homemade or restaurant style! We will most certainly be making a whole chicken using this rub and injection combination in the near future.
For our chicken bacon ranch salad we're using both regular baking potatoes and red potatoes, which are cooked in boiling water the same as with the last variety.
Of course we need a good deal of delicious crispy bacon to make a proper chicken bacon ranch concoction!
All the bacon is sliced up into small squares in the same way I diced the vegetables for the previous potato salad.
When I think of a chicken bacon ranch sandwich I usually envision tomato, so to translate that to potato salad we're using grape tomatoes sliced in half or quartered, depending on their size. To keep things more in the potato salad realm, I've also got green onion and a bit of anaheim pepper here.
We love avocado on sandwiches, so it seemed like a great addition to this salad. To add a little bit of heat, we also diced up some jalapeno. If you want more info on how to use peppers such as anaheim and jalepeno, check out our extensive pepper comparison guide.
Now that all that chopping and baking is finally done everything is staring to come together. Here we've combined the cooked potatoes with the veggies.
The crispy bacon pieces get thrown in next as this mouth-watering twist on an old favorite is getting nearly done.
After the chicken drumsticks cooled I removed the meat from the bone, which was then chopped up into small pieces and added to the salad.
Instead of mayo and sour cream like the last version, here we're using mayonnaise, dijon mustard, and a bit of ranch dressing.
The dressing gets added in and mixed well to coat the vegetables, chicken, and bacon for an unusual but delicious take on potato salad.
Since there was already vegetables and meat in the salad, we decided to just have a bowl for dinner that night, and here's the finished product after cooling off the fridge.
There's more potato salad variations coming up in the future, including a southwest chipotle variety and a unique blend we came up with where Italian pasta salad and potato salad collide. Also on the horizon are more homemade barbecue sauces, succulent root beer ribs, and a grilled double-pork monstrosity you have to see to believe!
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