Skip to main content
Main

Hot Bacon Potato Salad

A potato salad with bacon, onion, and a vinegar‑flour sauce.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Hot Bacon Potato Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the potatoes and bacon

  1. Cook potatoes in boiling water until tender.

  2. Peel, cut into slices, not too small, and place in mixing bowl.

  3. Dice and fry 1/4 lb. bacon in a frying pan until almost crisp. Do not let burn.

  4. Remove diced bacon and place into mixing bowl with other ingredients.

Make the dressing

  1. Peel and dice onion and place into reserved bacon fat. Saute a few minutes.

  2. Remove the sauteed diced onion with a slotted spoon and place into mixing bowl.

  3. Into at least 2 Tbsp. bacon fat, cook 2 Tbsp. flour until smooth and bubbly, add 3 Tbsp. vinegar and 2 tsp. sugar, 1 tsp. salt, and enough water to make a medium sauce (about 1 cup or more).

  4. Bring to a boil and cook until sauce is thickened.

Combine and serve

  1. Pour over ingredients in mixing bowl, and toss and mix.

  2. Taste, if needed add more salt.

  3. Serve with hot baked ham or sausage. Good with a hot bean dish or salad.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

755Calories
22 gProtein
5 gFat
155 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 8 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Bacon1 slice cooked (8g)43
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Onion + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  4. Potato + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,355 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Red potatoes
Provide the bulk of the salad and hold their shape when sliced and tossed.
Bacon
Adds smoky, savory flavor and fat that carries the dressing.
Flour
Thickens the bacon fat and vinegar mixture into a smooth sauce.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the sauce and balances the sugar and fat.
Sugar
Softens the sharpness of the vinegar for a balanced sweet-sour sauce.
Onion
Contributes sharp aroma and flavor after being softened in bacon fat.

The step that matters

Thickening the sauce. Flour must cook in the bacon fat until smooth and bubbly before liquid is added, otherwise it stays lumpy and tastes raw. The sauce then needs a full boil so the starch swells and thickens it properly.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, vinegar, flour, sugar):

  1. Mustardfits better
  2. Beetrootfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, vinegar, flour, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

You might also like

Potato CroquettesPotato Croquettes255 recipesPotato RollsPotato Rolls78 recipesPotato ChipsPotato Chips53 recipesSweet Potato CroquettesSweet Potato Croquettes53 recipes