Korean Potato Salad (Gamja Salad) is somewhat similar to the classic American potato salad but different because of the extra crunch and freshness added with apples and cucumbers. One of the most commonly served side dishes at Korean BBQ restaurants, it is the perfect accompaniment to rich grilled meats like Galbi and Bulgogi.
Korean Potato Salad or Gamja Salad (감자 샐러드 or 사라다) is, yes, not a classic traditional Korean dish but as long as I can remember it was part of Korean cuisine. Perhaps it was introduced to Koreans via the US Army base after they settled in Korea after the war… but it’s just something that Koreans love to have – as a side dish but also in a sandwich (although it’s done a little bit differently for that) as Gamja Salad Sandwich.
When I think of this dish, my memories take me back to my college days. At Ewha Womans University where I attended college, we had a huge cafeteria and their menu changed daily and I was not a huge fan of their food (as it usually goes with any college cafeteria.. haha) but if there was one thing that took me and my friends back to the cafeteria almost every day was their Gamja Salad!!!
Can you believe it?? 😂🤣My friends and I used to say..
“Hmm..just not sure what they put in the salad but it’s like I am addicted to it!!”
But the other foods were pretty bad…so what we actually ended up doing a lot of times was to quickly stop by the cafeteria to just have the potato salad and mandu (dumplings) for the appetizer and then went outside of the campus for the main course and dessert! We were a bit of a foodie group I guess…hehe.
And in honor of how the Korean potato salad was served at Ewha University cafeteria, here is a picture where I used an ice cream scoop to serve it as a scoop – just like how it was served back in the days.. 😂
Chef’s Tips for Perfect Korean Potato Salad
- Use a starchy potato like Russet Potato for best results. Waxy potatoes can work but won’t give you creamy texture.
- Cucumber – use Korean, English, Japanese or Persian cucumbers. They all work well. If using American cucumbers, be sure to remove the seed core and peel before adding.
- Apples – I use Fuji or Honeycrisp for best flavor.
- Fully cook the potato – more is better than less in this case. OK if it gets too mushy.
- Best Mayonnaise to use – I use Best Foods Real Mayo or Organic Trader Joe’s mayo that has just simple ingredients of eggs, oil, vinegar.
- Make ahead and keep in the fridge for a party. Will last in the fridge for 3-4 days.
- Additional Ingredients – you can add raisins or dried cranberries for extra sweetness. Also, add pickled onions and cabbages (regular American). Here’s a sample –
Korean Potato Salad with Raisins - Make an extra hard boiled egg and grate the yellow yolk for extra garnish.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Make hard-boiled eggs – use your favorite method but I usually like to start cooking the egg in cold water on medium-high, bring to a boil, cover then turn heat off and leave for 10 minutes. Make an extra egg if you want to use it to garnish. When eggs are done, put them in ice water, peel them and cut them up EXCEPT for the extra egg yolk.
- Peel potatoes and carrots. Cut potatoes into 3/4 inch thick discs then further into 1 inch or so squares. Cut carrots into 1/2 inch discs then cut the thicker parts into halves. Basically, you want the carrots to be about 1/2 the side of a potato.
Cutting Potatoes and Carrots - Add potatoes to a pot and add enough water to fully cover it and then some. Add about 1/8 tsp salt. Bring to a boil and then boil on medium heat for 8-9 minutes then add the carrots. Cook about 8 minutes more until the potatoes kind of crumble when cutting with a fork and the carrots should be just softly cooked but not mush.
Boiling potatoes in pot Carrots added to potatoes in pot - While potatoes are cooking, cut cucumbers into cubes.
Cutting cucumbers for Potato Salad - Cut the apple into cubes. For color, you can just core them and cut with peels on. But if your apple is not organic or is waxed, peel it and then cut into cubes.
- Drain potatoes and carrots. Set aside and let it cool. And we should have everything now ready to go!
Korean potato salad ingredients - In a large bowl, add potatoes, carrots, cucumbers and apples.
- To the bowl, add mayonnaise and gently mix them all up. Then add chopped eggs. Mix again.
Korean potato salad mixed with eggs added on top - Add salt and sugar to taste. (About 3/8 to 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp sugar to my basic 2 potato salad).
- Mix and taste again. By now, potatoes will most likely have disintegrated and become total mush as you see in the picture and that’s how it should be. But it’s also fine if it is still holding shape.
Korean potato gamja salad – close up - Serve room temperature or cold from the fridge.
- If you want to garnish the top with some grated egg yolk, do that now. Use a seive or grater to grate the egg yolk on top of the salad.
grating egg yolk on sieve
And there you have it!!
SERVING SUGGESTIONS
Try this yummy Gluten Free Korean potato salad with your next Korean BBQ Dinner. If you haven’t already, sign up for my newsletter and get my FREE Korean BBQ dinner cookbook to create your whole authentic Korean BBQ dinner at home. Or you can also check out my Korean BBQ Dinner Menu post for more tips.
AND if you like potatoes, you may want to try these other dishes:
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XOXO ❤️,
JinJoo
Korean Potato Salad
Ingredients
- 2 each russet potatoes (about 1 lb / 453.59 g)
- 2 each carrots (2 carrots = 1 cup / 125 ml when cut up)
- 3 each eggs
- 2 each small Persian cucumbers (2 cukes = 1 cup / 125 ml when cut up)
- 1/2 each Fuji apple (or honeycrisp, 1/2 apple = 1 cup / 125 ml)
- 1/8 tsp sea salt (for cooking potato)
- 3/8 tsp sea salt (for seasoning)
- 1/4 tsp sugar
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
Instructions
- Make hard-boiled eggs - use your favorite method but I usually like to start cooking the egg in cold water on medium-high, bring to a boil, cover then turn heat off and leave for 10 minutes. When eggs are done, put them in ice water, peel them.
- Roughly chop cooked eggs into small pieces. If you want to garnish the top with egg yolk, set aside 1 egg yolk and leave it uncut.
- Peel potatoes and carrots. Cut potatoes into 3/4 inch thick discs then further into 1 inch or so squares. Cut carrots into 1/2 inch discs then cut the thicker parts into halves. Basically, you want the carrots to be about 1/2 the side of a potato.
- Add potatoes to a pot and add enough water to fully cover it and then some. Add about 1/8 tsp salt. Bring to a boil and then boil on medium heat for 8-9 minutes then add the carrots. Cook about 8 minutes more until the potatoes kind of crumble when cutting with a fork and the carrots should be just softly cooked but not mush.
- While potatoes are cooking, cut cucumbers into cubes.
- Cut the apple into cubes. For color, you can just core them and cut with peels on. But if your apple is not organic or is waxed, peel it and then cut into cubes.
- Drain potatoes and carrots. Set aside and let it cool.
- In a large bowl, add potatoes, carrots, cucumbers and apples.
- To the bowl, add mayonnaise and gently mix them all up. Then add chopped eggs. Mix again.
- Add salt and sugar to taste. (About 3/8 to 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp sugar to my basic 2 potato salad).
- Mix and taste again. By now, potatoes will most likely have disintegrated and become total mush as you see in the picture and that's how it should be. But it's also fine if it is still holding shape.
- Optionally, using a sieve, grate the egg yolk on top of the potato salad.
- Serve room temperature or cold from the fridge.
Tips & Notes:
- Make ahead and keep in the fridge for a party. Will last in the fridge for 3-4 days.
- Additional Ingredients - you can add raisins or dried cranberries for extra sweetness.
- Make an extra hard boiled egg and grate the yellow yolk for extra garnish and make it pretty.
Hello, how long should I cool the potatoes/carrots after boiling? Room temp? Or still a little warm?
Yes, cooling until it’s like room temp will work best. If it’s still warm, the mayo may melt a bit. Hope that helps! Thank you.
Just finished making this and oh my gosh I can’t believe how much it tastes just like the restaurants! I feel so empowered knowing how to recreate this at home thank you SO much for sharing!!! Super glad I found your website, will be making more of these recipes in the future for sure 🙂
Yay!! and you know I’m pretty certain this potato salad has a lot more apples and other ingredients, not just mayo and potato. I’m so happy you found my website too!! I also have 10 Take out Favorites post so maybe you can start with these – https://kimchimari.com/top-10-korean-take-out-favorites/ Enjoy!
Thank you! This recipe was absolutely perfect! I was craving this potato salad while my favorite restaurant was closed for vacation. It hit the spot!
Excellent! Yup – I get that potato salad craving every now and then.. haha.. glad to hear it helped yours!! Thank you!
easy to make and super tasty
Yay!! I’m so happy to hear that and I agree!
This so good! Making it for the 3rd time! A bowl full of health!
Awesome!! So happy to hear that – I make it all the time whenever we do BBQ Korean or non. Cheers!