Everyone has their own favorite potato salad recipe. But sometimes it's nice to change direction and experiment. Potatoes are nutritious and delicious and everyone loves them. Turning them into a flavorful and colorful salad is fun and easy.

Many potato salads have mayonnaise-based dressings. Mayonnaise has gotten a bad reputation for being a source of food poisoning. Actually, commercial mayonnaise is very safe and doesn't contribute to food safety issues.

Mayonnaise has a low pH and it contains quite a bit of salt. Those two factors help inhibit the growth of bacteria. So don't be afraid of using commercial mayonnaise in your summer salads. Homemade mayonnaise, however, can be susceptible to bacteria, so use it only when you can quickly refrigerate foods made with it.

So commercial mayonnaise is safe! That fact isn't a license to relax your food safety standards. Let foods stand out of refrigeration for two hours at most, one hour if it's really hot outside. Promptly refrigerate leftovers and wash your hands before preparing and serving food. If you follow these rules, you can enjoy potato salad all summer long without any fear.

And if you are avoiding potatoes because they're high in carbs, listen to this. When potatoes are cooked and cooled, they develop a particular type of starch called resistant starch that helps lower the risk of cancer, improves insulin sensitivity, makes you feel fuller longer, and lowers cholesterol and triglyceride levels.

So eat up!

The mild potato combines well with many ingredients. In fact, take some time to browse through supermarket shelves. In the salad aisle of the produce department, there are many new dressings and salad additions that can add lots of interest to your potato salad with very little work or effort.

Enjoy these easy recipes and don't be afraid to invent your own masterpiece!

Potato Salads

• Chicken Almond Potato Salad
  Sargento Salad Finishers is the secret ingredient in this delicious and easy recipe. You can make it in 20 minutes - honest!
• Blue Cheese Walnut Potato Salad
  I recently started adding nuts to my potato salad and I'm loving the results. And tangy blue cheese is a great addition to mild and creamy potatoes. Yum.
• In a Hurry Potato Salad
  Frozen hash brown potatoes are the secret ingredient in this super easy and quick potato salad.
• My Mother's Potato Salad
  This fabulous recipe combines creamy potatoes with the best salad dressing in the world. Everyone I've ever served it to wants the recipe, for good reason.
• Roasted Potato Salad
  Roasting russet potatoes with onion and garlic adds a crisp texture to the creamy potatoes and intensifies the flavor. Leave out the chicken for a side dish salad.
• Tex Mex Potato Salad
  You can add these Tex Mex ingredients to a deli potato salad, or make one from scratch and add them. Yum.
• Kris' Famous Sweet Potato Salad
  I love this salad; it's easy to make in just a few minutes and it tastes wonderful. You can find Durkee's Sandwich Sauce in the condiment aisle of the supermarket.
• Buffalo Potato Salad
  Blue cheese and hot sauce, the dominant flavors in Buffalo Chicken Wings, transform ordinary potato salad into something really special.
• Red White Blue Potato Salad
  The newer colored varieties of potatoes add great presence and flavor to any potato salad. This one is especially patriotic!
• Cranberry Pecan Sweet Potato Salad
  Sweet potatoes are natural partners of cranberries and pecans. So combine them in a fabulous salad that takes about 5 minutes to make.
• Pesto Potato Salad
  Pesto, bell peppers, tiny peas and cubed Havarti cheese make this potato salad recipe very special. You can omit the chicken for a side dish salad.
• Salmon and Potato Salad
  Canned potatoes are the shortcut ingredient in this special potato salad that has an oil and vinegar dressing instead of mayonnaise.

For the best potato salad, blend the dressing first, then add the other ingredients. If you are cooking potatoes, add them to the dressing while they are still warm so they can absorb flavors. Most potato salads taste best when they have been refrigerated for a few hours so the flavors can blend.

Canned and frozen potatoes are a great shortcut for potato salads. Drain canned potatoes well and cook frozen potatoes according to the package directions before using.