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Easy and quick Japanese Potato Salad is ready in under 30 minutes. It's creamy and tangy and will be an irresistible appetizer. Traditional Kewpie mayo is what really makes this dish amazing.
Japanese Potato Salad Recipe
Japanese potato salad is a delicious, comforting side dish made from potato, cucumber, shallot, and imitation crab meat then coated with savory Japanese mayonnaise dressing. This quick and easy potato salad recipe makes a simple appetizer in only 25 minutes.
Potato salad is also a popular dish in Japan and every family has their take. This recipe is so easy that you will never fail. Good vegetables and proteins substitutes will be carrot, corn, pea, eggs, ham, shrimp, or canned tuna.
Why This Recipe Works
This easy Japanese potato salad recipe serves up a delightful side dish in less than 30 minutes with only a few everyday ingredients. It’s also a perfect appetizer for any season.
This recipe is also freezer-friendly, so you can make a large batch in advance. It makes a delicious side for a bento box too.
You can serve this recipe with Korean soy sauce eggs (Mayak eggs) for that added punch of flavorful, creamy goodness!
Ingredients
A simply delicious Japanese potato salad dish calls for the following ingredients:
- Potatoes
- Persian cucumber
- Shallot (or red onion)
- Salt
- Imitation crab meat
Homemade creamy dressing is made with Japanese mayonnaise, condensed milk, salt, and ground black pepper.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients.
How To Make Japanese Potato Salad
Step 1: Peel and cut the potatoes into bite-sized pieces and place them in a bowl.
Step 2: Bring water to a boil in a steamer, and steam the potatoes for 15 minutes until soft and tender.
Step 3: Gently mash the potatoes and leave some small chunks for texture. Set aside to cool down before mixing.
Step 4: Prepare Persian cucumber slices and shallot slices by soaking them in salted water for a few minutes. Drain and squeeze hard to remove the excess water. Set them aside.
Step 5: In a large mixing bowl, add mashed potato, cucumber slices, shallot slices, imitation crab meat, and seasoning with Japanese mayonnaise, condensed milk, 1 teaspoon of salt, and ground black pepper. Mix well with a spatula.
Step 6: Serve immediately, or refrigerate it for 30 minutes to have a chilled Japanese potato salad.
Cooking Tips
For the best result, please follow my tips:
- To make a creamy potato salad, cook or steam the potatoes until soft and tender. However, we don’t want the potatoes to be overcooked, which will be too moist and easily fall apart.
- Mash the potatoes until smooth but leave a few small chunks for the perfect texture.
- Soaking cucumber and shallot slices in salted water will help remove the pungency from shallot (or onion) and make cucumber crunchier.
Frequently Asked Question
Japanese mayonnaise (Kewpie) is the key to this recipe, adding a unique flavor to this irreplaceable dish. Unlike regular mayonnaise made with whole egg and white vinegar, Japanese mayonnaise contains only egg yolks mixed with rice or apple cider vinegar, which adds a tangy and savory taste to the dish.
Any potato works for this recipe. I recommend using waxy potatoes, such as red potato, white potato, or Yukon gold potato. It helps to create a creamy texture for the dish.
This recipe is only 174 per serving.
What To Serve With This Recipe
For an easy and wholesome Japanese meal, I recommend the following recipes:
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Japanese Potato Salad
Ingredients
- 2 potatoes, about 5 ounces each, peeled and diced
- 1/2 Persian cucumber, finely sliced
- 1 shallot, sliced
- 2 teaspoons salt, divided
- 1 cup water
- 4 imitation crab meat, sliced
- 3 tablespoons Japanese mayonnaise Kewpie
- 1 tablespoon condensed milk
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Peel the potatoes and cut them into bite-sized pieces, then place them in a bowl.
- Bring water to a boil in a steamer and steam the potatoes for 15 minutes, or until soft and tender.
- Gently mash the potatoes, leaving some small chunks for texture. Set aside to cool before mixing.
- Prepare the Persian cucumber slices and shallot slices by soaking them in salted water for a few minutes. Drain and squeeze them hard to remove excess water, then set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the mashed potatoes, cucumber slices, shallot slices, imitation crab meat, and seasonings: Japanese mayonnaise, condensed milk, 1 teaspoon of salt, and ground black pepper. Mix well with a spatula.
- Serve immediately, or refrigerate for 30 minutes for a chilled Japanese potato salad.
Video
Notes
- To make a creamy potato salad, cook or steam the potatoes until soft and tender. However, we don’t want the potatoes to be overcooked, which will be too moist and easily fall apart.
- Mash the potatoes until smooth but leave a few small chunks for the perfect texture.
- Soaking cucumber and shallot slices in salted water will help remove the pungency from shallot (or onion) and make cucumber crunchier.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Are there any substitutes to bring down the sodium content?
Simple and nice!
Thanks Shirley!
Love this recipe, it’s delicious. I haven’t tried it yet but for people having trouble finding Japanese Mayonnaise you might want to try Kraft Miracle Whip. It has a similar taste to Kewpie Mayo & is readily available, not to mention cheaper.
Thanks for your suggestion!
“Fake” crab meat! Seriously, it has NO taste at all.
This is how it’s made. Japanese uses a lot of that. If you don’t like it you can just skip.
I love immitation crab meat – we use it in alot of recipes.
If you don’t care to use the crab you might like to try using tuna or even dice up some cold cut meats like chicken or whatever hits your fancy.
Hi! This looks so good. What kind of condensed milk do you use?
Thank you!
Any brand of condensed milk is fine.
Is that sweetened condensed milk?
Yes.
What is in Japanese mayonnaise? Never heard of it before. Thank you have a great day
Japanese mayo is Kewpie brand mayo. You can just use regular mayo.
love this dressing. I added more condensed milk. Have been looking for a good crab salad -the addition of potatoes makes it even better. thanks
Awesome thanks!
Hi there, I have added some Shredded Carrot, hard-boiled Eggs and Green Peas, Imitation Crab, Miracle Whip , little Dijon mustard and it came out Very tasty