This Iconic Soup Mix Effortlessly Adds Major Flavor To Potato Salad

Potato salad is one of the most classic summer side dishes, especially for a backyard barbecue. Whether you're making it Amish-style or from an old family recipe, this dish is always a crowd favorite — only if you season it properly, though. Potato salad is typically seasoned with pungent ingredients like dill and vinegar, but you can bring a new earthy spin to your preparation by seasoning it with a French onion soup mix.

French onion soup mix has a more hearty combination of spices, including, of course, onions and other salty ingredients, that create a great aromatic flavor base. While traditionally used for soup broth, adding dry spices to your potato salad not only gives it a new flavor, but also makes prep easier. Imagine having a bland store-bought container of potato salad — add some French onion soup mix, and problem solved. French onion soup can also be made with potatoes, so the spices will naturally complement your potato salad and enhance the creamy flavors.

Before dumping it into your potato salad, you may be curious: what's in French onion soup mix? The mix is typically a combination of onion flakes and powder, garlic powder, celery seed, or salt but can include other spices like turmeric, paprika, and beef bouillon granules. Note that you can forgo the beef bouillon for a vegetarian alternative. It is a fairly salty seasoning, but when combined with mayo and starchy potatoes, a French onion soup mix is a great addition to your creamy potato salad.

Potato salad is typically seasoned with rich and sour ingredients that also complement the milder potatoes. A common recipe will include dill pickles and dill herbs, garlic, apple cider vinegar, and celery for added crunch. These bright ingredients liven up the salad but can also be rounded out by the French onion soup mix. When adding the ingredients — soup mix included — you'll want to do so in increments to keep the ratios even. Keep the soup mix balanced with the other spices you add so your salad isn't too salty. If you decide you've put in too much of any one spice, you can add more mayonnaise since it's the base of the dressing and has a more mellow flavor, or just add water.

You may not use a whole package of French onion soup mix for one batch of potato salad, so while you could easily store it for the next recipe, why not use it in other dishes? You can add this soup mix to other cookout staples, like upgrading your burgers with French onion soup seasoning. Combining the soup mix with your raw burger meat before shaping them into patties evenly distributes the seasoning and adds texture to your burgers. Serving the burgers with your upgraded potato salad on the side will make your meal more cohesive when centered around the same spices.

You can continue to lean into the onion soup mix theme by creating French onion dip for an appetizer. All you need to make a two-ingredient onion dip at home is sour cream and, you guessed it, French onion soup mix. The tangy sour cream base mixes well with the earthy onion spices, just like in the potato salad, and it's a simple recipe that will easily enhance any appetizer platter. Serve your French onion dip with potato chips to once again play into the potato salad ingredients and create a whole meal using this classic soup mix as a base.