"Light" Potato Salad that tastes good?

It's summer!  102 degrees in early June, it's definitely summer.  And potato salad is a very popular summer side dish right next to the baked beans.

I like good potato salad.  What makes good potato salad?  I don't really know, I just know when I eat it.  I'm sure it has a lot to do with real mayo and other yummy, fat filled ingredients.  I don't care if it's a mustard-based or mayo-based potato salad, I like both equally when prepared well.  So I decided to see if I could find a lighter version that still tasted really good.

I found a recipe for Potato Salad with Parsley and Chives on the Cooking Light website.  They claim to have made a tasty potato salad with 80% less fat and 60% fewer calories than "classic" potato salad.  Ok, I'll try it!

The grocery store didn't have any Yukon gold potatoes (what's up with that?!) so I bought red potatoes.

The dressing is light mayonaise, fat free sour cream (which I never buy, low fat yes, fat free never), parmesan cheese, lemon juice, salt and pepper.  This is mixed with cubed, cooked and cooled potatoes, celery, chives, parsley and peas.

I like a little dressing with my salad, not the other way around.  The same is true for potato or pasta salads.  I like to taste the ingredients, not just the dressing.  The dressing should enhance the ingredients.  There was almost too much dressing for my taste.

You get a fairly good-sized serving for the 173 calories and 5 grams of fat.  The full nutritional information is below.

Does it replace "real" potato salad?  Um, no.  Dave and I both thought it was a little bland and that there was too much parsley.  It was just ok.  While I don't think I would make this exact recipe again, I will try a lighter potato salad again.  What will I change?

Well, I'll either grill or roast the potatoes to add flavor there.  I will reduce the amount of parsley and add green onion in addition to the scallion.  I'll use low fat sour cream instead of fat free too.  It will increase the fat a little but I'm hoping it will increase the flavor just a little too. 

So stop back to see if I can perfect light potato salad before the snow flies...

Nutritional Information

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• Amount per serving
• Calories: 173
• Calories from fat: 25%
• Fat: 4.9g
• Saturated fat: 1.1g
• Monounsaturated fat: 1.4g
• Polyunsaturated fat: 2.1g
• Protein: 5.2g
• Carbohydrate: 27.8g
• Fiber: 3.1g
• Cholesterol: 7mg
• Iron: 2.4mg
• Sodium: 289mg
• Calcium: 79mg