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Korean Potato Salad

Korean potato salad (gamja salad) delivers a creamy sweet texture with roughly mashed russet potatoes, crunchy vegetables, and chopped hard-boiled eggs. The dressing of mayonnaise, sugar, and rice vinegar coats everything, then it chills for at least 2 hours for best flavor.
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Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
chilling 2 hours
Total Time 2 hours 45 minutes
Servings: 8 servings
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: Korean
Calories: 430
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

Potatoes base
  • 3 lb russet potatoes
  • 2 carrots
  • 1 cucumber
  • 0.5 cup corn kernels
  • 4 hard-boiled eggs
Creamy sweet dressing
  • 0.5 cup mayonnaise
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 2 tbsp rice vinegar
  • salt and pepper to taste

Equipment

  • 1 Dutch oven

Method
 

Cook the potatoes
  1. Bring a pot of water to a boil, then boil the peeled and cubed russet potatoes until very tender, about 15–20 minutes, until a fork slides in easily. Drain and let the potatoes steam off in the colander for 2 minutes to reduce excess moisture.
  2. Mash the drained potatoes roughly (not completely smooth) until you have a thick, chunky base. Stop when most large pieces are broken down, leaving some texture for the creamy salad.
Blanch the vegetables
  1. Blanch the diced carrots in boiling water for 2 minutes, then drain well. You should see the carrots brighten slightly while staying tender-crisp.
Assemble and dress
  1. Combine the mashed potatoes, blanched carrots, seeded and diced cucumber, corn kernels, and chopped hard-boiled eggs in the pot. Stir until the mix looks evenly distributed with visible colorful pieces.
  2. Mix the mayonnaise, sugar, rice vinegar, and salt and pepper until smooth and glossy. Taste and adjust salt/pepper so the dressing is tangy-sweet.
  3. Fold the dressing into the potato mixture until everything is coated, keeping a lumpy, creamy texture rather than fully puréeing. Scrape the bottom and corners so no dry potato remains.
Chill before serving
  1. Refrigerate the salad for at least 2 hours before serving. It should thicken slightly and taste more cohesive after chilling.

Notes

For a creamier but still chunky gamja salad, mash while the potatoes are hot and then fold gently so egg and cucumber stay intact. Refrigerate in a covered container for up to 4 days; freezing is not recommended because the vegetables and mayo can weep. For a lighter option, swap half the mayonnaise with plain Greek yogurt to keep the tang while reducing total fat.