Warm Buffalo Potato Salad

Every time I flip through a cookbook, I come across quite the dilemma:

The salad section.

This section, typically reserved for the back of the cookbook, never seems to have very many actual salad recipes. You know, like leafy green salads. Salads that contain major veggies. Salads that are supposed to be good for you.

No, no. I encounter an onslaught of fruit salads packed with whipped topping and pounds of sugar on top of more sugar. I find myself swimming in dozens of pasta salad recipes that are loaded with carbs and fatty cheeses. What are these doing here? I ask myself. Shouldn’t these be in the side dish section?

I guess that is where my dilemma comes in. Do you consider pasta, fruit, and potato salads as a true “salad“? Or do you push them into the “side dish” category?

I consider them side dishes. Sure, they all have the word “salad” in their name, but when I think salad, I think spinach or romaine or caesar or belgian endive salads. I wouldn’t want to eat potato salad with my fettucine alfredo. I would, however, love a small caeser salad to go with my heavy pasta dinner.

So where should I put this recipe in my recipe index? It’s a warm, hearty potato salad— shall I relegate it to the salad section, or put it where it rightly deserves to go, the side dish section?

I’m thinking the side dish section…but I don’t know. You be the judge.

Warm Buffalo Potato Salad

• Servings: 6-8
• Time: 1 hr 30 mins
• Difficulty: Medium
• Print

Roasted potatoes tossed with spicy buffalo sauce and creamy blue cheese.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup ranch dressing
• 1/4 cup buffalo hot sauce (I used Louisiana Wing Sauce)
• 6 TBS. olive oil
• 4 lbs. red potatoes, cut into 1/4ths
• 2 TBS. garlic, chopped
• 2 tsp. Italian seasoning
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. pepper
• 1 1/2 cups onion, diced
• 1 cup crumbled blue cheese

Directions

1. Combine the ranch dressing and hot sauce in a small bowl. Set aside. In the meantime, mix the olive oil, garlic, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper in a large owl. Add the potatoes and mix to coat.
2. Place potatoes on a baking sheet and roast in an oven preheated to 375 degrees for 55 minutes or until fork tender. Cool slightly.
3. To make the salad, toss the potatoes & onions with the hot sauce mixture. Top with crumbled blue cheese and serve.

Step-By-Step Instructions

In a large bowl, mix the olive oil, Italian seasoning, garlic, salt and pepper together until well combined. Add potatoes and toss to coat.

Transfer potatoes to a rimmed baking sheet and roast for 55 minutes in an oven set to 375 degrees. Make sure they are fork tender and then let cool slightly.

In a small bowl, combine the hot sauce with the ranch dressing. Toss potatoes and onions in the ranch mixture until well coated.

Top the salad with blue cheese crumbles and serve. You can either eat it warm (best) or cold (still pretty good!).

This potato salad sure does pack a punch—but it’s a punch that will warm your heart. I love the spiciness mixed with the cool ranch dressing—and then the tangy blue cheese really brings it all together. I think roasting the potatoes adds that extra “wow” factor to this potato salad, and it will definitely woo your guests if you serve it at a picnic!