Low Fat Potato Salad (No Mayo, Under 1g Fat)
Potato salad is the other thing that quietly disappears from your plate.
Coleslaw goes first, and potato salad follows about a week later. Both sit in the same tubs in the same aisle, both are held together by the same thing, and both get scraped politely to the side at barbecues while everyone else helps themselves.
Which is a shame, because potatoes are one of the lowest fat foods in the kitchen. A whole kilo of new potatoes contains less than 4g of fat. Everything that makes shop-bought potato salad heavy comes from what’s stirred through it afterwards — mayonnaise, crème fraîche, or a slick of oil.
So this version uses thick Greek yoghurt instead, sharpened with mustard and lemon and loaded with fresh herbs. It comes in at under 1g of fat per serving against roughly 13g for a standard one, and around 130 calories instead of 250.
The trick, and it’s the only thing that really matters here, is to dress the potatoes while they’re still warm. Warm potatoes drink the dressing in. Cold ones just wear it.
Why Shop-Bought Potato Salad Is So High in Fat
The potatoes aren’t the problem. New potatoes are around 0.3g of fat per 100g, which is about as low as food gets.
The dressing is another matter. Mayonnaise runs at roughly 75g of fat per 100g and full-fat crème fraîche at around 30g, and potato salad is typically a third dressing by weight. Add a drizzle of oil on top — one tablespoon is 14g of fat on its own — and a side portion ends up heavier than the meat it’s sitting next to.
A low fat potato salad dressing fixes all of it in one swap. Yoghurt brings the creaminess, mustard brings the savoury depth, lemon brings the sharpness, and the herbs do the rest.
| Potato salad | Fat per serving (approx) |
|---|---|
| Standard shop-bought | ~15g |
| Homemade with crème fraîche and oil | ~13g |
| Homemade with light mayonnaise | ~7g |
| This recipe | Under 1g |
Does Greek Yoghurt Work in Potato Salad?
Yes — but three things have to be right, and most recipes only get one of them.
Dress the potatoes warm. This is the one that matters most. Warm potatoes absorb the dressing into the surface rather than sitting in it, which is what gives you that properly creamy, coated finish instead of yoghurt sliding around a bowl of cold potatoes.
Use 0% fat Greek yoghurt, not natural yoghurt. Thick is the whole point. Thin yoghurt turns watery the moment it meets warm potato and you’ll end up draining a puddle off the bottom.
Add mustard. Half a teaspoon of Dijon. Yoghurt on its own tastes like yoghurt; yoghurt with mustard tastes like dressing. It’s replacing the savoury, eggy depth that mayonnaise would normally bring, and without it the whole thing falls flat.
Get those three right and nobody will ask what’s in it
Is It Low Calorie Too?
Yes. At around 130 calories per serving, it’s roughly half a standard homemade potato salad and around a third of most shop-bought tubs.
Potatoes are also more filling per calorie than almost anything else you could put on the side of a plate, which makes this a genuinely useful low calorie potato salad rather than just a lighter one.
Ingredients
For the salad
750g new potatoes, halved if large
150g fine green beans, trimmed and halved (optional)
4 spring onions, finely sliced
For the low fat dressing
200g 0% fat Greek yoghurt
½ tsp Dijon mustard
Juice of ½ lemon (about 1 tbsp)
½ tsp fine salt
Black pepper, to taste
Herbs
Small handful fresh mint, chopped
Small handful fresh parsley, chopped
Small handful fresh basil, torn
How To Make Low Fat Potato Salad
1. Put the potatoes into a large pan of cold salted water, bring to the boil, and simmer for 12–15 minutes until a knife goes through easily.
2. If you’re using the green beans, drop them into the same pan for the last 3–4 minutes. They should still have some bite.
3. While the potatoes cook, whisk the yoghurt, mustard, lemon juice, salt and pepper together in a large bowl until smooth. Taste and adjust now — it should be sharp and savoury.
4. Drain the potatoes and beans well and leave for 2 minutes to steam dry. Tip them into the dressing while still warm and turn gently until everything is coated.
5. Stir through the spring onions and most of the herbs. Scatter the rest over the top.
6. Serve warm, or chill for 20 minutes and serve cold. Both work.
VARIATIONS
Without the beans — add sliced celery or radish for crunch instead
Dill and cucumber — very good with salmon
Mustard-heavy — double the Dijon for a sharper, more traditional flavour
With egg — two chopped hard-boiled eggs adds protein for about 5g of fat per serving Crème fraîche version — the original, over on Rachel’s Recipe Pantry
WHAT TO SERVE IT WITH
- Grilled or roast chicken — the standard pairing for a reason
- Baked salmon or white fish — the lemon and herbs are already halfway there
- Cold meats and pickles — ploughman’s style
- Barbecues and buffets — holds up well on a table
- Alongside low fat coleslaw — the two together make a full spread
STORAGE fOR POTATO SALAD
Fridge: up to 3 days in an airtight container
Stir before serving — it firms up when cold
Loosen with a spoonful of yoghurt or a squeeze of lemon if needed
Not suitable for freezing
Rachel’s Tip
Dress them warm. The single most important step. Cold potatoes won’t absorb anything.
Steam dry for two minutes after draining, or excess water will thin the dressing.
No fresh herbs? Use 2 tsp dried mixed herbs, though fresh is noticeably better here.
Leave the skins on — more fibre, more texture, less work.
Waxy potatoes only. Charlotte, Jersey Royals or any new potato. Floury varieties collapse.
Make it sharper with extra lemon, or milder with an extra spoonful of yoghurt.
Low Fat Potato Salad (No Mayo)
Ingredients
Method
- Put the potatoes into a large pan of cold salted water, bring to the boil, and simmer for 12–15 minutes until a knife goes through easily.
- If you’re using the green beans, drop them into the same pan for the last 3–4 minutes. They should still have some bite.
- While the potatoes cook, whisk the yoghurt, mustard, lemon juice, salt and pepper together in a large bowl until smooth. Taste and adjust now — it should be sharp and savoury.
- Drain the potatoes and beans well and leave for 2 minutes to steam dry. Tip them into the dressing while still warm and turn gently until everything is coated.
- Stir through the spring onions and most of the herbs. Scatter the rest over the top.
- Serve warm, or chill for 20 minutes and serve cold. Both work.
Nutrition
Notes
Tried this recipe?
Let us know how it was!Frequently asked questions
Shop-bought potato salad is usually a problem because of the mayonnaise, which is around 75% fat. Potatoes themselves are very low in fat and generally well tolerated. This version contains under 1g of fat per serving, which most people manage comfortably.
You can, but light mayonnaise is still around 25–30g of fat per 100g. If you’d like a richer result, use half yoghurt and half light mayonnaise — you’ll still be well under a standard potato salad.
Usually because the potatoes weren’t drained and steam-dried properly, or because thin natural yoghurt was used instead of thick Greek yoghurt. Drain the liquid off and stir through an extra spoonful of yoghurt.
Yes. It keeps for up to three days and the flavour improves overnight. It firms up in the fridge, so let it sit out for ten minutes and stir before serving.
Waxy new potatoes — Charlotte, Jersey Royals, Anya. They hold their shape. Floury varieties like Maris Piper break apart when you stir the dressing through.
Yes — plain unsweetened soya yoghurt works well. Check coconut yoghurt labels, as they’re often high in fat.
No. It’s very good warm, straight from the pan, and arguably better that way.
Potato salad went the same way as the coleslaw for me — not through any decision, just a slow drift away from the tubs in the chiller aisle. It took an embarrassingly long time to work out that the potatoes had never been the issue.
Dress them warm, use proper thick yoghurt, don’t skip the mustard. That’s genuinely all there is to it.
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