This fresh and zesty Baby Potato Asparagus Salad makes the most of Spring's new baby potatoes and fresh seasonal Asparagus. Paired with a zesty lemon dressing, this easy salad is perfect for Spring time eating!
This salad is the ultimate Spring Treat! Serve it up at Easter or Mother's day when new potatoes and asparagus both make their appearance at the farmers market. Combined with the lemon and herb packed dressing this salad ticks all the spring eating boxes!
This fresh spring salad takes a little inspiration from this Potato Salad with Dill and Peas which is great to make a little later on when Spring becomes early summer. It also pairs beautifully with these Easy Chickpea Patties (Gluten-Free) which are perfect for early Spring entertaining!
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🥔Ingredients
This salad takes its inspiration from the freshest produce of Spring. Asparagus and Baby potatoes are culinary friends, but add lots of fresh parsley and lemon, and they become more like lovers. (ahem. that's quite poetic. I need to get out more)
- Baby or New Potatoes: Little waxy new potatoes are perfect for making salads as they hold together well once boiled. I like to use Jersey Royals for their delicate flavour, but your favourite small waxy new potato will be perfect.
- Fresh Green Asparagus: The fresher the better! Look for firm tips that haven't gone mushy.
- Flat Leaf Parsley: The zesty gremolata inspired dressing rests on plenty of fresh parsley. You can use curly if you can't find flat leaf.
- Spring Onions/Scallions: These are delicious in salads as they are milder than a regular onion and are a pretty green.
- Fresh Lemon Juice and Zest: The zest of the lemon adds long lasting, ahem, zestiness, while the juice creates the base of the dressing.
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Be sure to use a good quality EVOO. This salad is quite simple, and the slight grassy flavour of good olive oil takes it to another level.
- Garlic: Optional, but I love a little hit of garlic in with this salad.
- Capers: Little salty flavour bombs. These add a dimension of flavour to the dressing that is slightly addictive.
- Salt: Good quality sea salt to season.
See recipe card for quantities.
👩🍳Instructions
This salad is easy to assemble. Follow the instructions!
- Thoroughly Clean the baby potatoes and cut any large ones in half. Do not remove their skins! Boil until tender.
2. Chop the asparagus into bite size pieces. Remove any of the tougher woody ends. Steam over the potatoes as they are cooking.
3. Grate the garlic, chop the capers, parsley and spring onions and zest the lemon.
4. Combine all the dressing ingredients and mix well with the olive oil and lemon juice.
5. When the baby potatoes and asparagus are tender, drain and refresh in cold water for 10 minutes. They should end up just slightly warmer than room temperature.
6. Toss the potatoes and asparagus with the dressing and serve.
Hint: To steam the asparagus, I set a wire steamer over the potatoes and put a lid on for the last 5 minutes of the potato cooking time. This saves on water and energy!
🥦Substitutions & Variations
The baby potato season is longer than the asparagus season, so here are some variations so you can enjoy this salad for longer!
- Green French Beans- Fresh green beans are delicious in place of the asparagus.
- Green Peas- opt for fresh or frozen green peas in place of the asparagus.
- Other Herbs - not a fan of parsley? Dill or mint are also delicious in this recipe. Or why not try a mixture!
🔪Equipment
The beauty of this recipe is in it's simplicity. You'll need a good knife, a steamer and a pot to boil the potatoes in, plus a big mixing bowl.
🥫Storage
This potato salad keeps well in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days. If you make extra dressing, it keeps in an airtight container in the fridge for a bit longer, up to 10 days. (It's great to spoon over grilled tofu!)
❗Top tip
Make extra dressing and use it to spoon over grilled tofu, mushrooms or peppers. Great for when you're having a BBQ and you want to add some extra pizzaz to the veggie options.
❓FAQ
Yes! Most potato salads are fine to make the day before. This particular recipe is delicious made ahead of time as the potatoes have time to absorb the delicious dressing.
Yes, especially when using new or baby potatoes, which have very thin skins that are super tricky to peel.
Yes, boiling potatoes the night before is a great time saver. You can even make the whole salad the night before and leave in the fridge, which allows the salad to absorb the lovely dressing.
Salad lover?
Are you a salad lover? Me too! Why not try some of my other favourites =>
Serving Ideas:
Need some other ideas to serve up with this salad? Here are my faves!
📖 Recipe
Baby Potato Asparagus Salad without Mayo
Ingredients Note:
For accuracy, I measure all ingredients in metric as standard, then convert and test the recipe for American cup measurements etc.
(Heads up Aussie and UK readers- your measurements in cups are sometimes different, so please use metric or check you have the correct cup and spoon type!!)
Ingredients
- 500 g (1 lb) New Potatoes
- 250 g (½ lb) Asparagus
- 100 g (¼ lb) Spring Onions (scallions)
- 4 tablespoon Fresh Parsley (finely chopped)
- 1 clove garlic (optional but yummy! )
- 2 tablespoon Capers
- 2 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive oil
- 30 ml (¼ cups) freshly squeezed lemon juice (Juice from 1 lemon)
- 1 tablespoon Lemon Zest (Zest from 1 lemon. Make sure it's unwaxed.)
- Salt & Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Simmer the new potatoes whole (with skins on) in boiling water until tender.500 g New Potatoes
- In the meantime, trim the woody ends of the asparagus and chop into bite size pieces (about 3cms)250 g Asparagus
- Steam the asparagus (above the boiling potatoes if you can)
- Drain and refresh the potatoes and asparagus under cold water to stop them boiling and cool them down to room temperature.500 g New Potatoes
- Finely chop the parsley, spring onions and capers and garlic if using..100 g Spring Onions, 4 tablespoon Fresh Parsley, 2 tablespoon Capers, 2 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive oil , Salt & Pepper to taste, 1 clove garlic
- Zest and Juice the lemon. Mix the zest, lemon juice, olive oil, parsley, spring onion, garlic and capers together and season with walt.1 tablespoon Lemon Zest, 30 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
- Add all the salad ingredients into a bowl and mix gently so the salad is evenly covered in the dressing.
- Taste and add more salt or pepper or lemon juice to taste
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