Bobby Flay’s ‘Key’ to Grilled Potato Salad

TL; DR: 

• Bobby Flay has a recipe for grilled potato salad. 
• The celebrity chef says the “key” is using a grill basket.
• He also recommends dressing the potato salad while the potatoes are warm and not tossing it together too much. 

From celebrity chefs to home cooks, just about everyone has their own tips and tricks for making potato salad. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Bobby Flay, who is known as something of a grilling connoisseur, knows what it takes to make perfect grilled potato salad. Flay’s grilled potato salad “key” is a simple kitchen tool, a grill basket. 

The recipe starts with a lemon vinaigrette

Before Flay starts on the potatoes, he makes a vinaigrette. “The first thing I’m going to do, before I forget, is before I cut the lemon to get the juice out, I’m going to use the zester and harvest some of the zest off of the outside of the lemon, he said on the “Bobby’s Basics: Go-To Grilling” episode of Food Network’s Barbecue Addiction: Bobby’s Basics. 

“I always like to say you buy a lemon, you get zest for free,” he added, saying there’s “tons of flavor in the zest.” The cookbook author then added ingredients found in “everyday supermarket” items, including Dijon mustard and honey. 

Additionally, he highlighted the importance of making the vinaigrette first. “It’s good to have the vinaigrette ready so you can dress it while the potatoes are still warm,” he explained. “It’ll make the potato salad that much better.” 

Bobby Flay suggests using a grill basket to get the potatoes on and off the grill easily

Flay’s grilled potato salad “key” isn’t avoiding what he considers the most common grilling mistake. Rather, it’s using a grill basket. 

“They’re easy to kind of get off the grill and that’s the key,” he said. “If you put these on individually, you’re bound to lose a few.”

First, he quarters the potatoes (his pick is the baby red variety), before giving them a drizzle of canola oil and a sprinkling of salt and pepper.  Then he transfers them to a grill basket and makes sure they’re evenly distributed. 

From there, he puts the basket on the grill. “It’s that simple,” he said. The result is “nice, crusty potatoes.” 

Bobby Flay adds the vinaigrette when the potatoes are still warm

Perhaps another key to Flay’s grilled potato salad is not to wait too long to add the vinaigrette. As he explained, it’s crucial to have the dressing nearby, already made. 

“What I like to do always is I like to dress the potatoes while they’re still warm with the dressing,” he said. “So it’s really important to keep the dressing, sort of, at the ready.” 

That’s not all. Another key to Flay’s grilled potato salad is not to go overboard with mixing it all together. As he added goat cheese and arugula, he explained why. “Fold one time, otherwise we’re going to wilt the arugula too much and the goat cheese will actually get a little messy as well,” he said. 

Stick to Flay’s advice and end up with what he calls “beautiful potato salad.”