The Canned Addition That Amps Up The Crunch In Potato Salad

Potatoes are one of the most versatile foods made by nature, but on their own, many will admit that potatoes aren't anything fantastic. The humble spud needs a bit of help to become tasty, and one of people's favorite ways to elevate it is by throwing together a potato salad. Here, fats and seasonings combine with the starch to create a comforting, flavorful dish. Yet, the texture can occasionally be a bit one-dimensional. While there's nothing necessarily wrong with a uniform creamy consistency, variety is the spice of life, and adding one simple canned ingredient to the mix takes the dish to another level.

There are plenty of underrated ingredients that work in potato salad, and canned corn is among the easiest of these to incorporate in the classic dish. All that's required is to drain the corn and toss it into the mix for an extra crunch that adds a surprising depth of texture to the dish. As a bonus, the little yellow kernels parlay a new balance of flavor without having to include any additional seasonings.

The key is to make sure you get your extra crunch from the canned corn without throwing off the flavor profile of the entire dish. If you only want to include some crunchy bits to a potato salad without altering the flavor much, there are other ingredients that will do the trick. Diced celery or a handful of nuts will give it textural differentiation, but they typically don't bring much in terms of flavor. Corn does something a little extra. Whether your potato salad is creamy, spicy, herbaceous, or all of the above, adding corn gives you a boost of sweetness that balances the dish without having to incorporate any overtly sugary components. Depending on the variety of canned corn, it may also bring additional salt.

Some folks assume that simply mixing mayo and seasonings with potatoes will result in outstanding fare, but that's not always the case. While it is forgiving and easy to adjust, you still need to pay attention to how it tastes. Balancing various flavors is crucial, and unless you want to make a common seasoning mistake, you need to constantly taste-test your dish to ensure everything is getting along.

For some versions of potato salad, the natural sweetness of corn might not fully work without adding something else, like salty bacon or a touch of acid such as red wine vinegar like the Pompeian brand. Some people use Kewpie mayo as the secret ingredient in egg salad for an extra hit of umami, and this can also work for potato salad if you have a taste and discover that more savory notes would be welcome.