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    Home » Recipes » Brunch & Breakfast Recipes

    Published: May 23, 2013 · Modified: Aug 18, 2022 by Paula Montenegro · Income from ads and affiliate links 24 Comments

    Potato Pesto Egg Salad

    Jump to Recipe

    A twist on the traditional potato egg salad, this one has pesto and peas and is fantastic. Very simple, it's always a hit in my house and when I take it to barbecues and potlucks.

    Close up of potato Pesto Egg Salad in yellow bowl on a white linen and wooden table.

    Few things make me happier, foodwise, than to open my refrigerator and find two or three different things that I can spoon or fork directly from the bowl - this pesto potato salad a favorite - often with the door open.

    On days I'm feeling very proper, I present a nice plate with different things on it. Like an everyday mini buffet lunch or dinner.

    I can't think of any better meal than one that involves a lot of dishes I like that get piled up on my plate. Maybe a very good sandwich, like this with serrano ham, mozzarella, and arugula, can compete with that.

    Stacked white and yellow bowls with potato salad on a wooden table. Wooden spoon and kitchen towel.

    Or a great barbecue, but then, they involve several types of meat and salads, so we'd be back to the buffet-like idea.
    Though to tell you the truth, I dislike the word buffet a lot, have no clue to why, I just do, but it serves its purpose very well here.

    It's pretty hard to post a potato salad that has not been made before or that we haven't seen everywhere. Is it that we all pretty much like the same thing? Probably.

    For me, it has some kick from mustard or vinegar, and I really like it with eggs and parsley.

    Quail eggs and peas on a wooden board.

    Now, this one that I'm sharing today has probably everything that I like in a potato salad, and out of it, like a fantastic pesto and some accurately boiled quail eggs, with that creamy yolk that is for some reason creamier than the creamiest chicken egg one.

    Pesto, peas, potato pieces, and basil in a salad bowl.

    How can a pesto be so different?

    I don't know, I make them all the time and have posted a few, like the wonderful cauliflower pesto, sun-dried tomato pesto, and the very popular cilantro pesto.

    So, I dig pesto a lot. How come this one surprised me?

    Yellow green bowl with potato salad on a wooden table with wooden spoon, quail eggs, pine nuts, parsley.

    This recipe is adapted from Ottolenghi's cookbook Plenty. I don't think there ever was a recipe from him that I didn't like.

    So line up your potatoes, peas, basil pesto, and quail eggs, make this super wonderful potato salad, and go on a picnic, celebrate the spring or the fall, or some holiday that must be coming soon, or just that life is good.

    Or do as I do, make a huge bowl for yourself, have a few tablespoons every hour and call it a meal.

    Top view of potato egg salad with pesto in a yellow bowl stack and white linen. Wooden table with wooden spoon.

    Table of Contents Hide
    Related recipes you might like:
    Potato Egg Salad with Pesto

    Related recipes you might like:

    • Peruvian Potato Salad
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    • Moroccan Carrot, Chickpea, Dried Fruit and Almond Salad - a guest post at Maroc Mama
    • Sesame Soba Noodles

    Let me know in the comments below if you made this recipe and loved it and if you had issues so we can troubleshoot together. I love to hear what you think, always. Thanks for being here. It's much appreciated.
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    Close up of potato Pesto Egg Salad in yellow bowl on a white linen and wooden table.

    Potato Egg Salad with Pesto

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    A twist on the traditional potato egg salad, this one has pesto and peas and is fantastic. Very simple, it's always a hit in my house and when I take it to barbecues and potlucks. 

    • Total Time: 45 minutes
    • Yield: 4 servings

    Ingredients

    Units

    For the salad:

    • 12 quail eggs or 3 regular eggs
    • 1 cup fresh or frozen peas
    • 2 pounds potatoes (your favorites, unpeeled)
    • 1 Tbs wine vinegar
    • Bunch of spinach leaves (sliced thinly)
    • Salt and freshly ground black pepper

    For the pesto:

    • 1 cup basil leaves
    • ½ cup parsley leaves (plus extra for garnish)
    • ⅓ cup pine nuts
    • 1 shallot
    • ½ cup 2oz - 30g asiago or parmesan cheese, grated
    • 1 cup olive oil

    Instructions

    For the salad:

    1. In a saucepan, cook the potatoes in very salted water, unpeeled, until the are tender but not too soft. Drain, peel as soon as you can, as they will absorb flavors better if hot, and put in a large salad bowl.
    2. Add vinegar and pepper and mix lightly.
    3. Bring quail eggs to a boil (starting from cold water), and boil for 1 ½ minutes, for hard boiled eggs. Drain, let cool and peel. Reserve.
    4. In boiling water, cook peas for 1 minute for frozen and 2 minutes for fresh, and drain. Put in the bowl with the potatoes.
    5. Add the pesto, spinach and mix. Check for salt and pepper.
    6. You can add the quail eggs, cut in half, to the whole salad, or you can add them to each individual plate, three per serving aprox.

    For the pesto:

    1. In a food processor or with an immersion blender, mix basil, parsley, pine nuts, shallot, cheese, black pepper and half of the oil.
    2. Add the rest of the oil and check for salt and pepper.
    3. If not using all in the salad, keep covered in the refrigerator.

    Notes

    I add a lot of salt to the water where I cook my potatoes, and it makes a difference in the finished salad. It works better than adding extra afterwords.

    • Author: Paula Montenegro
    • Prep Time: 45 minutes
    • Category: Salads
    • Method: Boiling + Mixing

    Keywords: pasta pesto egg salad

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    About Paula Montenegro

    I'm Paula, a baker for more than 30 years and your designated recipe developer, sharing the best ones here with simple ingredients + easy-to-follow instructions.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

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    1. Cocoa and Lavender says

      May 27, 2013 at 3:50 pm

      This potato salad rocks! I used some frozen pesto I had and froze peas, but fresh peas will soon be here and fresh basil is already abundant. I am with you, Paula, I am not a vegetarian (though I was in college out of self-defense - the cafeteria was execrable!), but Ottolenghi's book Plenty proved that vegetarian food like his could make a carnivor go veggie! ~ David (Sorry about the typos - I am on my iPad and it doesn't like it when you go back to change things!)

      Reply
    2. mygulitypleasures says

      May 26, 2013 at 11:01 am

      How strange ... I did the same salad the other day ... http://wp.me/p293Pw-6oT - and I love it.
      It was Laura that told me that you had made a post about it too. Mine has maybe another angle to it.
      Nice meeting you, Viveka

      Reply
    3. Marissa | Pinch and Swirl says

      May 25, 2013 at 10:40 pm

      I dig pesto, all kinds. And DO NOT forget to post your sun-dried tomato version - sounds so good. I have never eaten a quail egg, but now I'll have to seek them out...

      Reply
    4. Laura Dembowski says

      May 25, 2013 at 2:59 am

      I would be more than happy to have this as a meal, Paula! I love that it has pesto instead of being weighed down with a ton of mayonnaise.

      Reply
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