Potato salad is one of those cookout sides everyone has an opinion about. Making it from scratch eats up a whole afternoon, so most of us just grab a tub from the store deli and hope it doesn’t taste like wet cardboard. The problem is, some of them do. Food critics and regular shoppers have spent years arguing over which grocery store version is actually worth the money and which ones you should leave on the shelf. A few taste shockingly close to homemade. One keeps getting crowned the best in the entire country. Here’s the rundown from the sad tubs to the one people can’t stop buying.
Smart & Final First Street Deviled Egg
This one lands at the very bottom, and the ingredient list tells you why. Reviewers who ranked it dead last pointed to corn syrup, fructose, and a lineup of preservatives that read more like a chemistry set than a potato salad. The result tasted and looked artificial. When your side dish has more shelf-stabilizers than actual seasoning, that’s a bad sign. There are cheaper tubs that taste a hundred times fresher, so this is an easy pass.
Grandma’s Kitchen (Giant Eagle)
Nothing about the name Grandma’s Kitchen prepares you for this. At $5.99 for a 16-ounce tub, it was called almost inedible. The mustard was cranked way up in the worst way, and a heavy red pepper flavor barreled over everything else. Potato salad should taste balanced, not like a dare. For six bucks you’d expect something your grandma would actually claim. This wasn’t it.
Gelson’s Homemade
Here’s proof that a high price does not buy you good potato salad. Gelson’s is a premium Southern California chain with prices in Whole Foods territory, and its homemade version rang up at nearly $12 a pound. For that money you got dry salad, mushy potatoes, and an oniony aftertaste that stuck around. The store’s separate Picnic version wasn’t much better, mostly bland except for a heavy hit of black pepper. Skip the fancy deli case and save your twelve bucks.
Walmart Freshness Guaranteed
Walmart is the wild card. At $3.47 a pound it’s one of the cheapest tubs going, made with real ingredients and no corn syrup. But opinions split hard. Some testers found the original way too sweet, and one review said the potatoes were so overcooked and mushy it nearly turned into mashed potatoes. Then again, in a blind taste test by Southern Living editors, this exact tub actually beat everything else, praised for balancing tang and sweetness with a solid texture. So it’s a coin flip. Cheap enough to gamble on, at least.
Whole Foods Red Bliss
This is the pretty one that can’t decide who it wants to be. Made fresh in-store with unpeeled red potatoes, sour cream, Dijon, and apple cider vinegar, it looks gorgeous with flecks of red skin and green onion. One ranking even put it in first place on looks alone. But another taste test found it seriously under-seasoned and bland despite all those good ingredients. It leans on sour cream and brown sugar instead of a mayo-heavy base, so it’s less creamy and less sweet than Southern styles. If you like restraint, you might love it. If you want flavor up front, you might not.
Aldi Original
Aldi wins on price and doesn’t embarrass itself on taste. A big 32-ounce container runs just $3.99, the best price-per-pound of any store tested. The potatoes cook up nicely and there’s a real mustard note, though some testers wished it had more seasoning and a little less sourness. Loyal shoppers keep repurchasing it for that glossy, earthy, creamy look. Aldi also makes a Steakhouse version with actual bacon in it. The texture on that one was excellent, with crunchy red skin, onion, and bacon bits, but the sweetness got turned up too high for some. For a budget pick, Aldi delivers.
Trader Joe’s Potato Salad
Trader Joe’s has a straight-up cult behind its potato salad. The recipe is basic, mostly potato and mayo with celery, onion, a little egg and mustard, and that’s the whole point. Shoppers say the mayo never bullies the potato, which keeps it tasting clean and almost snackable on its own. One longtime fan on Reddit said they’d been buying it for 30 years and it tastes almost exactly like their mom’s. A splash of extra mayo and lemon juice turns it into something you’d swear you made yourself.
Costco Dee Amoré Deviled Egg
Costco’s Dee Amoré Deviled Egg tub is the one that finally does something different. At $9.07 for a hefty 48-ounce container, it earned points for a savory, well-balanced flavor with a hint of sweetness and fresh dill running through it. That dill was the only one in the lineup to lead with the herb, and it gave the whole thing a brightness that heavier salads miss. The potatoes came off a touch gummy, but they still had some bite. For feeding a crowd, this is a smart grab.
Sam’s Club Member’s Mark Southern Style
Sam’s Club sells this in a giant 5-pound tub, and the reviews are downright emotional. One shopper said it tastes like the potato salad they got years ago on an old farm. Another brought it to a church potluck in a nice bowl, and everyone begged for the recipe before she admitted her “friend Sam” made it. Made with Idaho potatoes, mayo, a vinegar-based dressing, and relish, it’s thick with real chunks. Fans say to toss in a few extra hard-boiled eggs. The one knock: some families find it a little too sweet, almost like dessert.
Häns Kissle
Before we get to the champ, this deli brand deserves a shout. In one head-to-head ranking, Häns Kissle came out on top for tasting rich, savory, and genuinely homemade. It respected what potato salad is supposed to be instead of drowning it in sugar or thin dressing. If you spot it in your deli case, it’s a safe bet that won’t let you down at the table.
Publix Deli Potato Salad (The Winner)
And here’s the one shoppers won’t shut up about. Publix’s deli potato salad is the runaway favorite, and its New York Style version got a perfect 10 out of 10 and the title of best grocery store potato salad in the country. The potatoes are soft and cooked just right, with the consistency of breakfast potatoes, and the dressing tastes fresh with a light tang and gentle sweetness instead of a corn syrup bomb.
The Southern-Style, sold in the same case where you order your Pub subs, has its own army of fans. Made with potatoes, mayo, mustard, hard-boiled eggs, celery, and red and green peppers, some shoppers say it’s passed for homemade with their dinner guests. When Southern Living asked readers to name the store-bought tub worth buying, Publix was the far and away favorite. You can buy it in half-pound, one-pound, or two-pound tubs.
Quick tip if you want the good stuff: Publix makes fresh batches multiple times a day, but older tubs get pushed to the front of the case. Shop between 10 a.m. and noon, look for a “prepared today” sticker, and check that the potatoes look bright yellow with no liquid pooling at the bottom. Do that, and you’ll understand why so many people have quit making their own.
So the verdict is clear. Skip the artificial stuff at the bottom, take a chance on Walmart or Aldi if you’re pinching pennies, but if there’s a Publix within driving distance, that deli tub is the one worth the trip.
