Russian Olivier Salad

Russian Olivier salad (Салат Оливье) is one of the best-known and most popular salads in the world. It resembles a potato salad, with other cooked vegetables and meat added. All the components together make a generous, comforting salad.

Everything in it is cut to the size of a pea: it is that single size that gives the salad its texture.

It is a versatile recipe, easy to adapt to any diet. To make it more nearly vegan, for instance, simply leave out the eggs and the sausage and use a vegan mayonnaise.

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What you need to make this Russian Olivier salad:

Potatoes — the hearty base of the salad, diced small so they blend in with everything else.
Carrots — for colour and a touch of sweetness, cut to the same size as the potatoes.
German sausage — brings richness and saltiness, the touch that makes the salad truly filling.
Dill pickles — their tang cuts through the creaminess of the mayonnaise and wakes up every bite.
Tinned peas and carrots — convenient and already tender, they add colour and a little sweetness.
Hard-boiled eggs — quartered and arranged on top, never stirred in (they would break up), they round out the salad's protein.
Mayonnaise and plain yogurt — the classic Olivier binder; the yogurt lightens the mayonnaise a little without losing its creaminess.
Dill — fresh and chopped, it brings the herbaceous note typical of Eastern European salads.
Salt and pepper — to season everything to taste.

Why this Russian Olivier salad must be on your menu!

A classic for special occasions: it appears at every Russian and Ukrainian celebration — Easter, Christmas, New Year — and turns up just as often at pot-lucks and family gatherings.
Some version of it can be found from Eastern Europe all the way to Latin America.
A meal in itself: potatoes, vegetables and sausage make it a complete dish, not just a side.
Perfect for feeding a large table.
Fits every diet: leave out the eggs and sausage and use a vegan mayonnaise, and it becomes vegan without losing its character.
A history over a century old: born in Moscow in the 1860s in the kitchens of French chef Lucien Olivier, it traded crayfish and caviar for everyday ingredients over time.

Russian Olivier Salad

Potatoes, carrots, pickles and sausage in small dice, bound with mayonnaise and yogurt, topped with hard-boiled eggs and dill.

Prep 30 min

Cook 20 min

Total time 50 min

Course: Sides Cuisine: Russian Keyword: Olivier salad Calories:

Ingredients

Servings: 8 servings

Instructions

Peel the potatoes and carrots. Cut them into dice the size of a pea.
Put them into a large pan of water and cook for about 20 minutes, or until tender: a fork should go through easily. Drain and set aside.
Cut the pickles and the sausage to the same size as the potatoes and carrots. Chop the dill.
In a bowl, mix the mayonnaise and the yogurt.
Boil the eggs for 7 minutes to hard-boil them. Peel and quarter them.
In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients except the eggs. Turn out onto a serving dish.
Arrange the eggs on top. Scatter over a little more dill if you like.

Nutrition (per serving)

Tips

Cut everything to the size of a pea: that is what makes the salad.
The eggs sit on top, they are not stirred in: they would break up.
Seven minutes in boiling water gives hard-boiled eggs with a still-tender yolk.
The mayonnaise-yogurt mix can give way to mayonnaise alone, or a mayonnaise and sour cream mix.
Vegan version: leave out the eggs and sausage, and use a vegan mayonnaise.

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