Real Meals Modified

Level 5: Minced & Moist Mashed Potato Salad

Mashed Potato Salad

Mashed potatoes are an easy-to-eat favorite. In this recipe, I’ve modified standard mashed potatoes into a cold, savory, deli-style side. This Level 5: Minced & Moist Mashed Potato Salad is an amazing dish to bring to a potluck! 

mashed potato salad in a blue bowl with fork on purple background

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Mashed potatoes a new way

While mashed potatoes are served often on puree diets, I’ve left this recipe at Level 5: Minced and Moist. I find that real potatoes, versus instant mashed potato flakes, have a little more structure than IDDSI testing guidelines usually allow, and that I can never truly get rid of the lumps.

Level 5: Minced & Moist

Level 5: Minced & Moist is appropriate for individuals who have good tongue control and can manage small bits of food, but may have decreased chewing or tongue force. Foods contain visible lumps and are covered with a moist sauce. These foods can be scooped and shaped into a ball on the plate, but no liquid can separate from the solids if the plate is tipped.

Food pieces or lumps can be no larger than 4mm for adults or 2mm for children and must fit between the tines of a fork; this is called the Fork Test. Minced & Moist recipes must pass both the Fork Test and the Spoon Tilt Test, in which the food must hold its shape on a spoon but fall off easily if tilted or lightly flicked. We recommend watching IDDSI’s Youtube video of the Spoon Tilt Test before you cook as well as during the testing of your final modified portion.

Always test your food before serving to ensure that it meets all the IDDSI testing guidelines.

Level 5: Minced & Moist Mashed Potato Salad

Traditional mayonnaise-based potato salad is very important to me. I make Josh’s very Mexican family eat my potato salad every Easter, even though it is about as American as you can get. In my personal recipe book, one of the instructions is “add mustard until it is Easter yellow.” I know that if I were confined to a minced & moist diet, I would miss this spring tradition.

This mashed potato salad is an amazing dish to bring to a potluck! I’ve set up the recipe for one pound of potatoes, feel free to double or triple this recipe to make however much salad you need! My mom’s rule of thumb was one potato for each guest, and I’ve found that gives you plenty for leftovers the next day.

Make sure to taste and season the mashed potato salad with salt, pepper, and Mrs. Dash after combining and before you serve. And as always, test using the Fork Test and the Spoon Tilt Test according to the IDDSI testing guidelines.

mashed potato salad in green bowl on countertop with fork

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mashed potato salad in a blue bowl with fork on purple background
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4.25 from 4 votes

Level 5: Minced & Moist Mashed Potato Salad

This mashed potato salad is a cold, savory version of an easy-to-eat standard. Potato salad must rest before serving, this is a great make-ahead side!
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: American
Keyword: mashed potatoes, potato salad for dysphagia
Servings: 4 people
Author: Sara @ Real Meals Modified

Equipment

Ingredients

  • 1 pound cooked potatoes
  • ¼ cup vegetable oil
  • 3 tablespoons vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon yellow mustard
  • 1 hard boiled egg
  • ½ cup mayo
  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon Mrs. Dash Table Blend
  • Salt and pepper

Instructions

  • Peel and cook one pound of potatoes with your favorite method until soft.
  • Mash potatoes with potato masher or fork until smooth. If there are any lumps, make sure lumps are less than 4mm x 15mm in size to match Level 5 requirements.
  • Make marinade by combining oil, vinegar, sugar, salt and mustard in a small bowl.
  • Add marinade to hot mashed potatoes and cover.
  • Cool marinating potatoes in the fridge at least 2 hours or overnight.
  • Blend hard-boiled egg, mayo, onion powder and Mrs. Dash together until smooth.
  • Combine egg mixture with potatoes.
  • Taste and season with salt, pepper, and Mrs. Dash.
  • Serve cold. Mashed potato salad is even better the next day.

Did you make this recipe?  Let us know how it went below!

4 thoughts on “Level 5: Minced & Moist Mashed Potato Salad”

  1. 5 stars
    I absolutely LOVE this recipe. The acidity from the vinegar gives it that perfect deli-side flavor and it is such a clear departure from regular mashed potatoes. Not to mention the protein from the eggs is a huge benefit! I could eat this every day (:

    Thank you for the recipe, Sara!

  2. 5 stars
    This turned about amazing and my whole family loved it.
    The lone problem was my skimming the recipe and realizing that the potato mixture needed to cool at least 2 hours before the next step. It was already dinner time, so I let it sit overnight and we had for lunch the next days. So good.

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