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The Good Hearted Woman

Home Cooking & Cozy Living

  • SOURDOUGH RECIPES & RESOURCES

Hot German Potato Salad (Kartoffelsalat)

September 11 By Renée 25 Comments

Sweet, sour and deliciously savory, this traditional Hot German Potato Salad will make your tastebuds go Oom-pa-pa!

Hot German Potato Salad Recipe | The Good Hearted Woman

This post may contain affiliate links, but don’t worry – they won’t bite.

My high school German teacher, Frau Müller, loved food, and often brought in German foods into class for us to try. She introduced us to exotic new-to-us delicacies like Butterkase (pronounced “booter-keh-zuh,” which literally means butter cheese), Kartoffelpuffer (German potato pancakes), and a profusion of buttery Bavarian pastries. But the one thing that stood out most for me was her traditional Kartoffelsalat – or Hot German Potato Salad. 

In America, the earliest written recipes for potato salad appeared the mid-19th century. Culinary historians speculate that the combination of cooked potatoes, oil, vinegar, and herbs was introduced by German immigrants, who had a penchant for rich, sour-sweet combinations.

Hot potato salad, usually made with bacon, onion and vinegar dressing, soon became so closely associated with German immigrants that it was dubbed “German Potato Salad.”

Equally scrumptious hot or cold, German Potato Salad is a deeply satisfying blend of sweet, tangy, bacony goodness. Unlike traditional American potato salad, the German version is completely devoid of anything remotely mayonnaisey. 

Over the years, this recipe has become a family favorite, and is now a time-honored Oktoberfest tradition at our house. It’s very easy to put together, and should be made ahead of time. I usually make it at least a day ahead to allow all the flavors to meld together, and then rewarm it to serve for our big Oktoberfest meal.

PRO TIP: We usually eat the leftovers cold… with our fingers… from the fridge. Because it’s soooo delicious. This makes a great picnic salad, too! 

Recipe Updated September 11, 2019 (Originally published October 2, 2014)
Hot German Potato Salad Recipe | The Good Hearted Woman
5 from 15 votes

German Potato Salad {Kartoffelsalat}

Sweet, sour and deliciously savory, this traditional Hot German Potato Salad will make your tastebuds go Oom-pa-pa!
Prep Time30 mins
Cook Time30 mins
Fridge Time (optional)1 d
Total Time1 d 1 hr
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: Bavarian, German
Keyword: bacon, potato salad
Servings: 8 servings
Calories: 195kcal
Author: Renée B. ♥ The Good Hearted Woman

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs red potatoes any waxy potato will work
  • 6 slices bacon cut into small pieces (Get good, high quality bacon for this!)
  • 1 medium red onion sliced thin
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar or plain vinegar
  • 1/3 cup water
  • 1 tsp celery seed optional
  • salt
  • pepper
US Customary - Metric

Instructions

  • Cut potatoes into 1/2- to 3/4-inch cubes and put them into a medium saucepan. (Leave skins on.)
    Add enough water to cover the tops of the potato cubes.
    Cover and boil about 15 minutes, or until tender but still firm.

While potatoes are cooking:

  • Cook bacon until crisp, remove from pan and set aside, reserving bacon drippings.
  • Saute the onion in the reserved bacon drippings.
  • Turn the heat on the sauteed red onions down to medium low, and add vinegar, sugar, water and celery seed.
    Heat to a simmer and pour over hot potatoes.
    Make sure liquid and potatoes and both very hot when mixed together.
    Add cooked bacon pieces.
    Stir to combine.
  • Salt and pepper to taste, and then put into 2 1/2 qt. casserole dish.
  • Bake uncovered for 30 minutes at 325°.

Notes

German Potato Salad is always better the second day! Prepare it ahead of time and simply reheat (or serve cold) when you're ready to serve it.
 

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 195kcal | Carbohydrates: 27.9g | Protein: 7.6g | Fat: 6.1g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 16mg | Sodium: 337mg | Potassium: 624mg | Fiber: 2.2g | Sugar: 10.1g | Calcium: 17mg | Iron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Mention @TheGoodHeartedWoman or tag #thegoodheartedwoman!

Hot German Potato Salad Recipe | The Good Hearted Woman

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Hot German Potato Salad (Kartoffelsalat)    Hot German Potato SaladWavy Line

What's on Your Oktoberfest Menu?

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Hot German Potato Salad

Sweet, sour and deliciously savory, this traditional Hot German Potato Salad will make your tastebuds go Oom-pa-pa!

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Crispy Sauerkraut Fritters {Easy Air Fryer Recipe}

These Crispy Sauerkraut Fritters with Bacon, Sausage and Cheese are the perfect appetizer for all your fall
celebrations!

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Rotkohl {German Sweet & Sour Red Cabbage}

Each mouthful of this traditional Prussian Rotkohl {German Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage} is a symphony of smokey, sweetly spiced notes with just a hint of sour for balance.

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Rye Sourdough Spaetzle with Caramelized Cipollini & Sautéed Mushrooms

Perfect for Oktoberfest (or Any-fest!), the recipe for this amazing Rye Sourdough Spaetzle – with Caramelized Cipollini, Sauteed Mushrooms, and Tabasco Shallots – comes to us courtesy of Chef Ryan Mead.

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Easy Apple Strudel {Apfelstrudel}

Fresh, crisp, and sweetly spiced, this Easy Apple Strudel {Apfelstrudel} is fancy enough for the most elaborate Oktoberfest menu, yet simple enough for any night of the year.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, including Amazon affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that we have recommended. While clicking these links won’t cost you any extra money, they do help keep this site up and running. As always, all opinions and images are my own. Please check out our disclosure policy for more details. Thank you for your support!

Filed Under: 30-Minute Meals, Oktoberfest Recipes, Salads, Side Dishes Tagged With: bacon, German, Holidays, onions, potatoes

Pops Vegetable Soup {Recipe}

January 5 By Renée 13 Comments

When I was a little girl, my parents and I spent most Sunday evenings at my Poppy’s house.  The four of us – Dad, Mom, Pop and I – would eat dinner and then settle in to watch Lawrence Welk and The Wonderful World of Disney together before Dad drove Mom and me home. On cold, dark winter nights, dinner was (more often than not) a piping bowl of Pop’s homemade vegetable soup, served with as many Saltines as I could eat.

Pop's Vegetable Soup | The Good Hearted Woman

Pop was my maternal grandfather and I was his only granddaughter, so we had a pretty special relationship.  Anyway, back then I was not much of a vegetable lover (I still hate cooked peas), and until I was about four, I would not eat more than a few token bites of Pop’s soup, subsisting Sunday nights almost entirely on crackers and milk. But then Pop pulled a trick out of his sleeve – he started adding a can of Campbell’s Alphabet Soup to his soup just for me, and those mushy little pasta letters changed everything.

I loved to hunt for the letters to spell my name, or the dog’s name, or anything really. I’d collect letters on my spoon, read them to everyone, and then gobble them up in one bite. Spell a word, eat a bite. Spell another word, eat another bite. In the process, I completely forgot to be picky about what surrounded them, and before I knew it, I was eating Pop’s soup like it was going out of style.  To this day, I still include that silly little can of soup, and every overcooked letter on my spoon reminds me of my sweet Poppy.

Pop's Vegetable Soup | The Good Hearted Woman

 

There aren’t many pictures in this post: there doesn’t need to be. There really is only one real step: put everything in a pot and let it simmer. Like most soups, this is much better the day after, so plan for leftovers. And serve with Saltines.

Pop's Vegetable Soup | The Good Hearted Woman

Pop's Vegetable Soup

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 large Beef soup bone (optional)
  • 2 quarts water or 2 qts. vegetable stock if not using soup bone
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 Tbs salt
  • 3 stalks celery chopped
  • 4 medium carrots sliced
  • 1 medium turnip pared and chopped
  • 1 cup chopped cabbage
  • 1 cup corn
  • 1/2 cup peas
  • 1 large onion chopped
  • 4 medium potatoes peeled & cubed
  • 2 1- lb. cans cut tomatoes I use Petite Cut with Onions & Garlic
  • 1/3 cup pearl barley
  • 1 can Campbell's Alphabet Soup Optional
  • Season with salt pepper, basil, oregano and hot sauce as desired

Instructions

  • Place soup bone in a large Dutch oven and cover with water. Add bay leaves. Simmer 2 hours. Remove soup bone and give it to the dog! Let stock cool and skim fat. (For Vegetarian soup, and just use vegetable stock instead and skip ahead.)
  • Add all remaining ingredients except Campbell's Soup and simmer 2 more hours.* Adjust seasonings. Add Campbell's Soup if desired.

Notes

*You can also cook it in a slow cooker: Low for 8 hours, or High for 4 hours.
This soup is really better the next day when the flavors have had a chance to blend. Other vegetables can be added and amounts adjusted to suit your taste.
Freezes well.
Tried this recipe?Mention @TheGoodHeartedWoman or tag #thegoodheartedwoman!

Pop's Vegetable Soup | The Good Hearted Woman

Filed Under: Dairy-free, Soup, Chowder & Stew, Vegan, Vegetarian Tagged With: carrots, Comfort Food, potatoes, vegetables

Potatoes {Quote}

November 16 By Renée Leave a Comment

"What I say is that, if a man really likes potatoes, he must be a pretty decent fellow." ~ A.A. Milne

Filed Under: Recipes Tagged With: potatoes

Best Ever Shepherd’s Pie

February 10 By Renée 13 Comments

Shepherd’s Pie is classic comfort food – rich, warm, and deeply satisfying. One bite of this time-tested family favorite will wrap you in a blanket of goodness as cozy as a winter fire. 

Shepherd's Pie is classic comfort food. One bite of this time-tested family favorite will wrap you in a blanket as warm as a winter fire. It's just that good. {Recipe} | The Good Hearted Woman

This post may contain affiliate links, but don’t worry – they won’t bite.

Some years ago, on the day after St Patrick’s Day, my daughter Gracie and her father were t-boned by a truck-driving teenager. Gracie sustained multiple life-threatening injuries, and was admitted to ICU, where she stayed for nearly a month.

Warning: Content contains mildly sentimental recipe-origin narrative. Read on to enjoy the story. [Click here to go directly to the recipe.]

At the time, in addition to nine-year old Gracie, we had four other young children, including an eight-week old newborn. While the girls’ father held down the fort at home, Baby Em and I slept and lived at the hospital with Gracie. I survived the first week almost entirely on saltine crackers and Jello Pudding cups from the ICU refrigerator.

Shepherd's Pie is classic comfort food. One bite of this time-tested family favorite will wrap you in a blanket as warm as a winter fire. It's just that good. {Recipe} | The Good Hearted Woman

It was several days before I finally made my first real trip home – to take a real shower, revive my spirits, and visit my other girls and their father.

When I arrived, I found my dear friend Bev and some other ladies in my kitchen, delivering dinner to my family. After a short visit with the ladies, I went to shower and clean up. I read the girls a book, sang them a song or two, and packed up for the next week.

Almost as an afterthought, I spooned some of the potato-topped casserole that Bev had left us into a plastic tub to take with me, and then I buckled Em back into her carseat and sped off to the hospital.

It wasn’t until late in the night, as my injured child slept amidst her web of tubes and wires, that realized I was hungry. When I opened the plastic container, the sterile hospital air filled with amazing savory goodness.

Padding down to the Parents’ Kitchen, I microwaved it, and then, fork full by fork full, I let that Shepherd’s Pie wrap me in a blanket of warmth, kindness, generosity – and hope. Even today, the memory – standing there alone in the hospital kitchen eating Bev’s Shepherd’s Pie – brings me to tears.

Shepherd's Pie is classic comfort food. One bite of this time-tested family favorite will wrap you in a blanket as warm as a winter fire. It's just that good. {Recipe} | The Good Hearted Woman

From that time on, making Shepherd’s Pie has been a labor of love, and in that spirit, we have made it a Valentine’s Day tradition. It is warm, comforting, enduring, and hope-filled – and serving it to the people who mean the most to me in this world is one way I show my love to them. 

Wavy Line

Bev’s original recipe was A-Mazing, but over the years I’ve made a few tweaks. Most notably, the original recipe calls for peas, but I substitute diced yams because, as I mention frequently, I strongly dislike cooked peas.

Shepherd's Pie is classic comfort food. One bite of this time-tested family favorite will wrap you in a blanket as warm as a winter fire. It's just that good. {Recipe} | The Good Hearted Woman
5 from 6 votes

Best Ever Shepherd's Pie

One bite of this time-tested family favorite will wrap you in a blanket of goodness as cozy as a winter fire. 
Prep Time45 mins
Cook Time30 mins
Total Time1 hr 15 mins
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Course: Main Dish Casserole
Cuisine: Comfort Food
Keyword: casserole, potatoes
Servings: 8 servings
Calories: 400kcal
Author: Renée ♥ The Good Hearted Woman

Ingredients

Filling

  • 1 pound ground beef or ground turkey
  • 2 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 small yam peeled and diced ¼"
  • 1 large onion minced
  • 2 medium carrots peeled and diced ¼"
  • 1 pound mushrooms chopped
  • Salt and black pepper to taste
  • 5 tablespoons flour (I use Wondra to avoid clumping)
  • 1 tablespoon ketchup or more if needed
  • ½ cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1 ¾ cup vegetable broth
  • ¾ cup red wine or apple juice
  • 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 tablespoons fresh thyme chopped

Topping

  • 1 ½ pound russet potatoes peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
  • ½ pound sweet potatoes peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • ½ cup heavy whipping cream
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • 1 large egg
US Customary - Metric

Instructions

  • Adjust oven rack to upper middle position and preheat oven to 375°. 

Filling

  • Brown ground beef in a large skillet. Remove from skillet, drain and set aside. 
  • In the same large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat.
    Add yams, onions, and carrots and cook, stirring frequently until everything is tender.
    Add mushrooms and cook until mushrooms soften and release their juices.
  • Sprinkle flour over everything, and then squirt in ketchup. Stir and cook over medium-low heat for about one minute.
  • Add cream and cook about another minute. Add wine or juice, Worcestershire sauce, and thyme.
    Simmer over medium heat, stirring frequently, until mixture is thick but still saucy, 5-8 minutes.
  • Add browned ground beef to the mixture in skillet and stir to combine. Pour mixture into a 2-quart casserole dish. 

Topping

  • In a large saucepan over high heat, bring potatoes, sweet potatoes, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and water to cover to boil.
    Reduce and simmer until tender, 15-20 minutes; until tender.
    Drain potatoes. Add butter and cream to potatoes and mash until smooth.
    Season with salt and pepper.
  • Carefully spread prepared potatoes over meat and vegetable filling, using a spatula or large spoon to smooth the top.
    In a small bowl, make an egg wash by whisking together 1 tablespoon water with egg.
    Brush the top of the potatoes with egg wash, and then drag a fork across the top to make ridges.
    Put in oven and bake until the filling is bubbling, about 15-20 minutes. 
  • Turn on broiler and cook until top is golden brown, 3-5 minutes.
    Remove and cool 10 minutes. Serve.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 400kcal | Carbohydrates: 37.2g | Protein: 23.4g | Fat: 16.2g | Saturated Fat: 7.2g | Cholesterol: 79mg | Sodium: 317mg | Potassium: 1268mg | Fiber: 5.3g | Sugar: 5.3g | Calcium: 40mg | Iron: 13mg
Tried this recipe?Mention @TheGoodHeartedWoman or tag #thegoodheartedwoman!

Looking for a unique, budget-friendly Valentine’s Day treat? Check out these Personalized Homemade Fortune Cookies, complete with Takeout Box DIY and Printable Valentine’s Day Fortunes! 

Shepherd's Pie is classic comfort food. One bite of this time-tested family favorite will wrap you in a blanket as warm as a winter fire. It's just that good. {Recipe} | The Good Hearted Woman

Is this Shepherd’s Pie or Cottage Pie?

Technically, this is a recipe for Beef Cottage Pie.

What’s the difference between Shepherd’s Pie and Cottage Pie?

The ingredients and directions for making Shepherd’s Pie and Cottage Pie (also known as Farmer’s Pie) are exactly the same, except for the primary protein. 

Shepherd’s Pie is traditionally made with lamb. (Hence, the Shepherd.) 

Cottage Pie is named for its primary protein: Turkey Cottage Pie, Chicken Cottage Pie, Beef Cottage Pie, etc. You get the idea. The only protein that doesn’t go into Cottage Pie is lamb or mutton. (Because that would make it Shepherd’s Pie.) 

Why don’t you change the name of this recipe to “Beef Cottage Pie” or “Beef Farmer’s Pie”?

First off, I believe that the delineation between shepherd and cottage and farmer is in great part a regional issue. In my neck of the woods, if you go into a restaurant and order Shepherd’s Pie from the menu, you will almost always be served a beef-based pie. If you invite us to dinner and tell us that you will be serving Shepherd’s Pie, we will not be expecting lamb. More to the point though, I have been making this casserole and calling it Shepherd’s Pie for two decades, so I’m sticking with it.

Bottom line: this the best in cozy comfort food, no matter what you call it! 

Hope that clears everything up for everyone. 

Shepherd's Pie is classic comfort food. One bite of this time-tested family favorite will wrap you in a blanket as warm as a winter fire. It's just that good. {Recipe} | The Good Hearted Woman

I took these images while on a Valentine’s Getaway in the Columbia River Gorge. My thanks to the Columbia River Gorge Hotel for loaning me a fancy plate!

Wavy Line

More Serious Comfort Food recipes from GHW:

  • Classic Chicken Pot Pie
  • Slow Cooker Stuffed Cabbage Rolls {Polish-style Gołąbki}
  • Caribbean Chicken Stew
  • Easy Classic Chili Mac
  • Apricot Chicken Tagine with Ginger & Mint

Wavy Line

THANK YOU so much for being a faithful reader and supporter
of The Good Hearted Woman. ? Be sure to PIN this post!

Shepherd's Pie is classic comfort food     Shepherd's Pie is classic comfort food - rich, warm, and deeply satisfying. One bite of this time-tested family favorite will wrap you in a blanket of goodness as cozy as a winter fire. It's just that good.  | The Good Hearted Woman #comfortfood #valentinesday #casserolerecipe    Shepherd's Pie is classic comfort food

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Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, including Amazon affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that we have recommended. While clicking these links won’t cost you any extra money, they do help keep this site up and running. As always, all opinions and images are my own. Please check out our disclosure policy for more details. Thank you for your support! 

Filed Under: Main Dishes, Recipes Tagged With: carrots, Comfort Food, corn, ground beef, potatoes, St. Patrick's Day, Valentine's Day

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