Pesto Potato Salad with Crispy Prosciutto and Burrata
This very gorgeous pesto potato salad is the ultimate summer side. Perfectly cooked baby potatoes are tossed with fresh basil pesto, then finished with crispy prosciutto shards and dollops of creamy burrata. Luxurious, looks beautiful, mayo-free, and fab for garden parties, cookouts, barbecues, and meal prep.
Pesto Potato Salad, at a Glance
⏰ Total time: 30 minutes
🍽 Servings: 6 as a side
🛒 Key Ingredients: Baby potatoes, fresh basil pesto, prosciutto (or bacon), burrata
🧠 Skill level: Beginner-friendly
🔥 Cooking Method: Stove-top, and air fryer or oven for the prosciutto
🥗 Perfect For: BBQs, potlucks, casual entertaining, a summer side
💕 Why You’ll Love: A fresh, no-mayo potato salad that’s bright, zesty, and looks as gorgeous as it tastes.
A Crowd-Pleaser of a Potato Salad
Everyone needs a couple of quick potato salads up their sleeves, and this one is a real winner. There’s just something about fresh, herby basil pesto, crispy, salty prosciutto, creamy burrata tossed with soft, buttery potatoes that works so well.
It’s also a fresh-feeling, mayo-free potato salad which I am personally all about. No claggy salad here!
It’s a perfect make-ahead side to take along to barbecues or parties – or make a big batch on Sunday and use it throughout the week in summer.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Potatoes. Go for a waxy variety (baby potatoes, new potatoes, Jersey Royals, or Charlotte are good) so they keep their shape after cooking.
- Pesto. I love using homemade basil pesto for this and really recommend you give it a go! If not, use a good-quality, fresh pesto if you can find it.
- Prosciutto. This provides a gorgeously crispy, salty element to the salad, which I LOVE. You could use bacon if you prefer.
- Burrata. Creamy and luxurious, dollops of burrata torn on top of the salad take this from a simple side to something a bit special. Use mozzarella if that’s all you can find.
How to Make Your Pesto Potato Salad
- Cook the potatoes in very well salted water – this will make them more flavorsome in the salad.
- Once you can pierce them easily with a fork, drain them, then leave them to cool slightly.
- Make your prosciutto shards (in the oven or air fryer).
- If you’re making your pesto, do it while the potatoes cool and the prosciutto crisps up.
- Mix the pesto and potatoes in a large bowl and scatter over half the crispy prosciutto.
- Transfer to a serving platter, and then sprinkle the rest of the prosciutto on top and finish with the torn burrata pieces.
Three Things to Serve With the Potato Salad
- They’re lovely served alongside miso grilled chicken or sticky gochujang chicken.
- Go Middle Eastern inspired with lamb koftas with yogurt sauce and a crunchy chopped salad.
- Make a colorful salad spread with roasted butternut squash salad, peach and courgette salad and green goddess salad.
Pesto Potato Salad FAQs
Can I make the pesto potato salad in advance?Yes! This is a great one to make in advance, and I will actually often do that to save time. They’ll keep for 5 days in a covered container in the fridge.
I recommend not adding the crispy prosciutto and burrata until you’re ready to serve it. And the green pesto color will dull over time, so you can always drizzle a little extra pesto on top when you serve it to freshen it up.
I’ll normally use my quick better-than-storebought basil pesto for this salad – it really is easy, and the flavor is SO superior to anything from a jar.
If you don’t want to make your own, try to find fresh pesto from the store for the best flavor.
You can! The potatoes will still be super delicious without it. If you’d still like to add a little crunch, use 1 tablespoon of lightly toasted crushed cashews, almonds, walnuts, pecans, or pistachios. Or you could use everything bagel seasoning.
What potatoes are best for this potato salad?I recommend using a waxy potato for this salad, so that they hold their shape after cooking and tossing with the pesto.
Go for baby potatoes, new potatoes, Jersey Royals, or Charlotte varieties.
If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear from you! You can leave a recipe rating and a comment below. And remember to tag @Zageer on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok if you’ve made one of my recipes. Seeing your recreations really makes my day 😊.
This very gorgeous pesto potato salad is the ultimate summer side. Perfectly cooked baby potatoes are tossed with fresh basil pesto, then finished with crispy prosciutto shards and dollops of creamy burrata. Luxurious, looks beautiful, mayo-free, and fab for garden parties, cookouts, barbecues, and meal prep. Prep Time 5 minsCook Time 25 mins
Total Time 25 mins
Servings: 6 side servings
Course: Salad
Cuisine: Mediterranean
Ingredients Method Nutrition Notes
Ingredients
For the pesto potatoes –- 2 lb baby potatoes, or other waxy potato (1kg)
- ½ cup basil pesto
- 4 slices prosciutto, or bacon
- Handful of basil leaves, torn
- 1 ball of burrata
- Salt
- 2 packed cups fresh basil leaves
- ½ cup freshly grated parmesan
- 3 cloves garlic
- ⅓ cup toasted pine nuts, or cashews, walnuts, almonds, pistachios, sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup olive oil
Method
- Cook the potatoes.Add the potatoes to a large pot along with a big pinch of salt. Cover them with cold water and bring to a boil over high heat. Simmer for about 20 minutes, until the potatoes can be pierced with a fork but still have a little bit of tension. You want them cooked, but firm. Drain the potatoes, then transfer them back into the now-dry pot to cool slightly.
- Make the crispy prosciutto.While the potatoes cook, heat your oven to 350℉ (180℃) fan and line a sheet pan tray with parchment paper. Lay the prosciutto slices on the pan, and cook for 10 minutes until crispy. Set aside to cool (they’ll continue to crisp up during this time), then crumble them up into small shards. You can also do this in the air fryer. Lay them in a single layer in your air fryer basket, then air fry at 350℉ (180℃) for 3 to 5 minutes, until crispy.
- Make the pesto (optional).Add the 2 cups of basil leaves, ½ cup grated parmesan, ⅓ cup pine nuts (or alternative), 3 garlic cloves, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and ½ teaspoon of salt to the bowl of a food processor and blitz for a minute, until it turns into a rough paste. Scrape down the sides. With the motor running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil to create a lovely emulsified pesto.
- Mix the potato salad.Once the potatoes have slightly cooled, add them to a large mixing bowl with the pesto and roughly half the crispy proscuitto shards. Give the potatoes a really good mix to make sure they’re all coated well.
- Garnish and serve.Transfer the potatoes to a serving plate, then scatter over the remaining crispy prosciutto. Tear small pieces off the burrata, and dollop them all over the top of the potatoes. Finish by scattering over the torn basil leaves, and a good sprinkling of flaky salt.
Nutrition
Serving: 150gCalories: 315kcal
Carbohydrates: 31g
Protein: 11g
Fat: 17g
Saturated Fat: 6g
Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g
Monounsaturated Fat: 7g
Cholesterol: 25mg
Sodium: 630mg
Potassium: 800mg
Fiber: 3g
Sugar: 2g
Vitamin A: 130IU
Vitamin C: 34mg
Calcium: 105mg
Iron: 1.8mg
