North America → Belize → Belize City
🥔 SIDE
Belizean Potato Salad
Soft cubes of boiled potato and chopped egg with peas and carrots in a creamy mayonnaise and mustard dressing, the cool scoop beside stew chicken and rice and beans.
Belizean · easy · serves 6
prep 20 min · cook 20 min
~408 cal · 10g protein · 37g carbs · 25g fat · 6g fiber · 6g sugars · 5g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
↓ Jump to Recipe
AI-generated illustration
In Belize, potato salad is almost as common as rice and beans, and the two turn up together. Order rice and beans with stew chicken at a Belizean restaurant, or sit down to a family Sunday lunch, and there will usually be a scoop of creamy potato salad on the plate, cool against the dark, rich chicken gravy. It is on the table at holidays, parties and picnics too.
It is a legacy of Belize's British colonial past, and its creamy dressing shows it: many Belizean cooks use Heinz salad cream, sometimes mixed with mayonnaise, along with yellow mustard and a splash of vinegar. What makes it Belizean are the hard-boiled eggs, used generously, and a tin of peas and carrots or mixed vegetables folded through for colour and a little sweetness. Some families add chopped sweet pepper and onion, a dash of evaporated milk, or a spoonful of sweet relish.
The potatoes are boiled until properly soft, so the dressing clings and a few edges crumble into it, and the salad is served straight away or chilled.
Saved recipes and passport stamps are kept on this device. Sign in to keep them across your devices and leave reviews.
Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and gluten-, dairy-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
- 1 kg (about 6 medium) potatoes (russet or other floury potatoes), peeled and cut into 2.5 cm cubes
- 1 tbsp salt (for the cooking water)
- 5 eggs
- 3/4 cup mayonnaise, or half mayonnaise and half salad cream
- 1 tbsp yellow mustard
- 1 tbsp white vinegar
- 1 tin (400 g) tinned peas and carrots (or mixed vegetables), drained
- 1/4 cup sweet pepper, finely chopped, optional
- 1/4 cup onion, finely chopped, optional
- to taste salt and black pepper
- a pinch paprika, to garnish
Instructions
- 1Put the potatoes in a large pot, cover with cold water, add the tablespoon of salt and bring to the boil. Lower the eggs in gently and boil everything together.
- 2Lift the eggs out after 10 minutes into a bowl of cold water. Keep boiling the potatoes for 15 to 20 minutes in all, until soft right through, then drain them and let them steam dry.✎ Chef’s noteCook the potatoes a little softer than for a vinegar-dressed salad. Belizean potato salad is creamy, and a few crumbled edges help the dressing cling.
- 3Peel the eggs. Chop four of them and slice the last one for the top.
- 4In a large bowl, mix the mayonnaise (or mayonnaise and salad cream), mustard and vinegar. Add the warm potatoes, chopped eggs, peas and carrots, and the sweet pepper and onion if using, and fold gently. Season with salt and pepper.
- 5Top with the sliced egg and a dusting of paprika. Serve straight away, or cover and chill, beside stew chicken and rice and beans.
Belizean home tradition.
Ratings & reviews
Cooked it? Rate this dish:
No account needed. Sign in to leave a full review with a comment.
Cooked it?
Kept on this device, no account needed. Sign in to leave a review and keep your passport across your devices.
No reviews yet, be the first to cook it.
🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Belize City. Hudut belongs to the Garifuna towns down the coast, Dangriga and Hopkins, rather than to the city: fish poached in a coconut broth with green plantain pounded by hand in a wooden mortar until it is smooth. Fry jacks, puffed squares of fried dough, are the ordinary breakfast alongside beans and eggs.
🗺️
Belize. Belize is the only English-speaking country in Central America, and its kitchens sit side by side rather than blending: Creole coconut rice, Maya corn and recado in the west, Mestizo escabeche and salbutes in the north, and Garifuna hudut in the coastal towns of Dangriga and Hopkins, fish in coconut broth with pounded plantain.
🌍
North America. The most consequential technique on this continent is nixtamalisation, cooking maize with lime or wood ash. It loosens the skins, makes the dough that becomes tortillas and tamales, and frees up niacin the body cannot otherwise absorb, which is why maize spread around the world without the technique and took pellagra with it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Belize
Belizean Stew ChickenChicken marinated in recado rojo, browned in caramelized sugar, and stewed dark, served with rice and beans.
Fry JacksPuffy, crisp triangles of fried dough eaten with refried beans, eggs, or jam, the golden centerpiece of a Belizean breakfast.
GarnachesCrisp fried tortillas topped with refried beans, cheese, and pickled cabbage, Belize's favorite street snack-lunch.
Browse all Belize recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan, Steamer.
Storing it: Best assembled just before serving. Prep the components ahead and dress at the last moment so it stays crisp.
Make it a Belize meal
Seaweed ShakeDrink
Belizean Bread PuddingDessert
Similar dishes from around the world
Saint Lucian Green Fig SaladSaint Lucia
Wiener Erdäpfelsalat (Viennese Potato Salad)Austria
Mangal Salatı (Azerbaijani Grilled Vegetable Salad)Azerbaijan
Ensalada Chilena (Chilean Tomato and Onion Salad)Chile
Salat Katzutz (Israeli Chopped Salad)Israel
Lasary Voatabia (Malagasy Tomato and Onion Relish)Madagascar
Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Belizean Potato Salad?
Soft cubes of boiled potato and chopped egg with peas and carrots in a creamy mayonnaise and mustard dressing, the cool scoop beside stew chicken and rice and beans.
Where does Belizean Potato Salad come from?
Belizean Potato Salad is a Belizean dish from Belize City, Belize.
Can Belizean Potato Salad be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Belizean Potato Salad recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Belizean Potato Salad safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Belizean Potato Salad take to make?
About 40 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 20 minutes cooking), serving 6.
Get the Sunday Spin
One dish from somewhere in the world, in your inbox every Sunday. No spam, just dinner inspiration you can cook that day.