How long does it take to boil potatoes to make potato salad?

While there are a variety of different recipes for making potato salad, the majority use red-skinned potatoes because they are readily available and simple to cook. For potato salad, you are looking for a tender (but not crumbly) potato.

Depending on your recipe, you will want to boil the five (5) pounds of potatoes between 13 and 17 minutes, checking for tenderness along the way. You can check for tenderness by pressing a spoon (or other hard implement) against one of the potatoes firmly. When there is about 3mm (1/4 inch) of give (that does NOT come back), the potatoes are ready.

You may cook longer if you like a somewhat softer potato in your salad or shorter if you like the salad firmer.