Dutch Chopped Salad with Herring and Beetroot (Huzarensalade)

About This Recipe

Huzarensalade, or 'hussar's salad,' is a classic Dutch cold salad built from finely diced potato, beetroot, apple, pickles and often a bit of meat or herring, all bound together in a light mayonnaise dressing until every ingredient is coated but not drowning. Its origin story ties it to Central and Eastern European hussar cavalry traditions, though the dish has been thoroughly adopted and adapted into Dutch home cooking as a fixture of cold buffets, birthday parties and holiday spreads. The technique that matters is dicing everything to a consistently small, even size, since huzarensalade is meant to deliver a bit of every ingredient in each spoonful rather than large, distinct chunks of any single component. The beetroot's juice bleeds into the mayonnaise dressing over time, giving the finished salad its characteristic pink hue — a visual trait many consider part of the dish's charm rather than something to avoid. Often garnished with wedges of hard-boiled egg and served alongside bread or as part of a larger cold spread, huzarensalade remains a nostalgic staple at Dutch celebrations, a dish nearly every Dutch grandmother has made for decades.

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 3 mediumpotatoes(boiled, cooled, diced)
• 2 mediumcooked beetroot(diced)
• 1tart apple(diced)
• 3dill pickles(diced)
• 100 gcooked ham or roast beef(diced)
• 0.75 cupmayonnaise
• 1 tbsppickle brine
• 0.5 tspfine sea salt
• 0.25 tspblack pepper
• 2hard-boiled eggs(quartered, for garnish)

Instructions

1. 1

   Dice everything small

   Dice potato, beetroot, apple, pickles and ham into small, even cubes.

   Uniform, small dicing is essential — the whole point of huzarensalade is that every spoonful carries a bit of each ingredient.

2. 2

   Make the dressing

   Whisk mayonnaise, pickle brine, salt and pepper together until smooth.

3. 3

   Combine

   Gently fold the diced potato, beetroot, apple, pickles and ham together with the dressing until evenly coated.

4. 4

   Chill

   Refrigerate at least 1 hour to let the flavors meld and the beetroot color bleed slightly into the dressing.

5. 5

   Garnish and serve

   Garnish with quartered hard-boiled eggs and serve chilled with bread.

Variations

• •

  Add diced pickled herring instead of, or alongside, the ham for a more traditional coastal Dutch version.

• •

  Add capers for extra brininess.

• •

  Use a lighter yogurt-mayonnaise blend for a less heavy dressing.

Storage

Refrigerate up to 3 days; the color deepens and bleeds further into the dressing the longer it sits, which many consider part of the dish's appeal.

Frequently Asked Questions