Golden Kringel Beet & Potato Salad

This is a Baltic classic that shows up on Estonian, Latvian, and Russian tables for holidays and celebrations. Cubed beets, potatoes, carrots, chopped herring, dill pickles, and onion tossed in a creamy mustard dressing and garnished with sliced hard-boiled eggs. It’s hearty, tangy, and improves dramatically after a night in the fridge.

The herring is what makes this distinctly Northern European. Chopped fine, it adds a salty, briny depth that threads through every bite. If you’ve only had herring on its own, tasting it folded into a creamy potato salad is a different experience entirely. The other ingredients mellow and distribute its flavor.

The dressing is a balanced blend of sour cream, mayonnaise, prepared mustard, sugar, and vinegar. That combination gives you creaminess, tang, sharpness, and a touch of sweetness all working together. It coats the vegetables evenly and the flavors meld and deepen during the overnight chill.

Cooking each vegetable separately ensures the beets don’t bleed their color into everything else until the final toss.

Kitchen Tips

• Boil the potatoes in their jackets and peel after cooking. This keeps them from getting waterlogged and falling apart when cubed.
• Cut all vegetables into uniform small cubes for the best texture and dressing distribution.
• Mix gently after adding the dressing. Aggressive tossing mashes the potatoes and turns the salad into a purple mush.
• Refrigerate overnight for the best flavor. Fresh-made kringel salad tastes flat compared to a properly rested one.

Variations

• Omit the herring for a vegetarian version that still has plenty of flavor from the pickles and mustard dressing.
• Add a finely diced apple for a sweet crunch that’s common in some Baltic variations.
• Use Greek yogurt in place of sour cream for a lighter dressing.