🌱🥔 Grandma Sita gives a Spanish favourite a delicious vegan twist! This colourful vegan ensaladilla is inspired by the classic Spanish ensaladilla rusa — a comforting potato salad traditionally enjoyed as a tapa and a favourite at family gatherings.
🥕🫒 Made with tender potatoes and carrots, peas, green olives and egg-free mayonnaise, this version is simple, colourful and wonderfully adaptable. A little grated beetroot adds a beautiful splash of colour, while apple brings a fresh, slightly sweet contrast. You can include both or simply use what you have at home.
🧁 Grandma Sita also gives this classic a playful twist with her Cuptapa idea. Instead of serving the salad in one large bowl, she fills small silicone cupcake cases with individual portions and tops each one with an olive and a little parsley. A simple idea that turns a familiar dish into something fun and party-friendly.
♻️💚 This is exactly the kind of recipe Grandma Sita loves: familiar ingredients, plenty of flexibility and lots of opportunities to use what is already waiting in your fridge and pantry. Simple ingredients, a little imagination and a delicious Spanish-inspired classic — the Grandma Sita way!
- INGREDIENTS
Vegetables
3–4 medium potatoes (about 450 g)
4 carrots
3 tablespoons peas
1 tin pitted green olives (180 g)
2 cooked beetroot, grated (optional)
Fruit
2 apples, cut into small cubes (optional)
Dressing
4 tablespoons egg-free mayonnaise
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
A handful of fresh parsley, chopped (optional)
- METHOD
1. Wash the vegetables. Wash the potatoes and carrots thoroughly. Peel the carrots.
2. Cook the potatoes and carrots. Place them in a large saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for approximately 25 minutes, or until tender.
3. Drain and cool. Remove from the heat, drain the vegetables and allow them to cool enough to handle comfortably.
5. Cut the vegetables. Peel the potatoes and cut them into small, even cubes. Chop the carrots and apples into similar-sized pieces.
6. Combine the ingredients. Place the potatoes and carrots in a large mixing bowl. Add the peas, green olives, grated beetroot and chopped apple, if using.
7. Add the mayonnaise. Add the egg-free mayonnaise and gently mix everything together with a spoon, taking care not to mash the potatoes.
8. Season and chill. Add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Cover the bowl and place the ensaladilla in the fridge until well chilled.
🧁Make the cuptapas (optional)
1. Fill the cases. Spoon the chilled ensaladilla into small silicone cupcake cases.
2. Add the finishing touch. Top each Cuptapa with a green olive and a little chopped fresh parsley, if you like.
A colourful, creamy and completely plant-based take on a much-loved Spanish classic — with a little Grandma Sita creativity!
👵💚 Grandma Sita’s Tips
- 🥔 Choose potatoes that hold their shape: Waxy or all-purpose potatoes work particularly well because they become tender without falling apart. Let them cool before mixing so the salad keeps a lovely texture.
- 🔪 Keep the pieces similar in size: Cutting the potatoes, carrots, apples and other ingredients into small, even pieces means you get a little bit of everything in every mouthful.
- 🥕 Don’t overcook the vegetables: You want the potatoes and carrots to be tender but still firm enough to hold their shape. Check them with a knife towards the end of cooking.
- 🍎 Make the apple optional: Apple adds a fresh and slightly sweet note, but it is not essential. If you have a little fruit that needs using and works well with savoury flavours, you can experiment.
- ❤️ Let beetroot do its magic: Grated beetroot gives the salad a beautiful pink colour as it mixes with the mayonnaise. Add as much or as little as you like.
- 🫒 Use the olives you already have: Green olives work beautifully here, but another variety can also be used if that is what you have open in the fridge.alad dish in Russian cuisine.
- 🥣 Mix gently: Once the mayonnaise goes in, stir carefully so the potatoes keep their shape. A few larger pieces mixed with smaller ones give the salad a lovely homemade texture.
- ❄️ Give it time to chill: Keeping the ensaladilla in the fridge before serving allows the flavours to come together and gives it its characteristic cool, creamy texture.
- 🧁 Try the Cuptapa: Small silicone cupcake cases are a simple way to create neat individual portions. They are especially useful when preparing food for a buffet, picnic or party.
- 🌱 Make it your own: Potatoes, carrots and peas make a great base, while the other ingredients can change depending on what you have available.
📗 Did you know?
In Spain, this salad is known as ensaladilla rusa. It is a much-loved tapa and there is no single recipe that every family or region follows. Potatoes, carrots and peas are common ingredients, while other versions may include olives, peppers, eggs, tuna, seafood, pickles or different vegetables.
You may also know it as Russian salad or Olivier salad. The name Olivier salad comes from Lucien Olivier, a chef who worked at the Hermitage restaurant in Moscow in the 1860s. His original version was a much more elaborate dish, and the exact recipe was closely guarded. Over time, simpler versions spread to many different countries.
🥔 The Spanish version developed its own identity. Today, ensaladilla rusa is firmly established in Spanish home cooking and tapas culture, with recipes varying from one family to another.
🧁 And then there is the Cuptapa! Grandma Sita’s version takes this familiar salad and gives it a fun individual format — proof that a small change in presentation can make an everyday recipe feel completely new.
🗑️ A little food-waste fact
🥔🥕 Potatoes and carrots are kitchen staples, but they can easily be forgotten until they are past their best. This recipe is a great opportunity to check the vegetable drawer before your next shopping trip and use the ingredients that need eating first.
🍎 The same goes for that lonely apple in the fruit bowl. If it is still fresh and suitable to eat but no longer looks perfect, chopping it into the salad can give it a delicious second life.
🫒 And don’t overlook opened jars and tins. A few olives, some peas or an open jar of egg-free mayonnaise can often become part of another meal rather than being forgotten at the back of the fridge.
💚 Grandma Sita’s approach is simple: look at what you already have before buying more. Flexible recipes make it easier to use small amounts of ingredients and avoid unnecessary waste.
♻️ Give simple ingredients a second life fact
A few potatoes, some carrots and those little extras waiting in the fridge can become a delicious vegan ensaladilla. Grandma Sita loves recipes that leave room for imagination. Add what you have, leave out what you don’t and adapt the ingredients to suit the season, your fridge and your family. Cook with what you have, waste less and make every ingredient count — the Grandma Sita way!