AD Easy All-American Picnic - Sriracha Potato Salad and Fried Chicken!

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It's official; summer is here! Are you planning a picnic or party to celebrate a birthday, the 4th of July, a family reunion, or just a fun day with the family? I have ideas! You can make a delicious all-American picnic spread without a whole lot of time and effort spent in the kitchen.

For my yummy picnic menu, I went with fried chicken, watermelon, a red-white-and-blue dessert trifle, and...

Sort of funny that my "all-American" menu would include a classic potato salad spiced up with a traditional Thai ingredient, but why not?! America is the "melting pot", after all. So Sriracha Potato Salad just makes sense!

And bacon... it has bacon in it. More on the potato salad later in this post...

Fried chicken is the perfect picnic food. You can pick it up at Walmart on your way to your destination and have hot, delicious, fresh chicken on your picnic buffet.

I recommend calling ahead to your local Walmart deli to have your chicken ready. This is especially a must if you're ordering a large quantity. It's just nice to call your order in and arrive to pick it up. Easy!

Watermelon is always perfect for a summer picnic. Cold, sweet, and refreshing... plus it's pretty!

As I set up my backyard picnic, I noticed some sweet little baby deer watching me curiously. Aren't they adorable?!

It's really fun to incorporate red, white, and blue colors into your dessert. You can do this with a fruit pizza, fresh ice cream and toppings, cupcakes or cookies with sprinkles... or a dessert trifle like what I did here:

I simply purchased fresh strawberries, blue berries, whipped cream, and pound cake while I was at Walmart. Then I cut up the cake and layered it between strawberries, blueberries, and the cream. Done! It's literally a 3 minute dessert!

If you have some time (which in this case, I did not), pour baked beans into a slow cooker and mix in some sautéd onions, mustard, and brown sugar then heat on low until hot and bubbly. Another easy side dish for your all-American picnic!

Decorating for a 4th of July party can be simple and adds a lovely touch to the event. These days everyone has a camera on them at all times, so creating an eye-catching backdrop for capturing photo memories is a wonderful thing to do for your guests.

I used white yarn and red, white, and blue bandanas to make a backdrop for my picnic meal. This was so easy to do and cost me about $6.00.

Bandanas also added color to my table along with a little bouquet of flowers in a small $1.00 red, white, and blue bucket.

I really love a classic, white table cloth. It goes with everything! It's the one table cloth everyone should have, for sure.

It's also really nice to use plastic plates, cups, and silverware for a picnic. If your event is very casual, go with paper. In this case I used disposables that look like real place settings.

So... back to the Sriracha Potato Salad!

Sriracha is a hot sauce that is often used in Thai and Vietnamese foods. It adds a nice spice and pleasing color to potato salad.

Sriracha Potato Salad

Ingredients:
3 pounds small, red-skin potatoes
6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and chopped
1 stalk celery, diced
2 green onions, diced
12 strips of bacon, cooked until very crispy and then cooled and chopped
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons dill pickle relish
2 tablespoons mustard
2 tablespoons sriracha hot sauce (more or less, depending on your taste)
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Fill a large pot about halfway with cool water. Cut the potatoes into bite sized chunks and place them in the water (no need to completely peel; the skin is great in this recipe). Cook the potatoes in the pot over medium-high heat until fork tender. Drain and set aside to cool completely.
In a large bowl combine the hard-boiled eggs, celery, green onions, bacon, mayonnaise, sour cream, relish, mustard, and sriracha. Fold in the cooled potatoes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Makes 12 servings. Always store potato salad in the refrigerator covered tightly with a lid or plastic wrap. When transporting potato salad to an event, keep it very cold by packing it in ice packs in a cooler. Serve the potato salad in a bowl that is set inside a much larger bowl filled with ice to keep the potato salad chilled.