This turnip fauxtato salad is a great low carb alternative to potato salad (3.5g net carbs). Even if you don’t care about carbs, it’s a delicious way to eat turnips! I know turnips are not glamorous vegetables but having just tasted them a year or two ago, I find them to be quite tasty. I learned in the low carb sphere that they were a good substitute for potatoes and were much lower in carbs. So of course I tried them and I really liked them! I made some chips from them and they were great but this time I was hankering for potato salad, so I came up with this turnip fauxtato salad.
I’ve always had a thing for potato salad. I remember during my college years, stealing borrowing potatoes, onion and celery from mom’s house (after scarfing down a delicious Sunday dinner with my family and washing my clothes) and then heading back to school. I would then steal borrow my roommates eggs and mayo and make some potato salad. I didn’t use any seasonings and many times I ate it hot because I was too impatient to refrigerate it. I used to love that! Now I make it properly and I eat it often in summer. This time however I am using turnips instead of potatoes. I want to grow turnips this year but my husband nixed the idea. He wanted more room for his hot peppers. Fine, I can buy them easily enough. Look how beautiful they are. I love the purplish color with the greens of the stems. When selecting turnips, go for the smaller, younger turnips as they will be milder and sweeter.
So to make this turnip fauxtato salad, I microwaved the turnips for about 6 minutes until they were fork tender. I let them cool. In the meantime I mixed the dressing and sliced the celery, green onions and hard boiled eggs. When the turnips are cooled, I toss them with a mashed up egg, celery, green onions and the dressing. My husband insists that we sprinkle paprika on top. He does not like white foods. (Do you see what I have to put up with? 😉 I always tell him it’s a good thing he’s cute.) Anyway, the paprika is unnecessary but gives it some color.
Turnip Fauxtato Salad
I do not like my fauxtato or potato salad very sweet. I did use a ½ teaspoon of Splenda because I like a hint of sweetness. You can use regular sugar if you don’t care about carbs. Also I just used 1 hard boiled egg in the salad itself but I like to have some on top too. The amount of egg you put in is your own preference. So there you go…. turnip fauxtato salad. If you like turnips (or are carb crazy like me) you should give it a try. You won’t believe how much it tastes like the real thing. Enjoy!
1 serving = 164 cals / 14.7g fat / 5.5g carbs / 2.0g fiber / 2.4g protein = 3.5g net carbs
Turnip Fauxtato Salad (low carb)
Ingredients
- 2 cups turnips diced
- â…“ cup mayo
- 1 Tablespoon vinegar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- ¼ teaspoon dry mustard
- ¼ teaspoon celery seed
- ½ teaspoon sugar substitute I used Splenda
- 1 hard boiled egg chopped
- 1 piece of celery chopped
- 2 green onions chopped
- paprika and hard boiled eggs to garnish
Instructions
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Add your turnips to a microwaveable bowl and cook for 6 minutes or fork tender.
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Let them cool.
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In the meantime, add the mayonnaise, salt, pepper, mustard, celery seed, sugar substitute and vinegar and mix well.
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Add this mixture to the cooled turnips, celery, green onions and chopped egg.
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Sprinkle paprika on top if using and garnish with a few sliced eggs.
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Refrigerate until ready to eat.
Sue
Do you cover the turnips when microwaving? Thank you!
Denise
Hi Sue, I always use this microwave steamer (like this https://amzn.to/3tUKTdw) for my vegetables. So yes, I would rinse them then add them to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap or whatever you usually use. The bit of water from rinsing will help steam them. Hope that helps.
Ashley N
So you peel and dice the turnips before microwaving them? I’ve never eaten turnips before but want to give this a try!
Denise
H Ashley, yes I peel and microwave them first. I am also working on a similar recipe using celeriac or celery root. That is another good potato substitute. I think rutabaga would be good too but I haven’t tried it yet. Good luck!
marguerite lindemann
Do you think this would work with celeriac instead of turnips.
Denise
Hi Marguerite,
It’s like you read my mind. I was going to try this today with both a rutabaga and a batch with celeriac. I’ve been playing around lately with both of those vegetables.
And yes I think it would be really good.
Take care,