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Portions and preparation · USDA nutrition

Potato salad calories per cup: 189–490 across all 11 named USDA examples

Across all 11 named USDA examples, a cup contains 189–490 calories. Their listed weights span 175–275 g, so each calorie value is calculated from that example's own gram weight and published calories per 100 g.

Portion calculator

Estimate your portion

Choose a source measure or enter the weight you ate.

Preparation and portion

Named measures come from this exact source record.

Estimated for 138 g

246calories

Potato salad, from restaurant

Protein
2.4 g
Carbs
23.9 g
Fat
15.7 g

These values scale the selected reference food by weight. Ingredients, preparation, and portion size can change your meal’s estimate.

FoodData Central Survey Foods (FNDDS) · FDC 2709542 Full nutrition profile →

Compare all 11 food records, nutrition tables and USDA sources

The 11 exact records in this guide report 95–246 calories in the records' own listed source servings and 81–178 calories per 100 grams. Those are observations from named database records—not a universal range or an estimate of an unseen plate.

Match my meal

Start with the description closest to what you ate

For Potato salad, begin by separating “Potato salad, from restaurant” from “Potato salad, made with mayonnaise-type salad dressing.” Choosing a card filters this source set; it does not infer the portion or fill in ingredients the chosen description does not name.

Showing the first 6 of 11 linked records.

Equal-weight view

How potato salad records compare at 100 grams

Five rank landmarks are shown from all 11 cited records: minimum, 25th-ranked, median-ranked, 75th-ranked, and maximum. Weight is held at 100 grams; source-serving weights are listed in the table.

  1. Minimum: Potato salad, made with any type of fat free dressing 81 kcal
    81 kcal
  2. 25th-ranked landmark: Potato salad, made with light creamy dressing 95 kcal
    95 kcal
  3. Median-ranked landmark: Potato salad, made with mayonnaise-type salad dressing 107 kcal
    107 kcal
  4. 75th-ranked landmark: Potato salad, made with Italian dressing 108 kcal
    108 kcal
  5. Maximum: Potato salad, from restaurant 178 kcal
    178 kcal

Shared basis: 100 g · kilocalories

What this page compares

Named source records, not one universal meal

This guide keeps 11 named USDA records in view: 11 direct matches. All sit within “Mashed potatoes and white potato mixtures.” The exact descriptions remain the unit of comparison; the familiar heading is only the doorway into the evidence.

Why these records appear together: The deterministic grouping rule “normalized first description segment” placed these 11 records together under the exact grouping key “potato salad.” That rule determines membership before any nutrition result is read.

For Potato salad, this page can compare 11 named records from FDC 2709542 through FDC 2709545. It cannot observe which preparation was eaten, recover unnamed additions, or supply the eaten grams.

Read the shared calculation, provenance, and uncertainty method →

Editor’s decision brief

The three facts to carry into the table

Carry the denominator, exact identity, and strongest observed contrast into every number below.

Portion

88–138 g before composition

The largest source amount is 1.6× the smallest. Read per-serving calorie differences with that mass gap in view.

Composition

97 kcal separates the fixed-weight endpoints

The lower endpoint is “made with any type of fat free dressing”; the higher is “from restaurant.” This isolates density, not ingredient causation.

Discriminator

182 mg sodium gap per 100 g

Of protein, fiber, and sodium, the strongest normalized contrast is between “made with mayonnaise” (179 mg) and “from restaurant” (361 mg).

Observed source examples

Three landmarks inside this source set—not universal endpoints

The cards are ordered by calories in each record's listed serving. Serving weights differ, so use per-100-gram values to compare composition. These selected records do not define a calorie range for every potato salad.

Important: “Lower” begins with Potato salad, German style; “higher” ends with Potato salad, from restaurant, using each record’s own source amount. Those labels order this selected set only—they are not endpoints for every potato salad meal.

Full comparison

Compare every selected FNDDS record

For Potato salad, serving columns preserve each record’s own listed amount, while calories per 100 g hold weight constant. A dash means the cited record does not supply that field; it does not mean the nutrient is absent.

On smaller screens, focus the table and scroll horizontally to read every column.

USDA records selected for the Potato salad nutrition guide
Exact source record Match Source amount Calories kcal / 100 g Protein Fiber Sodium USDA
Potato salad, from restaurant Direct name match 138 gUSDA reference amount 246 kcal 178 2.4 g 1.8 g 498 mg FDC 2709542 ↗
Potato salad, German style Direct name match 88 gUSDA reference amount 95 kcal 108 2.6 g 1.7 g 159 mg FDC 2709541 ↗
Potato salad, made with any type of fat free dressing Direct name match 138 gUSDA reference amount 112 kcal 81 1.9 g 2.5 g 297 mg FDC 2709551 ↗
Potato salad, made with creamy dressing Direct name match 138 gUSDA reference amount 193 kcal 140 2.2 g 2.1 g 272 mg FDC 2709547 ↗
Potato salad, made with Italian dressing Direct name match 138 gUSDA reference amount 149 kcal 108 2 g 2.1 g 311 mg FDC 2709549 ↗
Potato salad, made with light creamy dressing Direct name match 138 gUSDA reference amount 131 kcal 95 2.2 g 2.1 g 280 mg FDC 2709548 ↗
Potato salad, made with light Italian dressing Direct name match 138 gUSDA reference amount 117 kcal 85 2 g 2.1 g 290 mg FDC 2709550 ↗
Potato salad, made with light mayonnaise Direct name match 138 gUSDA reference amount 145 kcal 105 1.9 g 2.1 g 297 mg FDC 2709544 ↗
Potato salad, made with light mayonnaise-type salad dressing Direct name match 138 gUSDA reference amount 145 kcal 105 1.9 g 2.1 g 297 mg FDC 2709546 ↗
Potato salad, made with mayonnaise Direct name match 138 gUSDA reference amount 232 kcal 168 2.1 g 2.1 g 247 mg FDC 2709543 ↗
Potato salad, made with mayonnaise-type salad dressing Direct name match 138 gUSDA reference amount 148 kcal 107 2 g 2.1 g 257 mg FDC 2709545 ↗

Portion analysis

Serving total and calorie density answer different questions

The listed source amounts run from 88 to 138 grams—a 50-gram gap before composition enters the comparison. Their own source servings run from 95 calories for “German style” to 246 for “from restaurant.” At a fixed 100 grams, “made with any type of fat free dressing” is 81 calories and “from restaurant” is 178—a fixed-weight separation of 97 calories. For Potato salad, the serving view answers “how much is in the database portion?”; the 100-gram view answers “how concentrated is the matched record?” Neither reveals how many grams were actually eaten.

The scaling rule: multiply a per-100-gram value by eaten grams ÷ 100. The arithmetic is exact; the result is only as defensible as the record match and portion estimate.

Preparation analysis

The long description carries the evidence

The published descriptions distinguish forms such as “from restaurant”, “made with creamy dressing”, “made with light creamy dressing”, “made with light mayonnaise-type salad dressing”, and “made with mayonnaise-type salad dressing”. Across the source formulations, the shared backbone includes celery, raw, onions, raw, and salt, table; differentiating rows include potatoes, boiled, cooked without skin, flesh, without salt, mustard, prepared, yellow, pickle relish, sweet, and vinegar, distilled. On this Potato salad page, those rows make the records inspectable, but they are not a controlled experiment: they cannot tell us that one named input, by itself, caused a nutrient difference.

Database precision is not meal certainty. Retain the exact description beside the number so later corrections remain possible.

What changes the comparison

Four drivers worth checking before choosing a record

The family label “Potato salad” cannot resolve the differences between Potato salad, from restaurant and Potato salad, made with mayonnaise-type salad dressing. The four checks below identify the record wording, source weight, and formulation evidence that can.

  1. 01

    Source weight before serving calories

    The source amounts span 88–138 grams. Compare per 100 grams before reading a serving-calorie gap as a composition gap.

  2. 02

    The words that split the family

    Representative record-level distinctions include “from restaurant”, “made with creamy dressing”, “made with light creamy dressing”, “made with light mayonnaise-type salad dressing”, and “made with mayonnaise-type salad dressing”. Those phrases are evidence for choosing a record, not decorative subtitle text.

  3. 03

    Formulation evidence, with limits

    Shared source rows include celery, raw and onions, raw; rows that vary across the set include potatoes, boiled, cooked without skin, flesh, without salt, mustard, prepared, yellow, and pickle relish, sweet. Presence is inspectable evidence, not proof of nutrient causation.

  4. 04

    The unresolved plate

    Even “Potato salad, from restaurant” leaves the eaten grams and unnamed oils, sauces, toppings, substitutions, or leftovers unresolved. Preserve those Potato salad unknowns for correction instead of converting them into false precision.

Record matching

Match identity first; scale quantity second

Read the source name as a sequence of decisions. First confirm that potato salad is the right meal family. Then resolve the phrases that actually separate this set—“from restaurant”, “made with creamy dressing”, “made with light mayonnaise”, and “made with mayonnaise-type salad dressing”—before comparing gram weight. If a package, menu, or known recipe provides a closer first-party description, prefer it and keep this USDA record as a transparent fallback.

A practical matching checklist

  1. Read the complete Potato salad source description, including preparation and additions.
  2. Compare the listed source weight with the amount actually eaten.
  3. Prefer a current package or restaurant source when a specific branded item is known.
  4. Record toppings, sauces, cooking fat, sides, and substitutions that the selected description does not name.

Decision support from the exact records on this page

Turn source data into a better next decision

These conclusions and reading paths are computed from 11 exact records behind Potato salad source-record guide. Links are chosen by record identity, controlled contrast, formulation input, nutrient spread, or serving context—not by loose keyword similarity.

Equal-weight result

Potato salad, from restaurant is higher in total fat per 100 g

Potato salad, from restaurant reports 11.4 g versus 0.6 g for Potato salad, made with any type of fat free dressing: a 10.8 g difference when both are normalized to 100 g.

Inspect the underlying evidence

The denominator changes the answer

Potato salad, German style is denser; Potato salad, made with mayonnaise-type salad dressing is higher in its source amount

Potato salad, German style reports 108 kcal per 100 g and 95 kcal in USDA source amount (88 g). Potato salad, made with mayonnaise-type salad dressing reports a lower 107 kcal per 100 g but a higher 148 kcal in USDA source amount (138 g).

Choose the record before reading the number

Potato salad, made with light mayonnaise and Potato salad, made with mayonnaise are not interchangeable

The page keeps both records at the same 100 g denominator and makes Light wording (light wording versus No matching controlled term in the source name) the explicit record-description contrast. It does not show that the wording difference caused a nutrient difference. Pick the description that matches the food in front of you rather than averaging away the distinction.

Inspect the underlying evidence

Contextual knowledge graph

Follow the relationship that matches your question

For Potato salad source-record guide, each path states why the destination belongs here, so you can distinguish a true evidentiary connection from a merely similar label.

Compare two records on this page Potato salad, made with creamy dressing vs Potato salad, made with light creamy dressing

Both records appear in this page’s evidence set. The explicit record-description contrast is Light wording: No matching controlled term in the source name versus light wording; it is a selection cue, not evidence of cause.

Follow this evidence path Compare two records on this page Potato salad, made with Italian dressing vs Potato salad, made with light Italian dressing

Both records appear in this page’s evidence set. The explicit record-description contrast is Light wording: No matching controlled term in the source name versus light wording; it is a selection cue, not evidence of cause.

Follow this evidence path 11 context records in this source topic Mashed potatoes and white potato mixtures

Potato salad, from restaurant and Potato salad, German style belong to this USDA source-category collection. Its displayed ranges and complete exact-record catalog provide the peer set for a manual comparison; the destination does not preselect this page’s record.

Follow this evidence path A formulation detail that separates records Mustard, prepared, yellow

USDA input 2046 appears in 6 of 11 context records; its summed listed input weight spans 15.6–15.6 g across those source formulations. These are source-formulation input weights, not plated or serving weights. Follow the code to inspect every represented occurrence.

Follow this evidence path A formulation detail that separates records Pickle relish, sweet

USDA input 11945 appears in 6 of 11 context records; its summed listed input weight spans 15.3–15.3 g across those source formulations. These are source-formulation input weights, not plated or serving weights. Follow the code to inspect every represented occurrence.

Follow this evidence path Put the observed spread in corpus context Iron: density and serving context

In this page’s records, iron runs from 0.3 mg in Potato salad, made with light creamy dressing to 0.9 mg in Potato salad, German style, all per 100 g.

Follow this evidence path Put the observed spread in corpus context Calcium: density and serving context

In this page’s records, calcium runs from 7 mg in Potato salad, from restaurant to 17 mg in Potato salad, German style, all per 100 g.

Follow this evidence path