Vlašský salát – Czech Snack Salad

In the mood for something good? Try Vlašský salát, a typical delicacy from Czech cuisine. It tastes great as a snack with fresh bread!

➜ What is Czech vlasský salat

Vlašský salát is a traditional Czech deli salad made from potatoes, vegetables, and mayonnaise. Czechs love it with a piece of rohlík bread roll for a snack, but it is also used as a spread to make another Czech delicacy: open-faced sandwiches known as obložené chlebíčky.

This salad is similar to the pochoutkový salát, which you can also find here on my blog.

➜ Ingredients

• Potatoes; cooked with skin the day before – use waxy potatoes rather than those with a higher starch content
• Ham; I got a Czech salami called Gothaj, but any quality ham will work great in this recipe
• Peas; the ideal choice is frozen peas that you thaw at room temperature
• Dill pickles
• Juice from a pickle jar
• Carrot; briefly boiled in water and then cooled
• Mayonnaise
• Yellow mustard
• Granulated sugar
• Salt; not too much, other ingredients tend to be salty enough, and you can always add salt to the salad later
• Ground pepper

✅ You’ll find the exact amount of ingredients below in the recipe card, which you can also print out.

➜ Instructions with photos

Before you start making the salad itself, prepare in advance:

1. Cook the potatoes with skin on and let them cool down completely, ideally overnight.
2. Let the peas thaw at room temperature.
3. Peel the carrot and cook it shortly in boiling water for about 5 minutes. Then cool it in cold water to stop the cooking process. The carrots get a beautiful color and remain slightly crunchy to the bite, not mushy.

Ready? Let's cook!

STEP 1: Peel the cooked potatoes and cut them into small cubes. Finely chop the ham, carrots, and pickles. Transfer them to a mixing bowl. Add thawed peas.

STEP 2: Prepare the dressing: In a bowl, put mayo, pickle juice, mustard, sugar, salt, and ground pepper. Stir well until combined.

STEP 3: Pour the dressing over the prepared ingredients. Mix everything together. Let it rest in the fridge for at least an hour.

Serving

Vlašský salát tastes best with a fresh rohlík or houska roll as a snack. You can garnish the salad with a sprig of green parsley as a final touch.

➜ Vlašský salát and Czech open-faced sandwiches

In the Czech Republic, this salad is commonly used to make obložené chlebíčky. These are open-faced sandwiches fancy garnished with ham, cheese, boiled egg, and canned vegetables.

Vlašský salát is spread on slices of veka (a Czech type of white bread), which forms the base of an open-faced sandwich.

You can also spread these sandwiches with "bramborový salát" (Czech potato salad).

Here you can learn more about chlebíčky, Czech open-faced sandwiches.

• The classic recipe for vlašský salát calls for canned peas instead of frozen ones. However, the well-known Czech chef Roman Paulus advises using frozen peas, which have a better texture and color (tested, recommended!).
• Same for carrots: use canned carrots in the salad if you want, but fresh carrots cooked briefly and then cooled taste excellent in a salad.
• The salad includes dill pickles. These are pickles in sweet and sour brine with mustard seeds and dill. They can be bought in every shop in the Czech Republic, but the Czechs also pickle them themselves. Check my recipe for homemade dill pickles!

More Czech spread recipes:

• Egg salad with yogurt – vajíčková pomazánka
• Czech cheese spread – Hermelínová pomazánka
• Red Pepper Cheese Spread – Budapešťská pomazánka
• Cucumber salad with vinegar and sugar – okurkový salát
• Celeriac bread spread – celerovová pomazánka