13 Vegetables You Should Be Cooking With Pot Roast

Pot roast is one of those recipes that should be easy. Just throw everything in a slow cooker, set it, and forget, right? Wrong. A truly good pot roast should be thoroughly planned out, and cooked in stages. Some of the biggest mistakes everyone makes with pot roast are failing to brown the meat, deglaze the pan, and cook it slowly enough to ensure the meat becomes as tender as possible. And although it's all about getting that roast cooked to perfection, most of the ingredients are vegetables and should be selected carefully and purposefully. This is not one of those everything-but-the-kitchen-sink dinners, so we've selected the best vegetables you should be cooking with pot roast to help you get started.

Not each mouthful of pot roast will contain meat. But if cooked properly, the essence of the meat should be a significant part of the gravy that will infuse each vegetable in the roast. These vegetables need to be cooked to perfection so they are tender, yet hold their shape. Too often, vegetables in pot roast are overcooked and turn mushy. There are, however, vegetables that tend to hold up better when slow-cooked and retain their texture and form. The flavor of each vegetable you choose will seep into all aspects of the roast, which is what makes this entrée so unique and delightful. This means it's absolutely essential to choose wisely when it comes to ingredients, especially vegetables.

A pot roast isn't complete without a few basic vegetables, and carrots make the cut absolutely essential to the overall dish. In fact, you'll find very few pot roast recipes that don't feature the bright orange root vegetable. This is because carrots, although typically used in a savory capacity, are incredibly sweet and flavorful. Because they are root vegetables, they are fairly hearty and hold their figure during a slow roast. It's unlikely that even after being cooked for hours on end that they will be mushy or fall apart. In addition, they are slightly woody and earthy, which pairs phenomenology with a robust and gamey cut of meat.

The key to getting more flavor out of carrots is to buy them smaller, as the rule goes with most vegetables. Select baby carrots, or small full-sized carrots and chop them into large, bite-sized rings. Each ring should be at least ½ an inch thick, as smaller slices will likely overcook quickly. Pot roast is known for its chunky vegetables. Carrots are also notorious for absorbing the sauces around them. If you're looking to infuse a vegetable with the flavors of the pot roast gravy, herbs, and spices, then carrots are the way to go.

The famous and most loved aromatic on the planet is essential to pot roast. Recipes that just call for a few cloves are really expecting you to take creative liberty and add as much as you'd like. If it calls for two cloves, why not add six? Like other aromatics, garlic adds an important element to pot roast. It's powerful in flavor and will be essential to infusing both meat and other vegetables with flavor. Garlic itself is quite pungent, spicy, and intense, but becomes more mild and sweetens up as it's cooked.

Feel free to add a whole head of garlic to your pot roast. Choose a variation of garlic that is sweet, like rocambole which can be identified by the purple streaks in papery exterior. Use the butt of your hand to firmly whack the base of the garlic where the roots are to loosen the cloves. Then use the flat side of a large knife, and your palm to crush each clove for easy peeling. Cut off any course or fibrous ends, and drop the crushed, whole cloves of garlic right into the gravy to cook. Allow it to slow cook for the entire length that the roast does so that it can sweeten up as much as possible, infuse the gravy with its incredible flavors, and fill your kitchen with that irresistible pot roast scent.

Anytime you add beans to any sort of stew, soup, or sauce, it's important to use dried or fresh beans, rather than canned ones. This way, as they cook they can absorb all of the broth, sauces, and gravies and become a vehicle for flavor. When selecting the perfect bean for your pot roast, consider kidney beans. They are tougher, larger, and slightly meatier than black or cannellini beans, and have a red coloring that blends in beautifully with pot roast. However, there are tens of thousands of bean varieties, so unless you know everything there is to know about beans, it's best to stick to a variety you're used to. If you're new to the world of beans, kidney beans are the way to go.

Kidney beans are classically used in a vegetarian pot roast but can be a major asset alongside a meaty roast itself. Beans are typically soft, starchy, absorbent, and dense which makes them great candidates to contrast some of the lighter vegetables in a pot roast. Consider adding dried beans right off the bat, but remember to increase the liquid ratio as they will absorb quite a bit as they cook.

Often, tomato paste is an ingredient that's recommended in gravy for pot roast. This is because tomatoes have an intense sweetness and umami undertones that add variety and a meaty depth of flavor. And although most recipes wouldn't call for a sliced or diced tomato to be added to the pot, consider including grape or cherry tomatoes. They will likely cook down and fall apart to some degree, but those delicate skins will be left holding an incredibly sweet and juicy interior that can be quite pleasing in pot roast. In addition, the juices that seep out of the tomatoes will infuse other ingredients, and help to spread that umami flavor we all love.

When choosing between cherry and grape tomatoes, know your differences. Cherry tomatoes are rounder, like cherries, while grape tomatoes are oblong. Grape tomatoes more closely resemble the texture of plumb tomatoes, because they are meatier and less water dense, while cherry tomatoes are sweeter and juicier with a thinner skin. Both work beautifully in pot roast, but grape tomatoes may stay together better during the cooking process, so lean this way if that's your target outcome. Don't cut them, but instead include them whole as soon as you've added the broth. This will give them a chance to reduce, shrivel, and work their magic.

Turnips are rutabagas bitey father. They are less sweet, more purple-toned, whiter, and smaller. If your pot roast is loaded to the brim with sweet vegetables like onions, carrots, and tomatoes, then you should consider including turnips instead of rutabaga in your stew to add more variety. Turnips are famous for their use in gastropub French fries, being featured in fall and winter stews, and being enjoyed steamed with butter as a side dish. They are a little less overwhelming to someone new to the produce department than rutabagas, which are a handful and a half, so they are a good place to start if you'd like to include this type of root vegetable in your classic Yankee pot roast.

Consider choosing between turnips and rutabaga, instead of including them both. Turnips are mildly sweet and nutty, and have a similar earthiness that most root veggies share. No need to peel them, but be sure to use a sharp knife to prevent injury when cutting into this fibrous, round, and stiff vegetable. Dice it into bite-sized chunks, and add it when the pot roast has reached its mid-point in the cooking process. You'll want to avoid it becoming soft and mushy, but it should be cooked all the way through and relatively tender by the time you're ready to eat.

No pot roast is complete without onions. In fact, this aromatic is the foundation for endless meat dishes, soups, stews, and sauces. They can be incredibly sweet, but also pungent, spicy, tangy, and sharp depending on their preparation method. When it comes to pot roast, the longer the onions cook the better. Even if they nearly come close to dissolving, this will just add to the overall flavor of the gravy, so don't worry about over-cooking them.

The best variety is yellow onions to cook in pot roast. This is because they caramelize beautifully because of their high sugar content, and intensity of flavor. Start by peeling your onion and cutting off the root end. Slice your onion into large chunks, think quarters, or go slightly smaller. These wedges of onion will separate from each other as they cook, and provide a juicy, sweet, absorbent, and flavorful mouthfeel to accompany the meat and other vegetables. Even if you've included shallots and garlic, don't skimp on the onion. It provides essential flavor for the gravy and a nice soft texture in the overall composition.