Improve The Flavor Of Your Pot Roast With One Dried Ingredient

Pot roasts are a labor of love, and after putting all of that time and effort into cooking, you want to be sure yours comes out mouthwateringly aromatic and packed with flavor. There's a plethora of great tips for making delicious pot roast in a slow cooker, but you can start here: add dried figs.

Dried figs are a powerhouse of natural sweetness that will give your pot roast an extra dimension of flavor. You don't have to be a professional chef to know about balance, and the rich, deeply sweet flavors and aromas of figs balance beautifully with the savory components of a pork roast and vegetables. When slow-cooked, the natural sugars of the dried figs break down, infusing a caramel-like sweetness into other ingredients. As they soften throughout the cooking process, they provide little pockets of jammy, chewy sweetness amidst the meat and vegetables, allowing for dynamic textures throughout the dish.

For a super tender herb and fig pot roast recipe with a gourmet-level harmony of flavor in each bite, you can select ingredients that will pair particularly well with dried figs. Use warm, earthy aromatics like rosemary or thyme to complement the sweetness of the figs and the savory richness of the meat. Root vegetables like carrots and parsnips, which have their own inherent sweetness, will also be enhanced by the figs.

What makes a pot roast distinct is the rich sauce that it simmers in. In addition to the beef broth you'll use, a splash of red wine or balsamic vinegar can introduce a touch of acidity, balancing the sweetness that dried figs will bring to the dish and adding a layer of sophistication to the flavor profile. If you wind up with some leftover vino, serve it up with the roast for an ideal food and wine pairing, as red wine balances the earthiness and sweetness of cooked figs.

In our dried fig pot roast recipe, we also like to blend the dried figs into the sauce after they've cooked for a while before adding in some extra figs near the end of the cooking for an added dimension of texture. After searing your meat (ideally chuck roast) and simmering veggies in broth and red wine, add in the figs and allow the sauce to come to a boil before adding your roast and herbs into the liquid and letting the whole thing cook for about two hours in the oven. As they heat up throughout the cooking process, the dried figs will absorb liquid and become softer and easier to blend. Remove the roast and herbs and blend the liquid and figs with an immersion blender before adding in some extra dried figs. You'll wind up with tender meat saturated with a syrupy sweet-and-savory glaze that will have everyone asking for seconds.