Balance The Flavor Of A Rich Pot Roast With One Colorful Addition

During winter's coldest, snowiest days, there's no dinner that's quite as comforting as a warming pot roast. After you cook your roast for up to four hours in the oven, you're left with a flavorful and tender dish that's as nourishing as it is delicious. Yet while a pot roast is perfectly fine in its traditional form, one particular addition guarantees an extra pop of color — and an essential burst of brightness that cuts through the meat's intensity. That ingredient is pickled onion, which proves invaluable for a well-balanced roast.

Pickled onions have more than proven their usefulness as a creative and delicious addition across a slew of recipes. With a pot roast in particular, however, the onions serve the essential purpose of complementing your meat. That's because pickled onions taste sharp, tangy, and a little bit crunchy, so they counterbalance the rich and robust nature of a pot roast, adding flavor, color, and textural variance.

As for how to incorporate pickled onions, you, luckily, don't have to change much — or really anything — about your pot roast technique. Rather, simply keep your favorite pot roast recipe as your dish's base ... and keep a jar of the pickled vegetable handy. 

You don't have to drastically alter your pot roast recipe to integrate pickled onions. Rather, the onions work best as a topping to be added after the fact. Simply add a sprinkle of your preferred amount atop your finished roast, depending on how much you want to brighten the dish. Just make sure to drain your onions beforehand so you don't also add moisture to your meat. For this trick, you can use either store-bought jars of pickled onions – Amazon sells a variety, many of which come flavored with herbs — or make your own from scratch. 

Like many vegetables, pickled onions are neutral enough to benefit all kinds of foods, so you can utilize them across various pot roast recipes. For example, a topping of pickled onions comes in handy whether you're making a German-style pot roast or a dish that leans heavily into herbs and figs. Just make sure to also season your meat with salt, pepper, and dried herbs. That way, you'll maximize your roast's flavor and maintain its absolute best balance.