Forget Mashed Potatoes — Pot Roast Deserves This Buttery Side Instead

Pot roast is many things: rich, savory, comforting. But one thing it isn't? Unexpected. Unless you're eating Alton Brown's infamous raisin and olive-laden pot roast, you pretty much know what to expect with this dish. Be it Ina Garten's classic, chicken bouillon-infused pot roast, or Alton Brown's updated (olive and raisin-less) overnight take on the dish, at its core, this hearty, saucy dish is pretty simple: a hunk of meat (typically beef) braised in a pot for hours with vegetables like carrots, celery, and onions. Usually, the dish is served alongside a hefty scoop of mashed potatoes, and it is absolutely lovely. But what if there was a garlicky, buttery addition you were missing out on? Well, there is, and it's a side you more often find with a plate of spaghetti: garlic bread.

This crusty, savory side makes shockingly good bedfellows with your beefy pot roast. Not only will the butter and garlic on your bread bring a richly savory taste to your roast, but the bread also acts as a sponge to sop up that delicious pot roast sauce filled with braised, beefy flavor. You can use any sort of garlic bread for this pairing, from frozen to homemade. Regardless of your method of making garlic bread, the results will be plenty tasty.

While you can absolutely just take a pre-prepped loaf of garlic bread from your local grocery store and pop it in the oven, you can also go the homemade route if you'd prefer more control over the garlic-butter topping. One easy method is to start with a loaf of French bread, slice through the center lengthwise, top with garlic-infused compound butter, then bake. 

For added robustness, you can incorporate roasted garlic in your butter mix or top the dairy product with a schmear of confit garlic cloves. This will add a complex nuttiness to your bread that pairs well with the savor of your pot roast. To add a bit of fresh herbaceousness, sprinkle with chopped parsley or chives, either as a finishing touch to the finished toasted bread or mixed into your compound butter spread. To top it all off, adding a sprinkling of Parmesan and broiling to form a golden crust of cheese will work beautifully with your roast. You can also double up your allium game by using garlic powder on top of the fresh stuff. Serve your bread fresh and hot alongside your roast, and you might be forever converted to the bread side.