A Dollop Of This Ingredient Gives Pot Roast A Savory, Silky Upgrade

Pot roast is the ultimate comfort dish: It's rich, meaty, packed with veggies, and has a flavorful gravy for topping mashed potatoes (or using as a dip for a buttery slice of garlic bread on the side instead). You might think that there is no way to make this dish any more sumptuous than it already is. However, there is one simple addition that will truly boost the flavor of your roast, bringing it to even comfier heights (you might want to pull out your coziest sweat pants): butter.

Now, you may already use butter in your pot roast recipe as a pan lubricant to help sauté aromatics or brown the beef. But when we suggest adding butter, we don't mean a tablespoon to sizzle your onions in — we're talking about a large dollop popped in the pot to cook down with your roast. This addition is nothing new, of course. Many Southern Mississippi pot roasts call for a half or whole stick of butter to be added, and it's easy to see why.

Not only is butter packed with flavor-enhancing fats, but it will make your roast taste richer while also giving the gravy a super silky, luscious texture that can't be beat. Simply add a generous dollop of butter on top of your roast before cooking it. You can use either salted or unsalted, but unsalted will make it easier for you to control the salinity of your dish.

Adding plain butter to your pot roast is one way to give this classic recipe extra oomph. However, if you want to take the addition even further, there are a few ways to go about it. You can start by adding in a compound butter in place of plain butter. Using a butter infused with caramelized onions or garlic, for example, will add another layer of flavor to your dish. You can also use herb-infused butter — think rosemary and thyme for a complex, herbaceous taste that will seriously elevate your dish. Of course, you can always do as Alton Brown does with his flavorful overnight pot roast and use ghee instead of butter, too.

If you're a bit apprehensive about adding a whole or half stick of butter into your pot roast, but still want to bring the same rich flavor, you can always add the butter as a finishing touch to the gravy of your roast by using the monter au beurre technique. Simply cut a tablespoon worth of cold butter into small pats for every two cups of gravy, then mix it into the gravy when it's off heat but still warm. The added butter will create a thick, delicious emulsion that is the perfect finish to any roast. The best thing is that you can add as much or as little butter as you please until the pot roast's gravy reaches your desired texture. And there you have it: the perfect butter-infused pot roast.