Give Pot Roast A Rich Caramelized Sweetness With This Cheap Canned Ingredient

If you aren't making pot roast when you want a comforting dinner, you need to start today. This dish is a classic that brings to mind old-school metal-sided diners and family dinners at the weekend, and will likely send the Boomers in your life on a happy nostalgia trip. But how should you prepare your pot roast? While there are plenty of recipes out there utilizing different cuts of meat for pot roast, and many home cooks will swear by their personal variation, one secret canned ingredient can liven up the dish, making it richer and sweeter with a single pop. We're talking a can of soda, specifically cola, which will add sweetness and depth of flavor to your pot roast.

While many may raise an eyebrow at the idea of adding canned soda to a pot roast, it won't actually make your dish overly sweet. Similar to how many recipes for brisket call for brown sugar in the sauce, the cola in your pot roast will combine with other, more savory flavors, like garlic or onions, as well as the stock you're cooking the roast in, so that the sweet cola adds only the caramelized flavor without overwhelming the roast, or turning it into a dessert.

Cola is actually a versatile ingredient, and it's worth keeping a can in your pantry for more than just quenching your thirst. Would it surprise you to learn that pot roast isn't the only savory dish that can benefit from a can of cola? It's true. The same flavor qualities that make canned cola a hit in pot roast work for other meat dishes. Cola-glazed ham is a classic Southern dish, while cola in barbecue sauce can help add a rich sweetness to anything from pulled pork to glazed chicken wings. Or, for an Asian-inspired meal, canned cola can be a useful ingredient in a variation on teriyaki sauce for chicken or vegetables.

On the other hand, why not let the sweetness of canned cola make for a great dessert? Chocolate cake with cola is another recipe that has its origins in the American South, while cola brownies are also a great cola-chocolate fusion to bake. If you're adventurous, though, there are plenty of more surprising cola-based desserts you can try, like cherry cola jello, which can be served up on its own, or in a full-on old-school jello salad.