What to Serve with Pot Roast: Best Side Dishes

Pot roasts are synonymous with comfort food — this super-cozy warm dish not only fills your home with rich, hearty flavors but also your belly. But do you know what to serve with pot roast?

It’s definitely the perfect dish for cold weather, when you want nothing more than warmth, relaxation, and a little bit of wintry zen. And a savory pot roast is particularly popular on special occasions like Christmas and Easter.

Leaving the table feeling content enough to cuddle up under some covers for a nap or by a fireside with a good book is the ultimate winter dinner goal, and pot roasts certainly meet all the criteria. Not to mention that this classic comfort food is the perfect way to accommodate guests of all kinds, from children to adults.

Pot roast cuts are also the most reasonably priced among beef roasts, so buying in bulk won’t cut into your budget the way a prime rib would. This means that it’s an excellent option for dinner guests, holiday dinners, and potlucks.

(Though we are still fans of making them for dinner and freezing leftover pot roast after… if they are any!)

You know that this slow-cooked meat is the perfect dinner for you, so now you may be wondering — what are some good side dishes for pot roast?

Pot Roast Sides We Love

If you’re trying to figure out easy sides to serve with pot roast, we’re here to share some of our favorites — including what pot roast sides are best for holidays and what we recommend for side dishes for pot roast for a potluck.

We’ll even cover what we think your kids will love!

Best Pot Roast Side Dishes for the Holidays

• Parmesan Smashed Potatoes: Potatoes are one of the most classic sides to serve with pot roast. We love this unique and simple potato recipe as a side for any holiday dinner because it spices up the meal without taking away from the main dish. Perfect alongside a pot roast, these smashed potatoes bring some Parmesan cheese into the mix for added flavor and texture.

• Rustic Bread: The appeal of this bread is not only the rustic look that fits in amazingly on a Christmas or Easter spread, but the simplicity. During the holidays, it’s hard to find a dish that can be completed in a shorter window of time and still be homemade. This rustic bread can be on the table in 3 hours, making it a great choice. (If that's too long, you can always buy dinner rolls at the grocery store.)

• Rosemary Roasted Garlic Bread: Playing on the ingredients already found in our simple pot roast seasoning, this rosemary roasted garlic bread has its own signature flavor that pairs well with the roast. While many serve rolls with pot roast, this bread will be a familiar but surprising addition to your dinner and will wow your guests. And did you know — you can make garlic bread in the air fryer!

• Maple Bourbon Glazed Carrots: Like the potatoes above, carrots can also best compliment a pot roast by being prepared on the side. For many people, carrots are an essential part of a pot roast spread. This is an easy side dish with readily available ingredients that will highlight the brown sugar in your homemade pot roast seasoning.

• Roasted Rosemary Potatoes: Similar to the bread above, rosemary potatoes continue to add body as a side dish to pot roast by using the familiar flavors and ingredients that your guests will taste when indulging in the meat. Roasted Rosemary Potatoes are a classier way to serve potatoes with a roast, using them as a side rather than as part of the roast dinner. We even have a Toaster Oven Rosemary Potatoes recipe to keep it simpler to satisfy guests, and to save on oven space when you’re preparing a meal for many.

• Mashed Carrots and Turnips: Sweet, flavorful, and unique while remaining familiar, this mashed carrots and turnips recipe will soon be a holiday go-to for your family, with or without the pot roast!

• Cranberry Pecan Roasted Brussels Sprouts: Cranberries are a staple in Thanksgiving and Christmas recipes, making this recipe for a pot roast side blend in perfectly with everything else on your holiday table spread.

• Roasted Acorn Squash with Cranberry Sauce: An absolute wintertime essential, roasted squash is often served for Thanksgiving or Christmas as a side, and is perfect with a hearty pot roast in colder months in general.

• Grilled Green Bean and Onion Tarts: Green beans and onions pair up with feta cheese on top of a light, fluffy puff pastry for this simple and flavor-filled side that is super easy to make but looks and feels sophisticated! Fresh green beans, onions, and a light bread make the perfect side dish for pot roast, making this indulgence perfectly paired.

• Goat Cheese Asparagus Tart: Along the same lines as the tart shown above, this asparagus and goat cheese tart is a perfect side dish for pot roast. Pairing well with the beef and balancing all the elements of the ideal side dish, this tart can stand alone next to pot roast and check off all the boxes.

Best Pot Roast Sides for a Potluck

Here are some great choices we recommend bringing to a potluck to accompany pot roast!

• Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes: Who doesn’t love mashed potatoes? Not to mention, potatoes are a classic pot roast side dish. This super-simple recipe makes it easy to serve up a large amount of moist, fluffy mashed potatoes that you can keep warm while serving.

• Roasted Carrots with Lime: These flavorful carrots are a great pot roast side dish because of the stark contrast, yet total balance, in flavors. Keep your senses alive with the deliciously citrus taste, while satisfying a wide array of guests and preferences — it’s easy to make in bulk!

• Roasted Tahini Maple Sweet Potatoes: Roasted sweet potatoes come alive when paired with tahini paste and maple syrup and hold up well for traveling to a potluck or family dinner. These are a perfect side dish for pot roasts that boast an added kick, like red pepper flakes.

• Kale Salad: Super healthy and nutrient-rich, our kale salad recipe tastes great on its own but really adds an element of flavor when paired with savory meats, such as pot roast. It’s great for a lighter side dish, since pot roast is so filling.

• Roasted Beet and Carrot Quinoa Salad: I firmly believe that light side dishes for pot roasts are going to be a win at any potluck or family dinner. Pot roasts are so filling and heavy that a light, flavorful salad, especially one with complimentary fall or winter ingredients such as cranberries, beets, carrots, and goat cheese, will be a clear winner.

• Slow Cooker Creamed Corn: Hearty, creamy, and filling, without competing with your main dish, this creamed corn recipe can be made in the slow cooker and is a perfect side dish for pot roast recipes of any kind. Prepared in a slow cooker for ease of cooking and travel, slow cooker creamed corn is a great addition to your pot luck.

Best Pot Roast Sides for Kids

Need to keep kids happy, especially picky eaters? I totally understand, and it’s an issue I’ve run into more than a couple times as a mom. Here’s where we suggest you start:

• Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes: Often the go-to “potatoes” for low carb, paleo, or health-conscious diners, cauliflower mashed potatoes are also a great way to sneak some extra veggies onto your child’s plate without any fuss. Creamy, buttery, and flavorful, these will be gone in a flash.

• Macaroni and Cheese: With more robust flavor and body than boxed mac, and that homemade taste that adults will love, this recipe will fly off your little one’s plate. When looking for pot roast sides that kids will love, this creamy mac definitely has you covered.

• Toaster Oven Roasted Broccoli: My kids love roasted broccoli, and it’s great as a side dish for pot roast. The roasting process helps smooth out some of the flavors that may turn little taste-testers away. Ask your child to help you prepare the broccoli and make it interactive to encourage them to try!

• Slow Cooker Corn on the Cob: Kids love corn on the cob. At least, most do. Corn is a great side dish for pot roast because it is so flavorful and versatile, without taking away from the essence of the main dish. A little sweet, a little savory, corn is ideal for a pot roast side as it matches any element of the flavor profile of your seasoning.

Best Desserts to Serve with Pot Roast

It would be criminal to overlook dessert in our quest for the best side dishes for pot roast!

Desserts round out a meal and can make or break the experience by being the final offering to your guests. Pot roasts are hearty, filling, and rich in herbs and spices.

Often served with potatoes and other starchy vegetables or breads, pot roasts pair very well with light desserts, or desserts that are smaller in size.

• Fudge: With a multitude of options to choose from, this list of our fudge recipes offers you an excellent way to pack in a lot of sugary flavor without a huge serving that can leave you uncomfortably full. You can slice fudge into small slivers or squares, and easily pack it up for guests to bring home for later. For these reasons and more, fudge is a great dessert to go with pot roast.

• Buckeye Balls: Buckeye balls are a sweet and flavorful dessert where a little bit goes a long way. They make an excellent gift when packaged up, so they are perfect for holiday parties where guests can bring their treat home for the ride, but taste good any time. I recommend buckeye balls for a light dessert recipe to pair with roast beef because they’re just big enough to give you some sweet flavor without being too filling to enjoy.

• Payday Truffles: Similar to buckeye balls, these truffles are small but pack a lot of flavor into their little candy-coated shell. Small, individual sized treats make for a great dessert to serve with pot roast because your guests can have just one and feel satisfied, or many if they still have some space left in their bellies!

• Chocolate Chip Cookies: This Mrs. Field’s-knockoff is a classic chocolate chip cookie recipe perfect for dessert with pot roast. I love serving cookies for a dessert for many reasons — it’s a win just about every time, for all ages; cookies can be split up to be shared for people looking for a smaller dessert; and I can save them for later. Plus, for many people this offers the classic comfort they’re looking for when enjoying pot roast!

• Gingerbread Biscotti: Biscotti is the perfect dessert for heavy meals like pot roast. Serve with coffee (decaf if you’re sensitive to afternoon or evening caffeine) and enhance the holiday flavor of your pot luck dinner with this perfectly matched dessert.

• Cranberry Apple Walnut Tarts: Not quite as light as the others, but still worth mentioning for many reasons, these cranberry apple walnut tarts are a perfect ending to your pot roast dinner. With flavors that coincide with the usual time you might be making a pot roast (aka autumn and winter), these tarts match anything else on the menu. As an added bonus, they are gorgeous to look at!

• 19 Desserts for Ages 21+:  Some people prefer to finish off a meal with a cocktail, and these recipes contain not only some of our favorite dessert drinks, but also some other goodies that contain a little something for those 21 and older. Why do these pair well with pot roast? Well, you’ve got a full belly, so why not?

In addition to what's on these lists, your perfect meal may be completed by egg noodles, potato salad, other root vegetables, sweet potato fries, or really any tasty sides that your whole family already loves — that's sort of the point of a special holiday meal or Sunday dinner featuring this holy grail of comfort food — customize your complete meal to the taste buds at your dinner table!