Fry a lot of finely chopped onions and minced fresh garlic in a few tablespoons of oil before you even start. Sprinkle a teaspoon of salt and a half tsp of paprika on top and leave it for a while sizzling gently in your cholent pot. Much better presence and aroma than onion soup mix. If you’re using a lot of ketchup, barbecue sauce, mustard, etc etc then you might be cooking an interesting baked bean type of dish, but it’s not cholent.
A tablespoon or two of ketchup is enough; maybe 1 bbq sauce, and 1/2 or less of mustard if you really want to balance your reds with some toxic yellow. No root vegs besides the aforementioned and potato. Other roots, like parsnips and carrots and beets, should kindly stay away from the cholent pot. A few packets of George Washington Golden, dark & light,will give it a great flavor if you’re leaving out the meat. And if you’re not being too generous with it, a drop of mushroom soup mix (never fresh or canned or any kind of actual mushrooms) can impart some depth.