This 4-Ingredient Twist on a Favorite Pot Roast Is a Weeknight Staple

Pinterest's most popular recipe is as easy as it is delicious.

One of the best parts of falling in love with a popular recipe is watching how it adapts and changes as more people make it. And in the case of the Mississippi Pot Roast—the simple roast beef with pepperoncini that went viral around 2014 and has been pinned on Pinterest millions of times—the new-and-improved version uses a home cook staple: boneless skinless chicken breasts.

What Is Mississippi Chicken and How Do You Make It?

But what is Mississippi Chicken, and how does it differ from the original roast with the most? This four-ingredient recipe uses everything that the roast beef version does—a packet of dry ranch dressing mix, jarred pepperoncini peppers and their brine, and unsalted butter—but cooks much faster. Whereas the chuck roast takes 8 hours in a slow cooker, the chicken breasts are smaller and leaner and can be cooked in the oven at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour and 15 minutes until fall-apart-tender, shreddable, and packed with flavor. (You can also do it in a slow cooker, on Low for 6 hours or High for 4 hours.)

Robin Chapman, the creator of the original Mississippi Roast, told the New York Times in 2016 that the inspiration for the roast came from wanting a “milder” version than her aunt made (with Italian dressing mix). So, conversely, if you want a zippier, zestier version, you could use an Italian dressing mixture or another dry seasoning packet of your choice to experiment with a chicken or beef dish that shreds apart into a juicy, delightful feast that can be piled into a soft roll, served over mashed potatoes or rice, made into tacos or quesadillas, or used as a salad topper.

However you slice it—well, shred it—this is a go-to, easy recipe for meal prep, feeding a hungry family, or entertaining. And if you make it now, you may beat the crowds to the trend! Mississippi Chicken only has 29,500,000 Google results as compared to the original Mississippi Roast’s 72,900,000. So you’re ahead of the slow-cooker curve.

Get the Recipe: Mississippi Chicken