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Perfect Roast Chicken

There are three things you need to learn to cook in order to survive. One good breakfast, lunch and a dinner. A roast chicken is the perfect dinner. It is so easy and easily adaptable.
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Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 2 hours
Course: dinner, lunch, Main Course, Soup
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 1 7-8 lb. Roaster Chicken
  • 1 Lemon half of it sliced and half quartered
  • 3-4 tbsp. Softened butter
  • Salt and Pepper
  • 1 Sprig of Thyme Optional

Equipment

  • 1 roasting pan I have done this on a baking sheet and a large cast iron pan also.

Method
 

  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. Remove the giblets
  3. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Pat dry with a paper towel.
  4. Put the chicken in a heavy duty roaster pan on a rack.
  5. Salt and pepper (I like to use Kosher Salt) inside and out.
  6. Loosen the skin on the breasts and insert some lemon slices under it.
  7. Add the remaining lemon (cut up) into the cavity. You can add a sprig of Thyme here if you want also. Rub the softened butter all over the chicken (Messy but worth it!). Add some water or chicken broth to the bottom of the pan (this helps with broth for soup later on).
  8. Cook for approximately 2 hours until the juices run clear when the leg is cut or pulled on. (Internal temperature should be approximately 165 degrees fahrenheit at breast and 175 at the thigh).
  9. Let the chicken sit for a bit before cutting it and Enjoy!

Notes

Allergy Information: Gluten Free, Egg Free, soy free, nut free, peanut free
This is the basic roast chicken recipe. There are so many ways to change this up once you get the hang of it. There are endless possibilities.