Roasted Lemon Chicken

Roasted chicken is so easy to make, and this recipe makes such a tender chicken with a lemony taste throughout.  I know I have said it many times before, but lemon makes everything better!  I always have some sitting on my counter.  A lot of recipes for roasted chicken say to place half a lemon in the cavity, but I really like lemon so I put slices of lemon in between the breast meat and the skin, along with some butter of course!  The breast meat was so juicy and delicious, and so was the rest of this chicken.  For the spice rub on the outside I used salt, pepper, paprika, and a bit of cayenne, but you could use any spices you think would go well.  

You can see the lemon slices under the skin.

Roasted Lemon Chicken

2-3 lb whole chicken

2 lemons

2 tbsp butter

Salt

Pepper

2 tsp paprika

2 tsp cayenne

Preheat oven to 400F.  Rinse the chicken inside and out.  Generously sprinkle the cavity with salt and pepper.  Cut one lemon in half and place both halves into the cavity.  Use your fingers to make a pocket in between the skin and the breast meat over both breasts.  This is done by starting at the cavity opening and slowly sliding your finger under the skin so that it doesn't rip.  You want to make pockets big enough for the lemon slices. 

 Insert 1 tbsp of butter into each pocket, massaging it around so that it covers as much area as possible.  Cut the second lemon in half.  From one half take a few slices off and slide them into the pockets, as much as you can fit without tearing the skin.  

Use the rest of the sliced lemon half to squeeze juice over the outside of the chicken.  Rub it around and then sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.  Sprinkle the paprika and cayenne over the bird and rub it all in, covering as much of the skin as possible.

Place the chicken in a roasting pan.  Cut the remaining lemon half into small wedges and tuck them under the chicken.  Roast for 50-65 minutes.  When it is cooked the drumsticks will easily twist off.  

Remove from the oven and let it stand for about 10 minutes before cutting into it.  This is so that the juices can re-distribute throughout the bird resulting in a juicier chicken.

Enjoy!