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A perfectly moist Roasted Chicken with a hint of lemon and herbs!
What to serve with perfectly roasted chicken?
I love roasted chicken with an array of healthy roasted vegetables like the Roasted Spiced Butternut Squash pictured below or even my Roasted Acorn Squash Slices. For a dash more decadence, serve it with Baked Acorn Squash Halves that have a little butter and brown sugar. Or dial it all the way up and serve this moist chicken with maple mashed sweet potatoes and buttermilk biscuits! In the Summer I like to lighten it up with this marinated tomato and stone fruit salad or even a classic heirloom tomato and mozzarella salad.
Once we have eaten all (or most) the meat off the bird, I freeze the chicken carcass with the leg bones to make chicken broth at a later date. This makes more of a dark stock than a lighter one from raw chicken.
I add the leftovers to this Roasted Honey Brussels Sprout Salad, this Warm Lemon Rosemary Roasted Vegetable Salad, any of these easy chicken casserole recipes, or even this Quinoa Roasted Vegetable Chopped Salad. It makes for easy lunches all week!
Roasted Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 4 lb roasting chicken
- ½ lemon
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1 small onion
- ½ teaspoon thyme or sever sprigs of thyme
- 1 sprig tarragon
- 4 tablespoons butter softened (No love will be lost if you use olive oil here)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°. Clean the inside of the chicken and rub with lemon juice, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add onion and herbs to the cavity. Truss chicken and place in roasting pan. A quick search will show you that trussing the chicken simply means tying the legs together on top of the bird. This step is by no means necessary but it does add to the elegance of the finished presentation.
- Rub softened butter over the skin and sprinkle with salt and pepper to finish.
- Bake 20 minutes per pound or until a meat-thermometer reads 180° when inserted into the fleshiest part of the thigh (not touching bone). Mrs. Fillmore says that the chicken is done when the leg moves up and down easily.
- Let the chicken rest 10 minutes to allow the juices to redistribute.
