Lemon Roasted Chicken

I ran across this recipe somewhere on the web and thought it looked easy and yummy! Since then, I’ve prepared this for my family three times and it is ALWAYS a hit! I used to roast chicken in the oven with TONS of butter to make it moist and tasty - - this recipe uses NO butter - and uses lemons, instead, for a nice moist chicken - and it gives it a great flavor, too!

I prepared this once using oranges, instead of lemons - which gave it a really interesting and delicious taste, too.

Preheat oven to 400.

I use an 8lb chicken. (because I have a teenage son, so you can take away an automatic 2lbs right there!) My rule of thumb for baking chicken? 20 minutes per pound - then add another 20 minutes. but I always check the thermometer before calling it done. (checking the breast area of a whole chicken with a meat thermometer - - it’s done when it reaches 175).

Remove the innards completely and wash the chicken inside and out. Let sit in a collander in the sink for about 15 minutes until the bird reaches room temp. Pat it dry.

I use about a cup (or more) of lemon juice. Pour it all over the chicken - inside and out. Then take 3-4 whole lemons.. prick each one 3-4 times with a fork and shove those lemons right up the birds ass. I season with ground sea salt and fresh ground pepper. (you can use garlic juice in with the lemon juice too, if you’re a garlic lover like me!)

Reduce the temp of the oven to 350 and put the bird in a roasting pan. Put it in the oven, breast side down, for an hour. Then flip the bird breast side up and cook for the remaining time until done.

I served the chicken with steamed asparagus and a side of brown rice.

Preparing 8lbs of chicken gave us a LOT of leftover chicken, which we saved and used for whole wheat chicken wraps and whole wheat chicken quasadillas (made with non-fat cheese) for lunches over the next few days.

The approximate nutritional information for this meal, from information contained in the Calorie King Database for the dinner based on 6 oz chicken breast meat, 8 spears asparagus and 1 cup brown rice is:

Calories: 419
Fat: 6.9g
Carbs: 27.9
Fiber: 4.2g
Protein: 58.1g