Lemon-Pepper Roast Chicken

Stuffed with vegetables and lemon slices and coated in a savory dry rub, this easy lemon-pepper roast chicken makes enough to feed a crowd or a hungry family.

• Preparation Time: 20 mins
• Cooking Time: 2 hr 30 mins
• Total Time: 2 hr 50 mins
• Calories: 267 Calories

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled
• 2 stalks celery, roughly chopped
• 3 lemons
• 3 tablespoons garlic salt
• 4 tablespoons lemon-pepper seasoning
• 2 (3 1/2) pound frozen whole chickens - thawed, rinsed, and dried
• 6 large green onions, green parts only, chopped
• cooking string

Recipe Instructions

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Step 2

Combine lemon-pepper, garlic salt, black pepper, thyme, and salt in a bowl. Set aside. Slice 2 lemons into rounds for stuffing; reserve 1 for juice.

Step 3

Place both chickens in a roasting pan, not touching. Squeeze 1 lemon over both chickens, making sure juice coats evenly. Split sliced lemons, celery, green onions, and garlic in half and stuff each chicken. Use cooking string to tie legs together, making sure legs are facing up. Pat dry rub all over chickens.

Step 4

Bake, uncovered, in the preheated oven for 1 hour. Rotate the pan and baste chicken with juices. Continue to bake, basting often, for 50 minutes. Increase oven temperature to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) and continue to baste and bake until juices run clear and chickens are no longer pink in the centers, about 40 minutes more. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh, near the bone, should read 165 degrees F (74 degrees C).