Lemon-Pepper Roast Chicken

This easy lemon-pepper roast chicken recipe stuffs a chicken with vegetables and lemon slices and coats it in a savory dry rub with garlic salt and thyme.

• 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 lemon for juice.

Step 3

Place 2 chickens in a roasting pan, not touching. Evenly squeeze 1 lemon over both chickens to coat. Divide sliced lemons, green onions, celery, and garlic in half; stuff into each chicken cavity. Tie legs together using cooking string, making sure legs are facing up. Pat spice rub all over chickens.

Step 4

Bake, uncovered, in the preheated oven for 1 hour. Rotate the pan; baste chicken with juices. Continue to bake, basting often, 50 minutes more. Increase oven temperature to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C); continue to baste and bake until juices run clear and chickens are no longer pink in centers, about 40 minutes more. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh, near but not touching the bone, should read 165 degrees F (74 degrees C).