Roasted Lemon Pepper Chicken

Roasted chicken is something I love but have never been able to do very well. I always guess if the chicken is done and always under cook or over cook. I finally shelled out the $4 it cost for a meat thermometer and I don't think I can ever go back to cooking regular chicken breast without being disappointed. Hmmm, another challenge.  I placed the chicken on the top rack and the baked buttered carrots on the bottom rack.

Here is the chicken I bought. It was about 6 lbs. I rinsed it in the sink and then dried it with a paper towel. No guts or gizzards. Pretty clean. Then I slathered the chicken with cool butter -about 6 Tbl. Don't use oil. Why? Have you ever seen Julie and Julia?? Butter is better! I used my hands and got up under the skin.

Then I drenched the chicken in McCormicks Lemon Pepper.

Then, using regular string from my sewing kit, I wrapped the birds legs. Fold the wings under the bird. Really put some muscle into it and you can get them to fold.

Place in roasting pan breast side up!

Place pan in the oven at 375 for about 90 minutes. Baste the bird about 3 times throughout the 90 minutes. The first basting the bird didn't have any juices so I used chicken broth. I actually basted this one every 20 minutes. Then I ended up having to cook it for 2 hours because I kept letting the heat out.

The bird is done when the internal temp reaches 165 to 175.

Let the bird sit for 20 minutes while you make the gravy. I didn't end up with enough drippings for gravy. The problem is my roasting pan was way to large for my small bird. The drippings just evaporated.