Recipe: Lemon Roast Chicken and Parsley

This is a recipe that I learned years ago when I first started living on my own and have been roasting chicken like this ever since. I saw Chef Jeff Smith make a roast chicken on TV when he used to have his show on PBS and I adapted his simple recipe to give it more flavor. Whole chicken is often on sale for 79¢ to 89¢ a pound.

Ingredients

• 1 three to four pound chicken
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup olive oil (I use extra virgin for more flavor)
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon ground thyme
• 1 bunch fresh parsley

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F
2. Rinse the chicken inside and out with water and pat dry with paper towels.
3. Rub the chicken inside and out with salt and pepper.
4. In a small bowl, make a dressing with the olive oil, lemon juice, and ground thyme.
5. Rub the chicken inside and out with the dressing.
6. Stuff the chicken loosely with the parsley and bake uncovered in a roasting pan for about 1 1/4 hours.

Note: Originally the recipe did not mention if the lemon juice was from a bottle or not but if you are using juice from a large fresh lemon, go ahead and stuff the chicken with the juiced lemon halves as well to give more flavor.

My tip: It's easier to make the dressing in a glass measuring cup so that you can see the measurements and have one less bowl to clean.

The resulting juices at the bottom of the pan make a delicious gravy.

Cooking hint: Pour the salt and pepper into a small bowl and mix together well and use it to season the chicken. This way you have less of a risk of getting chicken juices all over the place, cross contamination, and makes seasoning food fast and easy.