Easy Roast Chicken

Steps to prepare the chicken (I like to do this the night before, however it can also be done the morning of):

Slice the purple onion into chunks, and place in a small bowl. Pour the lemon juice over the onion, and set aside.

Remove the chicken from the plastic packaging.

Remove the gizzards from the inside of the chicken. With cold water, rinse off the chicken. Place the rinsed chicken onto a large cutting board. Pat the chicken dry with a paper towel.

Pour 1/2 of the total amount of olive oil that you are going to need (so in my case it was around 3.5 Tablespoons) into a small bowl and add 1/2 of the listed amount of the dried herbs. Mix the herbs and the oil well.

Massage the oil and herbs into the chicken. Make sure to get under the skin, and in the cavity of the chicken as well. Flip the chicken over and repeat the seasoning process using the other half of the oil and dried herbs.

Put the garlic and the onion and lemon juice mixture into the cavity of your chicken.

Place the seasoned chicken into a deep bowl (I used the bowl of my stand mixer) and cover with either a lid or plastic wrap.

Put the covered chicken into the fridge until it is ready to cook.

Steps for roasting:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

While the oven is preheating, truss your chicken. I know trussing sounds like a intimidating process, however simply put to truss means to tie with string in preparation for cooking. Tie the legs together with cooking twine. Place the chicken in a roasting pan with legs up and place pan in the pre-heated oven. Add a sprinkling of salt to taste.

Cook your chicken for 20 minutes per pound, then cook for an additional 10 minutes.

Insert a meat thermometer into the meaty part of the thigh. When the thermometer reads 165 degrees F, the chicken is done.

Cover the pan with aluminum foil and allow the chicken to rest for 15 minutes. Allowing the chicken to rest will re-distribute the juices. If you cut into the chicken before it is allowed to rest, the juices will run out of the chicken.

After the chicken has rested, carve it using a sharp knife. The chicken should be very tender, and practically fall off the bone. Be sure to remove the string that you used to truss the chicken before carving.