Lemon-Pepper Roast Chicken

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Ingredients

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

Steps

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