Juicy Roasted Chicken

Are you looking for a quick recipe for a whole roasted chicken? Look no further...I found this recipe on allrecipes.com, and the funny thing is, I almost passed it up because the ingredients looked so simple. But it was rated 4.5 stars, and I happened to catch a quick glance at the first review, which said, "OK - if you are like me, you will look at the ingredients and instructions for this receipe and say to yourself "Jeez people, what is the big deal?" Well- don't do it. I chose this receipe simply because I had a whole chicken, not a lot of time, and needed to cook it. I have NO idea why the combination of these ingredients or this cooking method (I followed it EXACTLY as written, but used real butter) yields such a wonderfully TASTY bird...but it does! If you don't try this, you're missing out. If you do try this, I venture to say that, you will be very pleasantly surprised!"

I almost laughed myself to death, because that is exactly what I did! The recipe does call for margarine, but seeing as I don't put plastic (or things that are so close to plastic that it's only 1 molecule difference), I used real butter. Yes, that's a lot of butter, but oh my goodness, it's good! Try this one out. Delicious.

Juicy Roasted Chicken
Ingredients:
1 (3 pound) whole chicken, giblets removed
salt and black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon onion powder, or to taste
1/2 cup butter, divided
1 stalk celery, leaves removed

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Place chicken in a roasting pan, and season generously inside and out with salt and pepper. Sprinkle inside and out with onion powder. Place 3 tablespoons butter in the chicken cavity. Arrange dollops of the remaining butter around the chicken's exterior. Cut the celery into 3 or 4 pieces, and place in the chicken cavity.

3. Bake uncovered 1 hour and 15 minutes in the preheated oven, to a minimum internal temperature of 180 degrees F. Remove from heat, and baste with melted butter and drippings. Cover with aluminum foil, and allow to rest about 30 minutes before serving.

**My bird was actually 4.5 lbs...make sure that you are testing the thigh for a temp of around 180 degrees before taking this bird out of the oven, and don't worry about it being dry. This was a SUPER moist chicken. Simple and yummy.