The aroma of a chicken roasting should be bottled up and sold as the next big fragrance.  It has to be one of the most mouth watering scents.  And this recipe definitely lives up to the hype.  The lemon and sage blend wonderfully with each other and as an added bonus there are hints of onion and garlic mixed in.  Plus, as long as you baste it well, this is a really hard recipe to screw up!

Ingredients:

1 whole roasting chicken (5-6 lbs)
1 yellow onion
2 lemons (reserve one for juice and one for roasting)
6 cloves of garlic
1 packed tablespoon of diced fresh sage
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon avocado oil (you can use a different oil if you don’t have this on hand but make sure not to use olive oil as it has a smoke point of 350 degrees)

Move oven rack to the middle-low position. Preheat oven to 425.

Remove the innards.  Wash chicken in cold water and set into a roasting pan. Mix together the oil, sage, lemon juice (about 2 tablespoons worth), salt, and pepper.

Create an opening in the skin of the chicken and loosen it over the chicken breasts and thighs so that it separates from the meat but doesn’t pull off. This creates a pocket. Rub about 1/2 of the oil/lemon mixture into the pockets you’ve made. Use the remaining half to rub onto the outside of the chicken.

Now cut up the onion, lemon, and garlic. Put about 1/3 of this mixture into the cavity of the chicken and spread the remaining amount around the chicken in the pan. Loosely tie up the chicken legs and it is ready for the oven.

Bake at 425 for about 1.5 hours, basting every 20-30 minutes until your thermometer reaches 185 degrees. (remember to check the temperature by placing the thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh but not touching the bone).  Let cool for about 5 minutes before carving.  I like to serve this with Bacon Brussels Sprouts.  YUM!!!

Note: If the chicken seems to be turning too brown and crispy early on you can tent foil over the chicken or use a lid if you have it.

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