Little Mama's “Just Like Sunday” Roast Chicken

This has got to be one of the easiest roasted chicken recipes out there, but seriously, you look like a superstar when you serve this dish! Once you have a 4-5 pound whole chicken (don't even think about taking that delicious skin off!), you only need a few more ingredients:

2 tbsps butter (use the real stuff if you've got it)

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp Lawrys Seasoning Salt

1 tsp garlic salt

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp pepper

Take care of gathering and mixing your seasonings and slicing your butter before you even touch the chicken -- it will save washing your hands 7 extra times. Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees, then slice up the butter. In a little bowl, mix salt, Lawrys seasoning salt, garlic salt, onion powder, and pepper. Set this aside for the moment.

Prep your chicken by relieving him of his innards -- the little packet system seems to have gone by the wayside, so just reach in there and pull out what you can. Or pick him up and shake gently -- your choice. Once you've accomplished that bit of nastiness, place your chicken (legs up) in a roasting pan. Separate the skin from the breast just enough to slide a few pats of butter between the meat and the skin. Drop a few more pats into the the now empty inside of the chicken. Any remaining pats can be wedged between each wing and the body, and between each leg and the body.

Sprinkle a bit of the seasoning mix into the chicken, then rub rest all over your bird. The majority of the mix should be outside, not in. Once he's all seasoned up, cover him with foil. I usually forget this step and have to take my chicken back out of the oven once I remember (and I usually remember when the skin starts to cook too quickly!), so maybe try setting the foil out before you get started...

Once he's covered, place your roasting pan in the 400 degree oven, and leave him alone for one hour. Once an hour has passed, uncover, and bake another 30-60 minutes. This is a pretty wide range in time, so keep an eye on him. When he's ready, the skin should be nice and brown and crispy, and you should be able to wiggle the leg easily.

This dish tastes most like dinner at my mom's house when I serve it with some kind of fancy rice. You can pre-make the rice and stuff the bird, but be warned -- that can add another 15-45 minutes in the oven. Before doing this, you must ask yourself “how hungry am I?” If you don't want to add the extra time, just make some fancy rice on the stovetop and serve on the side -- it will still taste like dinner at my mom's house!