Lemon and chicken are a common combination, but our recipe for Mother’s Lemon-Baked Chicken has a secret ingredient—cinnamon! Try baking this with the lemon halves inside the cavity, and even sprinkle another quarter teaspoon cinnamon inside, too.
Preheat oven to 325°F.
Pat chicken dry and place in a roasting pan.
In a bowl, combine lemon juice and butter. (After squeezing juice out of lemons, place in chicken cavity.) Baste chicken with a few tablespoons of lemon-butter mixture.
In a separate bowl, combine salt and cinnamon. Sprinkle over chicken and inside the cavity. Bake for 1 hour and 45 minutes, continuing to baste with remaining lemon-butter mixture every half hour until mixture is gone. Chicken is done when internal temperature reaches 165°F on a meat thermometer.
