How to roast chicken?

I also find that when you butterfly the chicken it roasts more evenly and it browns nicely all over the chicken. I usually trim off all the unwanted hunk of fat, then I brine the butterfly'd chicken in 2 quarts of water with 1/4 cup of table salt. Allow it to brine from 2 to 4 hours. Rinse it thoroughly in cold running water and lay it flat, bones down in a shallow roasting pan on a rack. A 6 pound chicken will roast beautifully at 325 degrees in about 1 hour and 45 mintues. But check with a thermometer to be sure. You can put vegetables or dressing around it. Or, put onions, carrots and celery under it for flavoring. Go to youtube and search for "how to butterfly a chicken" There are some really good videos. All you need is a sharp knife and a pair of kitchen shears.

I like to cook whole chickens spatchcocked (butterflied) in a skillet (or roasting pan, etc) in the oven. It's easy and simple to do, quicker than a whole chicken, and all the meat comes out tender. Various flavorings can be added too, if desired. Here are some instructions and recipes for cooking chickens that way (or just whole pieces of bone-in chicken or turkey), which includes the ways that the backbone can be cut out so the chicken can be "opened" flat, although there are minor differences in temps, containers, flavorings, etc: this first one is an example of the chicken on foil on a baking tray rather than in a skillet, etc...400 F for about 50 min, on roasting tray...no turn http://www.amateurgourmet.com/2010/06/spatchcocked_chicken.html https://www.google.com/images?q=spatchcocked+chicken http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=spatchcock+chicken The Cook's Illustrated version uses a broiler pan with layers of thinly sliced potatoes underneath. .

It sounds like you are taking a chicken from the refrigerator and putting it into the roasting pan before letting it come to room temperature. I would allow the chicken to sit out on the counter at least 30 minutes before roasting it. A roasting rack will help also. And don't heat the roasting pan or skillet too hot in the beginning. Cold chicken placed in a hot skillet will always make the meat stick to the pan. If you use vegetables to make a layer in the pan to roast the chicken on, you will need more veggies than a single onion. Rough chop a few root veggies (onions, potatoes, celery) maybe add a few whole mushrooms, chopped peppers, etc. and place the chicken on top of the veggies. Use as small a roasting pan or skillet as you can. You are right, the chicken will not brown evenly, but that is expected. If you want to, melt a little butter and use that to baste the chicken with... but I never do. Seldom ever baste the chicken. Open a can of chicken broth and gently boil it down to half of what it was and baste with that. Or you could spoon some BBQ sauce over it every 15 minutes, until done.

Generally people cook their chicken breast side up. To avoid the chickens back fat from sticking to the pan, you'd want to use a roasting rack. As far as the chicken cooking unevenly, that'd be an issue with your oven and I am no oven technician.