How to Cook a Brisket

Discover how easy it is to cook a brisket with my classic recipe. It only has 5 ingredients and my method uses both a grill and the oven for a juicy and crispy brisket.

The Beauty of a Perfect Brisket

Living in the south often means serving up a brisket for holiday meals. I love it because brisket always goes on sale during the summer holidays. What I really like to do is to buy an extra one or two and cook those a little after the holiday.

What is brisket?

Brisket is a very tough cut of beef. People usually smoke or BBQ brisket.

Since it is one of the least tender cuts of meat, it is often one of the least expensive ones as well.

Don’t let its toughness scare you away. It’s easy to make this meat tender and juicy. You just have to cook it slowly at a low temperature.

What part of the cow is brisket?

It comes from the breast of the cow, near the ribs. It is one of the toughest cuts of meat because it has lots of collagen and muscle tissue.

Cook a Brisket on Both the Grill and Oven

My recipe uses both my grill and the oven. This method makes a perfectly juicy brisket on the inside with a crispy outside. It’s perfectly divine.

While I would love to take credit for creating this method out of a desire to create the perfect brisket, it actually happened because my grill doesn’t work to make it alone.

I would love to completely cook a brisket on my grill, but it tends to cook a little too hot, with its minimum temperatures being greater than 325 degrees. So my solution was to first cook the brisket on the grill to get a nice char on the outside and then move the brisket to the inside and finish it off in the oven.

I must say this worked very well, and I will be using this technique going forward in the future.

Ingredients

Here’s a list of what you need:

• Brisket
• Brown sugar
• Seasoned salt
• Chili powder
• Black pepper
• Onion, optional
• Garlic, optional

Buy a Packer Cut Brisket to Save Money

I purchased a packer cut brisket from the grocery store. These are wrapped in cryo-vac and they are the least expensive cuts you can buy for brisket. On sale, these run under $1.50 a pound, butcher trimmed briskets run quite a bit more.

How to Trim a Brisket

You can trim a packer-cut brisket pretty easily yourself. You want to trim the fat to around 1/4 inch or so on the outside of the brisket. This will mean that you will be trimming off a fair amount of fat from this brisket.

Now when choosing one, I always see if the cryo-vac will bend in half to help determine how tender it is, and that it isn’t completely marbled with fat. Briskets by nature are fatty, but they are also very tasty and tender when cooked on low, and slow.

How to Cook Tender Brisket

Here’s my recipe. There aren’t very many steps, and in the end, you’ll have the most memorable and amazing briskets you have ever tasted.

1. Trim brisket well.
2. Combine the brown sugar, seasoned salt, chili powder, and black pepper to make a dry rub.
3. Coat the brisket with the rub well, and allow it to reach room temperature.
   
4. Heat the grill to around 325 degrees.
5. Place brisket on the grill and cook on each side for approximately 30 minutes.
6. Remove the brisket from the grill.
7. Heat oven to 275 degrees, and wrap the brisket in foil with onions and garlic (if using).
   
8. Place the foil-wrapped brisket in a baking dish and bake for an additional 3 hours.
9. Remove the brisket from the oven and allow to rest for 20 minutes before slicing, chopping, or shredding.

How to Cook a Brisket in the Oven

I charred my brisket on the grill and then let it fully cook in the oven. This gave it a crispy texture on the outside. You can do the searing on the stovetop too and then move it to the oven.

The secret to cooking a brisket in the oven is cooking it for a long time at a low temperature. This will keep the juices in the meat and make it even more tender.

Brisket Temperature

Use a meat thermometer to measure the internal temperature as it cooks. A brisket is fully-cooked when the internal temperature is at least 179°F.

How much brisket per person?

When you are buying a brisket, always try to plan for about half a pound of meat per person. So, if you are cooking for a family of 4, you will want about 2 pounds of brisket.

More Ways to Cook a Brisket

Here are some more of my favorite brisket recipes. You can make it in the Instant Pot pressure cooker too. Check out these ideas:

• Instant Pot Corned Beef Brisket
• Corned Beef in the Oven
• Oven Brisket Liquid Smoke

Favorite Beef Recipes

• Roast in the Oven
• How to Cook Beef Tenderloin
• How to Cook a Ribeye Roast
• Old Fashioned Pressure Cooker Pot Roast
• Stove Top Roast
• Pepperoncini Beef
• Instant Pot Pot Roast with Soup Mix
• Beef Tips and Gravy
• Instant Pot Beef Stew
• Beef Shank

Be sure to check out more beef roast recipes and the best main dish recipes right here on CopyKat.com!