When it comes to BBQ, beef brisket is king! What barbecue aficionados won’t tell you is that making an amazing fork-tender oven-baked brisket with a flavorful, crunchy bark is easier than you think. No smoker or grill is necessary.
I love barbecue, and for years, I was afraid of making pulled pork, baby back ribs, and beef brisket in my oven. I just didn’t think they would be any good. Well, let me tell you. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Those cuts of meat come out perfectly in the oven.
But at the suggestion of a grill master friend, I learned the secrets of dry brining and slow-roasting meats in my oven. Of course, if you prefer, you can use a smoker. Try my smoked beef brisket recipe.
You can also use a slow cooker with my Slow Cooker Beef Brisket Recipe.
I love a good beef brisket sandwich, and one of the places I frequent for barbecue makes a delicious combination by adding coleslaw and onion rings to chopped brisket. It’s covered in BBQ sauce and served on a toasted brioche bun. Can you say heaven on a plate?
Ingredients
Gather the ingredients to prepare our baked beef brisket recipe. Culinary professionals call this the “Mise en Place,” which means “everything in its Place.”
Setting up your ingredients not only helps speed up the cooking process but also ensures you have all the necessary ingredients on hand to make the recipe.
What are the different cuts of Beef Brisket?
Beef brisket is available in three different cuts. A full-packer brisket is a whole brisket that includes both the point and flat sections. It weighs 8 to 12 pounds.
The point cut is the fatty part of the brisket, also known as the deckle or second cut. The flat cut is the leaner cut of the brisket, also known as the first cut.
Whether you use the whole brisket, a flat, or the point, this recipe will still yield a moist, tender, OMG flavorful oven baked brisket.
*For my oven-roasted beef brisket recipe, either the flat or the point will work. Most grocery stores will carry the flat.
How to Make Oven-Baked Brisket
Follow along with my simple step-by-step instructions to learn how to make oven-baked brisket in your home kitchen.
The first step is preparing the beef brisket rub. This will act as a brine, adding flavor and helping to keep it moist.
*My spices include onion powder, garlic powder, brown sugar, chili powder, sea salt, cracked black pepper, and a few others. Feel free to adjust the seasonings to your taste.
Start by trimming the brisket of any silver skin, and if needed, removing most of the fat cap from the top of the meat. Hard fat does not render!
- Pat the meat dry with paper towels and coat it with the brisket rub, massaging the dry rub into the meat, making sure to coat the sides of the brisket.
- Wrap the dry-rubbed brisket tightly with foil and refrigerate overnight. *The beef brisket rub must penetrate the beef for at least 3 hours.
- Take the dry-rubbed brisket out of the refrigerator an hour before cooking, allowing it to come to room temperature.
- Preheat the oven to 275°F.
- Insert an oven-safe meat thermometer into the thickest part of the beef. The fat side should be up during the roasting process.
- Slow Roast in the oven until the internal temperature reaches 175 degrees F.
- Remove the brisket from the oven, and carefully cut the foil open to expose it. Continue roasting until the internal temperature reaches 195-205 degrees F.
Chef Dennis Tip:
Do not be tempted to raise the temperature for faster cooking time, or your brisket will be very tough. Slow oven roasting using a low temperature allows the fats to break down gradually, tenderizing the beef while keeping it juicy.
How do I slice oven-baked brisket?
Place the beef brisket on a cutting board and let it rest for an hour before slicing. Slices should be pencil-width thick.
Allowing the beef to rest gives the juices time to redistribute throughout the meat. If sliced right off the grill, the meat would lose moisture.
After the brisket has rested, the next step is finding the grain. The direction of the cut is key to having tender, fall-apart slices of brisket.
You want to slice against the grain. The grain of any meat is the alignment of the muscle fibers. When you cut with the grain, the muscle fibers remain somewhat intact and result in meat that is tough and difficult to chew. When you cut against the grain, you break up the muscle fibers evenly so that the meat becomes much more tender and easy to chew.
Chef Dennis Tip:
Before cooking, find the grain and slice a corner of the flat. This will make it easier to find the direction of the grain when the brisket is done and ready to be sliced.
How can I use leftover baked beef brisket?
You’ll often find chopped brisket in tacos, sandwiches, and chili. Other delicious uses for leftover brisket are brisket hash, soups, stews, quesadillas, pizza toppings, and brisket and beans, to name a few.
Wouldn’t your friends and family love to sit down to this tender, delicious baked beef brisket?
Why not surprise them and let them think you’re the new grill master in the family? I won’t tell them you made it in the oven!
Storing and Reheating
Any leftovers should be stored refrigerated in an airtight container or well covered in plastic wrap for 3-4 days.
To reheat, preheat your oven to 325°F. Place the brisket in a baking pan. Pour about one cup of beef broth over the brisket. Then cover tightly with aluminum foil, creating a double layer.
Place the pan in the oven and reheat for about 45 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 165°F. Let the meat rest for 10-15 minutes before slicing.
Recipe FAQ’s
If you rub the brisket with the spice mixture and immediately place it in the oven, it’s just a rub. It will flavor the exterior of the meat, and the spices will penetrate a little way into the beef.
But if you rub the seasonings into the brisket and let it sit overnight before roasting, this would be considered a brisket dry brine. The salt and other seasonings will have time to truly work their way into the center of the beef, giving you a more flavorful piece of meat.
Brisket is a tougher cut of meat, which means it needs to be slow-roasted to a higher internal temperature before the fats start to break down and tenderize the meat. The magic starts to happen at 195 degrees and can continue to cook until 205 degrees.
A good rule of thumb is to cook the brisket for 60 minutes per pound at 275 degrees F. Of course, this all depends on your oven. Make sure to give yourself extra time just in case it hasn’t reached the optimal internal temperature range of 195 -205 degrees F.
To get a fork-tender brisket, the maximum cooking temperature is 300 degrees F. Any hotter will produce a tough brisket. Brisket needs a slow roast, and the sweet spot for roasting is 250-275 degrees F.
More Recipes You’ll Love!
Dry Rub Oven Baked Brisket
Ingredients
- 5 lb beef brisket
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoon coarse sea salt kosher salt can be substituted. *If you use table salt cut it down to 1 tbsp.
- 1 tablespoon cracked black pepper more if you like black pepper as much as I do.
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika or sweet paprika
- 1 teaspoon dried mustard
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
Instructions
- Mix dry rub ingredients. (This recipe for dry rub will cover a 5 lb brisket.)
- Remove the brisket from the package and trim away any silver skin or excess fat.
- Coat the entire brisket with the dry rub and massage the dry rub into the meat. Make sure to coat the sides of the brisket.
- Wrap the dry-rubbed brisket tightly with non-stick aluminum foil and refrigerate overnight. Completely wrap it as a package in one direction then go across the other direction sealing the foil.*A minimum of 3 hours is needed for the dry rub to penetrate the brisket.
- Take the brisket out of the refrigerator an hour before cooking it, allow the brisket to get to room temperature before cooking.
- Preheat the oven to 275° F
- Insert an oven-safe meat thermometer into the thickest part of the brisket
- Place the foil-wrapped brisket on a baking pan (if you have a rack place it on the baking pan and place the brisket on the rack which is on top of the pan).
- Place the baking pan on the center rack of the preheated oven and slow roast the brisket until the internal temperature reaches 175 degrees F.
- Remove the brisket from the oven and carefully cut the foil open to expose the brisket, and continue roasting until the internal temperature reaches 195-205 degrees F.*Depending on your oven and where you inserted the meat thermometer, this process may take 5-6 hours.
- Do not be tempted to raise the temperature for faster cooking time, or your brisket will be very tough. Slow oven roasting allows the fats to break down gradually, tenderizing the beef, so it has a stretching juicy quality in the end.
- Remove the brisket from the oven and place it on a cutting board. Tent the brisket with a sheet of foil, and let it rest for one hour so the juices redistribute evenly throughout the brisket.
- When cutting the brisket make sure to go against the grain. Slice the brisket in pencil width slices. *See Notes
JudyVo says
Very easy recipe! If I cook it with the plan to serve the following day, how would you suggest I reheat it? Also, should I slice it the next day while cold before reheating?
Thank you
Resubmitting since I didn’t notice recipe rating on first submission.
Chef Dennis Littley says
To reheat Preheat your oven to 325°F.
Place your brisket in a pan or dish.
Pour about one cup of beef broth over the brisket.
Cover the brisket tightly with aluminum foil, creating a double layer.
Place the brisket in the oven and reheat for about 45 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 165°F.
Let the meat rest for 10-15 minutes before slicing.
Bill Campbell says
Wow! I made this and followed Chef Dennis’ recipe exactly (which I rarely do). OMG. Perfect. Tender. Delicious. I roasted the entire brisket for a party we hosted. About 36 people. It was the absolute hit of the buffet table. Thanks, chef!
Chef Dennis Littley says
You made my day with your comment! I’m thrilled to hear that the brisket was the hit of your buffet table! I’ve got a great baby back ribs and pulled pork recipes if you love bbq.
Courtney says
I apologize if this has been asked before but is the brown sugar essential to this recipe?
Chef Dennis Littley says
No, its not essential. It does add flavor, sugar like salt is a flavor enhancer, but the recipe will work fine without the sugar.
Vadim Kats says
Hi are we suppose to add any liquid to the receipe?
Chef Dennis Littley says
No, if it needed liquid it would be in the recipe.
Pa says
Dennis, If you are to rest the brisket for one hour after cooking, won’t the carryover cooking take the temp too high making for a dry brisket?
Chef Dennis Littley says
The temperature of the brisket will only increase 7-10 degrees after removing it from the oven, that won’t make it dry.
Clive says
I added 2 tablespoons of ground coffee to the recipe. In the UK the brisket comes rolled and tied up. I rubbed it all around and kept it overnight in the fridge and roasted it the next day. Turned out really awesome! Thanks!
Chef Dennis Littley says
Thanks for letting me know the brisket turned out well. Coffee does wonders for meat, I’ve used it on pork and chicken before when grilling.
Rebecca L Thering says
Chef Dennis! This recipe was great! My boyfriend and I baked this today and followed the recipe to a T. We purchased a large brisket from Costco and divided it into smaller portions, so we had two pieces. The bark turned out perfect and the flavor was outstanding! Thank you for sharing and looking forward to trying more of your recipes.
Chef Dennis Littley says
You’re very welcome and I’m happy to hear you enjoyed the brisket!
Dennis says
I made this recipe for Christmas however I didn’t include time for the stall. We had a small 6lb brisket thinking 6 hrs was enough time but it actually took about 8-9 hrs cause the stall. Dinner was a little late but we still all had plenty of snacks and wine. My son made AuGraten potatoes and parm asparagus. Was a late dinner but much enjoyed! Thank you!
Chef Dennis Littley says
I hate when you get that stall in the cooking process. It doesn’t happen all the time, so you’re never really prepared for it. I’m sorry that it delayed your dinner, but I’m glad you enjoyed the brisket.
Janet P says
Hi Chef Dennis–We are giving your recipe a try for our dinner tomorrow night. We just prepped it with the dry seasoning and it’s in the fridge till the morning. We bought a 9.6 lb whole brisket and trimmed off 2+ lbs of fat, so I’m calling it 7 lbs. After all the trimming the thickest part is maybe just 2-3″ thick at most! We don’t want to cook it too fast, so we thought we could reduce the temp to 250…could even go down to 225. We have plenty of time for additional time for it to get tender. What do you think?
Chef Dennis Littley says
You can definitely cook it at 250 or 225 as long as you don’t mind waiting for it to finish. Low and slow is the rule, but most people don’t want to invest that much time in cooking a brisket.
Jayme says
New to brisket, so I apologize for the stupid question. If you let it sit for an hour, even tented, won’t it be cool by the time you slice and serve? How would you heat it back up without drying it out? Thanks!
Chef Dennis Littley says
Not a stupid question at all. The object of the wait is to let all the juices return to the meat. You don’t need to serve it piping hot, warm for brisket is acceptable, but if you want it warmer, I would add some broth or apple juice to the bottom of the pan, cover with foil and reheat at 300 degrees for about 15 minutes.
Toni says
I have a HUGE brisket point. It weighs 9.1 kilos which is approximately 19 pounds! Would you recommend using your recipe for this?
Chef Dennis Littley says
That is a huge brisket. You can use the recipe, just plan on it taking. anywhere from 12- 15 hours to cook.
TONI JEFFREY says
Would you recommend cutting it in half?
Chef Dennis Littley says
You could definitely cut it in half, that would save you some time in the oven.
Heather says
Can I cook it in stages? One day do the low heat and then the next day the higher temp?
Chef Dennis Littley says
You can but the end results will not be the same. Once the meat completely cools, getting it back up to 195 degrees is going to take awhile and the brisket is going to dry out. I would rather have you cook it completely, then reheat it.
Debra Shelton says
Absolutely delicious! Got raves from the family and neighbors.
Chef Dennis Littley says
Thats what I like to hear!! Thanks for taking the time to let me know everyone enjoyed the brisket!
Sunni says
The discussion before the actual recipe mentions chili powder. The written recipe has no chili powder. How much if any should be added to the dry rub ?
Chef Dennis Littley says
Thanks for catching that, I was doing some work on that post and accidently put paprika in twice, one of them should have been the chili powder. I have corrected the recipe.
Margaret says
Please Help! We are first time brisket cookers. Do we cut the brisket in two, separating the flat end and the thicker end, then cooking separately so we don’t over or under cook either piece?
Chef Dennis Littley says
You definitely want to separate the two cuts before roasting. They will not take the same amount of time to cook, so you want to make sure to use a meat thermometer in each piece.