Cooking Beef Brisket with barbecue sauce doesn’t have to be difficult and you don’t need a grill or smoker. Making a delicious brisket with homemade bbq sauce takes about 15 minutes of prep, and then your slow cooker does the rest.
My slow cooker recipe for beef brisket is one of my favorites because it’s a delicious and easy recipe. And seriously, who doesn’t love bbq beef brisket?
I’ve also got an ah-mazing Oven Baked Beef Brisket if you’re looking for another way to cook up this delicious cut of beef.
Ingredients for Slow Cooker Beef Brisket
Let’s start by gathering the ingredients we need to make Slow Cooker Barbecue Beef Brisket. In Chef Speak, this is called the “Mise en Place,” which translates to “Everything in its Place.”
Not only does setting up your ingredients ahead of time speed up the cooking process, it also helps ensure you have everything you need to make the dish.
Beef Brisket is a tough cut of meat with a lot of connective tissue. But hours of slow cooking will make the beef amazingly tender.
If you are not a fan of brisket, you can make this recipe with a chuck roast or short ribs.
How to make Dry Rub
- Add the spices for the dry rub into a small bowl.
- Mix the seasonings together until well blended.
Dry Rub Ingredients
- brown sugar
- sweet paprika
- onion powder
- garlic powder
- dried oregano
- dry mustard
- ground cumin
- salt
- black pepper
Rub the seasoning blend into the brisket. Allow the brisket to sit refrigerated with the spice rub applied for at least an hour before cooking.
If you have time, apply the dry rub to the brisket the day before. This will let the seasonings penetrate the brisket, making a more flavorful brisket. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap or in an airtight container while refrigerated.
How to make slow cooker beef brisket
- Combine the ingredients for the barbecue sauce in the slow cooker.
- Mix the ingredients together until well blended.
- Place the brisket on top of the barbecue sauce.
- Cook the brisket for 8 hours on the low setting.
*You can cook the brisket on the higher setting, which will cut the cooking time down, but the brisket will be better if allowed to cook low and slow.
Barbecue Sauce Ingredients
- garlic
- apple cider vinegar
- ketchup
- brown sugar
- onion powder
- chili powder
- black pepper
- dry mustard
- Worcestershire sauce
- Pour the liquid from the slow cooker into a small saucepan.
- Bring the barbecue sauce to a simmer over medium-high heat and allow the sauce to reduce until it thickens to a syrup consistency.
The sauce will continue to thicken as it cools down. If it’s too thick, add a little water to the sauce.
- Line a baking dish with aluminum foil and brush a light coat of olive oil on the brisket.
- Place the brisket into a 400-degree preheated oven for 15 minutes until the brisket begins to brown.
- Remove the brisket from the oven and slather the brisket with barbecue sauce. Return the brisket to the oven for 5 minutes. Then remove the brisket and brush more barbecue sauce onto the roast.
- Place the brisket back into the oven and continue to roast for 5 – 10 minutes until the barbecue sauce begins to caramelize.
Remove the brisket from the oven. Tent the brisket with foil and allow it to cool down for 15 minutes before slicing.
Slice the brisket into pencil width slices and serve with additional barbecue sauce.
Serve the brisket on a brioche bun for a delicious sandwich or served as slices with your favorite side dishes. If you have any leftover brisket, it will make some fantastic tacos.
I promise you’re going to love my slow cooker beef brisket recipe. Not just because it’s easy, but because it’s so damn delicious!
Recipe FAQ’s
You certainly can. You would have to let it cook a lot longer than recommended, but this is why I use the low setting rather than the high setting. This allows for optimum slow cooking to render your meat juicy and tender.
Cooking brisket in the slow cooker does require some liquid for the braising process. It can be barbecue sauce, beer, wine, beef broth or any combination of those liquids.
The only reason to flip the brisket during the cooking process would be to have the beef coasted with the cooking liquids.
More Delicious Slow-Cooker Recipes
Slow Cooker BBQ Beef Brisket
Equipment
- slow cooker
Ingredients
Brisket
- 4 lb beef brisket weight will vary and can be 3-5 pounds
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Dry Rub
- 1 tbsp light brown sugar packed
- 2 tsp sweet paprika smoked paprika can be used for a smokier flavor.
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dry mustard
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
Barbecue Sauce
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 ½ cups ketchup
- ½ cup light brown sugar packed
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 2 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp dry mustard
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Instructions
Dry Rub
- Add the spices for the dry rub into a small bowl.
- Mix the seasonings together until well blended.
Brisket
- Rub the seasoning blend into the brisket. Allow the brisket to sit for at least an hour.If you have time, apply the dry rub to the brisket the day before. This will let the seasonings penetrate the brisket.
Barbecue Sauce
- Combine the ingredients for the barbecue sauce in the slow cooker. Mix the ingredients together until well blended.
- Place the brisket on top of the barbecue sauce.
- Cook the brisket for 8 hours on the low setting. You can cook the brisket on the higher setting, which will cut the cooking time down, but the brisket will be better if allowed to cook low and slow.
- Remove the brisket from the cooker and place on a tray or cutting board.
- Pour the liquid from the slow cooker into a small saucepan.
- Bring the barbecue sauce to a simmer over medium-high heat and allow the sauce to reduce until it thickens to a syrup consistency.The sauce will continue to thicken as it cools down. If it's too thick, add a little water to the sauce.
- Brush or drizzle a light coat of olive oil on the brisket.
- Place the brisket into a 400-degree preheated oven for 15 minutes until the brisket begins to brown.
- Remove the brisket from the oven and slather the brisket with barbecue sauce.
- Return the brisket to the oven for 5 minutes. Then remove the brisket and brush more barbecue sauce onto the roast.
- Place the brisket back into the oven and continue to roast for 5 – 10 minutes until the barbecue sauce begins to caramelize.
- Remove the brisket from the oven. Tent the brisket with foil and allow it to cool down for 15 minutes before slicing.
- Slice the brisket into pencil width slices and serve with additional barbeuce sauce.
Sheri P Twiggs
Two things confused me. 1) is the fat trimmed before cooking and 2) which side is placed up. I didn’t trim the fat and placed the brisket fat side down when cooking. This resulted in a tender , seasoned, moistened brisket. However the BBQ sauce wa very fatty resulting in a necessary fat removal in the sauce reduction step. Overall a great recipe with a minimum of interpretation necessary.
Chef Dennis Littley
The fat side should always be up on any piece of meat when you cook it so the fat drips through the meat, tenderizing and adding flavor. As for trimming the fat, that is a personal decision based on your dietary needs. I generally only trim excess fat or excessive fat. About a half inch to three-quarters of an inch is enough fat for cooking.
You’ll find that one part of the brisket has a lot more fat, so depending upon what section you bought, it could have a lot more fat on it.
The reason the bbq sauce was so fatty, was the cookoff from the brisket. I do remove some of the excess grease on top, you want to leave some to mix into the sauce, but too much is not a good thing.
Moop Brown
I appreciated how straightforward and easy to understand this recipe is. I’m also a big BBQ fan and I have to say this brisket was incredible!
Ashley
Ooh I’ve never thought of making a brisket in a slow cooker! Such a great idea! This looks amazing.
Natalia
This is the only recipe I use for Beef Brisket. I did not used chili powder, but the other seasonings add just the right amount of flavor! Thank you for a wonderful recipe!
Jamie
Wow! This beef recipe is a masterpiece, it was absolutely delicious! Also, I love food that cooks slowly as it gets the best taste out of it!
Ksenia
Very well seasoned and the texture was great! I am excited about leftovers
Nicole
Chef Dennis, your beef recipes never disappoint! I absolutely love that this brisket is made in the slow cooker. Makes it great for winter when I can’t get to the bbq, and also great for potlucks!
Marie B
This brisket was delicious, and I love all the different meals I can make out of it. Thanks for sharing!
Claire
My brisket couldn’t have come out better, my family loved it!
Mikayla
My family absolutely loved this, my toddler was licking his fingers and asking for more!
Gloria
I love a great brisket on the bbq, but that is not always possible. Cooking it in the slow cooker was the next best thing. It was actually much easier and the results were delicious.
Captain O
enjoying your recipes and the simple to follow cooking and serving instructions… beef brisket tomorrow – GO BIG BLUE !!