Easy Smoked Beef Brisket Recipe

Sliced smoked beef brisket on a white platter.

5 from 33 votes

Easy Smoked Beef Brisket Recipe

My Smoked Beef Brisket cooked low and slow yields a delicious, tender, moist perfectly seasoned brisket that almosts melts in your mouth

Prep Time20

Cook Time18

Resting Time1

Total Time19 20

Course: Entree, sandwich

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 564kcal

Author: Chef Ryan Littley

Equipment

Ingredients

12 -14 lbs beef brisket full-packer - combined flat and point
4 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoon kosher salt or coarse sea salt (do not use table salt)
4 teaspoon black pepper
4 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoon onion powder
2 teaspoon cumin
2 teaspoon paprika
2 teaspoon sumac

Instructions

Add the seasonings to a small bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside until needed.
If you are smoking just the flat or just the point, and not a whole packer brisket, cut the dry rub seasoning recipe in half.
Trim the excess fat off the top of the brisket.
If using a full packer brisket, separate the flat from the point slicing along the deckle creating two different muscles. This will give the brisket more smoking surface as well allowing both cuts to reach the right temperature, since they will usually take a different amount of time to cook.
After separating into the flat and the point, give a final trim if needed.
Rub both pieces with olive oil, then apply a liberal coating of the dry rub to the sides, top and bottom of the briskets.
After seasoning the meat, refrigerat and allow to marinate for at least two hours up to 12 hours. The longer you can let the dry rub soak into the brisket the more flavor it will have.
Remove the brisket from the refrigerator about a half hour to hour prior to placing it in the smoker, giving it time to come to room temperature.
Placing cold meat directly in the smoker is too drastic of a temperature change and can cause the meat to become tough and chewy.
Preheat your smoker to 225 degrees F.
When your preheated smoker reaches 225 degrees add your favorite wood chips to your smoke tube.
For this recipe I used a mixture of ⅔ hickory and ⅓ apple wood to get the rich smoky flavor of hickory with the light sweetness of apple wood. It was the perfect combination.
Place the brisket (fatty side up) in the smoker directly on the smoker rack. Place a thermometer probe in the thickest part of both the point and flat as they will more than likely finish at different times
Keep in mind we are smoking for an internal temperature of 195-200 degrees and cooking times may vary.
Over the first 4-6 hours of the smoking process continue to add wood chips to the smoke tube every hour to help the brisket form a good bark on the exterior of the meat. This is very important part of the cooking process and will add robust layers of flavor to your brisket.
When the brisket reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees remove it from the smoker and wrap in aluminum foil or butcher paper. Place the wrapped meat back in the smoker and continue cooking until an internal temperature of 195-200 degrees has been reached.
This helps cook evenly and retain the moisture in the brisket it also helps move past the stall. The stall is when a large piece of meat reaches a certain temperature and essentially gets stuck and comes to a stand still.
A stall happens regularly and is an expected part of the process. Trust the recipe and allow the meat to cook.
When the internal temperature of 195-200 degrees has been reached on each separate piece of the brisket, remove it from the smoker.
Tent the meat with foil and allow it to rest for 30 - 90 minutes prior to slicing. Tis gives the juices time to redistribute through the meat.
When cooking a large piece of meat the longer you can let it rest the better off you will be. Just make sure not to let it go below 165 degrees before slicing.
When the meat has rested, slice it into pencil width slices and serve with your favorite bbq sauce.

Notes

*To shorten the cooking time, when the brisket reaches and internal temperature of 180 degrees you can turn your smoker up to 250 degrees this will help the brisket finish the cooking process and reach that desired internal temperature of 195-200 degrees this is an optional step if you need to shorten the time slightly.

*If the brisket gets done early don’t worry. Wrap the brisket in butcher paper or parchment paper and then wrap it inside of a towel and place it in in a cooler . This will help it stay at a good resting temperature and keep it warm for when you are ready to slice and serve.

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