Learn How To Cook A Brisket In The Oven. It’s Easy. This is an oven brisket recipe that’s simple with seasoning yet flavored with perfection. Using Liquid Smoke and cooked low and slow in the oven you won’t miss the barbecue grill or smoker. Finished with BBQ Sauce this is a super easy recipe that’s big on flavor.
And if you’re looking to cook a brisket in the crock pot, take a look at my Coca Cola Brisket recipe. Put your slow cooker to work for this fun, easy and unique with flavor brisket recipe.
How To Cook A Brisket In The Oven
You don't need a smoker, or a secret rub to make a great brisket. With simple pantry spices, a touch of Liquid Smoke to mimic smoke flavor, and a low-and-slow bake, you can get tender, smoky, flavorful brisket right from your oven.
This easy oven brisket starts with a dry rub of celery salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and Liquid Smoke.
Note: Be prepared to start the brisket the day before cooking. After an overnight rest in the fridge will allow the dry rub and liquid smoke flavors to penetrate the meat. It's then brushed with Worcestershire and baked low and slow until it's fall-apart tender.
Inspired by a beloved family recipe from Helen VenJohn and the Bergkamp family cookbook, this method proves you can make incredible brisket, tender every time, no smoker required.
Table of contents
- How To Cook A Brisket In The Oven
- Step by Step Instructions … It’s So Easy
- Tips For Success
- Brisket Serving Size – How Much Brisket Per Person
- Questions You May Have
- Resting, Slicing and Serving
- What To Serve With It
- Make Ahead, Storing Brisket And How To Reheat Brisket
- Oven Brisket Recipe with BBQ Sauce
- More Main Course Beef Recipes You Might Like
- Brisket. Choose a 5 – 7 pound brisket.
- Worcestershire Sauce: Tangy, savory, sweet and salty, Worcestershire adds a beautiful layer of flavor to this oven brisket.
- Liquid Smoke: Liquid smoke is a flavoring agent made by burning wood chips then capturing that flavor in a liquid substance. Liquid smoke has a strong smoky flavor and is used to bring enhance that outdoor smoky to food.
- Seasonings: Kosher Salt, freshly ground pepper, celery salt, onion powder and garlic powder.
- Optional: This oven brisket is beautiful in flavor without it, but you can add BBQ Sauce at the end of the cooking time. I always do. Use your favorite brand or make homemade bbq sauce, like this recipe from my Mom’s BBQ Meatballs.
Step by Step Instructions … It’s So Easy
Before Cooking
- Step 1: Place the brisket in a roasting pan, fat side down. Sprinkle on the celery salt, onion powder and garlic powder and rub it in a bit.
- Step 2: Drizzle on the liquid smoke.
- Step 2: Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil. Refrigerate it for 24 hours before baking.
Cooking Brisket
Bake at 275 degrees for 5 hours. This will allow the internal temperature to reach 190 degrees.
- Step 4: Remove the brisket from the roasting pan. Tent the meat and let it rest for 10 – 20 minutes, then slice against the grain.
- Step 5: Return the sliced brisket to the roasting pan, and drizzle on the BBQ sauce. I used about one cup of sauce as to not overwhelm the flavor the brisket. Cover again with the aluminum foil and cook for 30 more minutes.
Expert Tip: Larry, over at Big Dude’s, a brisket expert, adds this about oven baked brisket. “Every piece of brisket is different and cooks differently so it’s hard to use a single cooking time and temperature for all of them. It is also a piece of meat with a very small window of just right and it goes from tough (under cooked) to dry (over cooked) very quickly. Nearly all pro-brisket cooks monitor the internal temp until it gets to about 195* then use the prob test – when a probe slides in and meets little resistance (like room temperature butter) its done.”
Tips For Success
- Don’t be tempted to raise the temperature to rush the cooking time. Your oven brisket will turn out tough. Roasting at a low oven temperature allows the fats to break down slowly, tenderizing the meat during this process.
- Before seasoning and cooking, find the grain and slice a small corner off the brisket. This will help you find the direction of the grain after it’s cooked = easier slicing decisions.
Brisket Serving Size – How Much Brisket Per Person
Briskets shrink as they cook. Take for instance, a five pound brisket will shrink to about 3 ½ pounds. Plan for ½ pound of uncooked brisket per person. So a five pound brisket will serve 10 people. I like a lot of leftovers, so I usually seek out a 7 pound brisket.
Questions You May Have
A 5 – 7 pound brisket, cooked at 270 degrees will take about 5 hours. After the 5 hour cook time, the BBQ sauce is added and it’s back to the oven just long enough to heat the sauce. A probe thermometer should indicate the internal temperature to be 190 degrees.
If you purchase a 2 – 3 pound brisket, use a digital probe thermometer to monitor the internal temperature. Once you add the sauce, continue to bake until the temperature probe alerts you of the proper temperature.
Resting, Slicing and Serving
Do You Need To Let A Brisket Rest? All meat benefits from a rest after cooking. Once out of the oven, remove it to a cutting board and let it rest, tented with the foil for about 10 – 20 minutes. Then slice, add the bbq sauce and return to oven. Resting allows the meat juices to redistribute. The result is a more tender piece of brisket.
Slice Against The Grain: Very important! Meat cuts like brisket, flank steak, skirt steak or even flap steak have muscle fibers that run in one direction. It’s crucial to cut this type of meat against the grain, meaning across the grain. This will shorten the fibers making it tender to chew. If you don’t follow this rule, you’ll have pieces of meat that are simply impossible to break down with your teeth.
What To Serve With It
I can’t think of a better meal than beef, potatoes and a vegetable. Serve oven brisket with these Garlic Butter Slow Cooker Baked Potatoes. Or a make ahead potato salad like this Old Fashioned Potato Salad.
Any vegetable is a good choice. May I recommend Honey Butter Skillet Corn, Brown Sugar Green Beans with Bacon, or during the Fall months this Rode Kool braised red cabbage recipe.
If you want a more rustic feel meal, serve this oven brisket with these Slow Cooker Cowboy Beans.
Got leftovers? Make simple brisket tacos or BBQ Brisket Pizza.
Make Ahead, Storing Brisket And How To Reheat Brisket
- Make Ahead: Need to make a brisket in advance? This oven brisket can be made a few days in advance. Cook the brisket, let it cool, then store in the refrigerator still sealed with foil. To reheat, preheat your oven to 300 degrees F. Left the foil and pour about one cup of beef broth over the brisket. Place the pan in the oven and reheat for about 45 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. Let the meat rest for about 10 minutes before slicing.
- Storage: Store any leftover brisket, wrapped tightly in the refrigerator. I like to wrap in in parchment paper, followed by a layer of aluminum foil. It will keep in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
- Reheat: To reheat, preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Place some slices of brisket in foil and reheat for 15 – 20 minutes. You can place the foil packet of brisket directly on the oven rack, or on a sheet pan. I don’t recommend reheating cooked brisket in the microwave as it will compromise the tender texture.
Oven Brisket Recipe with BBQ Sauce
I hope you give this smoky oven brisket recipe a try. There’s so much hands-off time, this is an easy way to enjoy a brisket without the fuss.
It’s a great recipe for entertaining, so instead of cooking individual steaks, make it easy on yourself and prepare one large cut of beef. It will save you time and it will save you money, without sacrificing flavor.
More Main Course Beef Recipes You Might Like
And don’t miss my category for Beef Recipes. You’ll find lots of steak, burger and meatloaf recipes. Including the most popular on my site for Beef Tagliata. An easy Italian Steak recipe that will win your heart.
Smoky Oven Brisket Recipe with BBQ Sauce
Equipment
- Roasting pan
- Digital probe thermometer
Ingredients
- 5 – 7 pounds beef brisket
- 3 Tablespoons Liquid smoke
- 1 Tablespoon Garlic powder Or garlic granules
- 1 Tablespoon Onion powder
- 1 Tablespoon Celery salt
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon Freshly ground black pepper
- 3 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce.
- 1-2 Cups BBQ Sauce
Instructions
- Place brisket in a roasting pan and sprinkle with garlic powder, onion powder and celery salt. Rub the seasonings into the meat a bit. Drizzle on the Liquid Smoke Cover tightly with aluminum foil and allow to stand in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
- The next day, preheat oven to 275 degrees and sprinkle with salt, pepper and Worcestershire sauce. Cover and bake 5 hours or until a digital probe thermometer reads 190 degrees. After about 4 hours, I gently left the foil and using a meat thermometer, inserted into the thickest piece of the meat, read the internanal temperature. Then base my finishing time on that reading.
- Drain the grease and remove the brisket to a cutting board. Let this brisket rest, tented with the foil for 10 minutes. Slice brisket against the grain and coat with BBQ sauce. Return to the roasting pan, cover with the foil and let the brisket cook, warming the bbq sauce. About 15 minutes.
Notes
Nutrition
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Oven Brisket …It’s what’s for Dinner.
