When it comes to BBQ, brisket is king! And what barbecue aficionados won’t tell you is you can make an amazing fork-tender oven-baked brisket with a flavorful, crunchy bark using your home oven, no smoker or grill necessary.
I love barbecue, and for years, I was afraid of making the different cuts of meat I enjoyed eating at my favorite bbq joints.
But at the suggestion of a grill master friend, I learned the secrets of dry brining and slow-roasting meats in my oven. And that is how I came up with my oven roasted beef brisket recipe.
If you prefer using your slow cooker, you’re going to love my Slow Cooker Beef Brisket Recipe.
I love a good brisket sandwich, and one of the places I frequent for barbecue makes a delicious combination by adding coleslaw and onion rings to chopped brisket covered in bbq sauce served on a toasted brioche bun.
You’re going whole hog with this sandwich!
What ingredients do I need to make an oven-baked beef brisket?
Let’s start by gathering the ingredients we need to make a dry rub oven-baked brisket. In Chef Speak, this is called the “Mise en Place,” which translates to “Everything in its Place.”
Not only does setting your ingredients up ahead of time speed up the cooking process, it also helps ensure you have everything you need to make the dish.
What are the different cuts of Brisket?
Brisket comes in three different cuts. A full-packer brisket is a whole brisket that includes both the point and flat sections. It will weigh anywhere from 8 to 12-plus pounds.
The point cut is the fatty part of the brisket, also known as the deckle or second cut. The flat is the leaner cut of the brisket and is 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 brisket.
*For my oven-roasted beef brisket recipe, either the flat or the point will work. Most grocery stores will carry the flat.
How do I prepare the brisket for slow roasting?
The first step is preparing the dry rub, which will act as brine, adding flavor and helping to keep the brisket 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.
How do I make an oven-baked beef brisket?
Start by trimming the brisket of any silver skin and if needed removing most of the fat cap from the top of the brisket. Hard fat does not render!
- Pat the brisket dry with paper towels and coat the entire brisket with the dry rub, massaging the dry rub into the meat. Make sure to coat the sides of the brisket.
- Wrap the dry-rubbed brisket tightly with foil and refrigerate overnight. *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, allowing the brisket to get close to room temperature before cooking.
- Preheat the oven to 275° F
- Insert an oven-safe meat thermometer into the thickest part of the brisket. 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 the brisket, and 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, so it has a stretching juicy quality in the end.
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 brisket to rest lets juice 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 oven-cooked beef brisket?
You’ll often find chopped brisket used in tacos, sandwiches, and chili. Other delicious uses for leftover brisket are in brisket hash, soups, stews, quesadillas, topping on pizza, and brisket and beans, to name a few.
Wouldn’t your friends and family love to sit down to this tender, delicious dry-rubbed oven-roasted brisket? Why not surprise them and let them think you’re the new grill master in the family?
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, and that means it needs to be slow-roasted to a higher temperature internally before the fats start to break down and tenderize the meat. The magic starts to happen at 195 degrees and can continue to cook up 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
Lee
Hi, for the first part of cooking the brisket- are we keeping it tightly wrapped in the foil?
Chef Dennis Littley
yes it stay wrapped until when the instructions says to unwrap it.
Martha
I’ve tried a few of your other recipes so I decided to try the brisket for July 4. My previous attempts at brisket weren’t eat worthy so, just in case, I also made your baby backs as a back up. Both were tender (very important when you’re old) and flavorful. Keep the recipes coming. Do you have one for peach cobbler?
Chef Dennis Littley
I have peach buckle which is similar and also have blueberry cobbler, you could just swap out the blueberries for peaches.
Kimberly
Simply Delicious!
Jeannie
I tried my hand at making brisket for a second time and this recipe was excellent.
My brisket was nice and tender and we all enjoyed it.
I think I would use a little less salt next time.
Lisa
I cooked this but for some reason my brisket still came out a little too chewy. I don’t know what I did wrong. I followed the recipe exactly.
Chef Dennis Littley
Did you check the internal temperature of the brisket to make sure it was between 195 -205? The other question would be did you slice it against the grain? That is a really easy mistake to make and if you cut it the wrong way it will be tough and chewy.
Trish
I have 9.5 lb whole brisket, so I need to cook for 9 hours? Thank you for your time and thank you for sharing your recipes.
Chef Dennis Littley
Your brisket will take up to 8.5 – 9.5 hours to cook. But it will be worth it. Use a meat thermometer to keep an eye on it, the finished temperature range is 195-205. It could take less time, so keep an eye on the internal temp of the brisket.
Chris
Hi Chef – If I have a 15-16lb brisket after trimming should I triple the rub ingredients? Thanks for the help!
Chef Dennis Littley
I don’t think you’ll need to triple it, I think doubling will be enough.
Casey
I have a 15 lb whole brisket..Will it really take 15 hours in the oven?
Chef Dennis Littley
it could take less time, but based on the temperature and using an oven to cook the brisket, it can take that long.
Marlayne
Beautiful roast. First time making brisket….16 + lbs. I put in my covered turkey roasting pan that holds a 22lb turkey and had to tuck in the flat end underneath to make it fit. I cooked checking temperature. Set at 275, covered for 5 hrs til 1st temp level hit then uncovered for 1.5 hrs to 198 degrees and it was juicy, lovely, soft! Thank you
Julie
Chef Dennis mentions cooking times of anywhere from 30 minutes per pound to an hour per pound. If wanting to keep meat from overcooking AND wanting to plan for it to be ready at a certain meal time, this difference in times makes that difficult. Is there a more precise cooking time?
Chef Dennis Littley
I’m not sure where you saw 30-60 minutes per pound. I have 60 minutes per pound as the cooking time. The best way to make sure it’s cooked properly is to use a meat thermometer. You want the meat to hit 195-205 degrees internal temperature before removing it from the oven.
Marie
This is a wonderful easy and delicious beef brisket. I let the tub works all night all wrap in foil. I’ve cooked it covered for 5 hours in a cast iron pot while I went downhill skiing. While resting the meat I’ve used the gravy, add butter and mixture of beef broth and red wine to make a gravy. It was five stars rsating
Peggy
I bought a whole beef brisket-14 pounds. I could adjust the portion of the dry rub, but wouldn’t the thin (flat) part get overcooked while the thicker side is still cooking? How should I cook it?
Chef Dennis Littley
Actually, a packer brisket which is what you have can be cooked in one piece. That is the piece most serious barbecue people use, splitting it after cooking.
You’ll be cooking that brisket for 30-45 minutes per pound, so expect 7-9 hours. But the only real way to know when it’s done will be using an oven thermometer. The sweet spot for the cooked brisket is 195-205 degrees internal temperature. Any less and it will be tough, any more and it will start to dry out.
Tony Wozny
Hi, I see you have a rack in the roasting pan but yet it’s wrapped in aluminum foil. Do I need the rack for any reason?
Chef Dennis Littley
I like to use a rack so that the heat flows completely around the brisket. It’s not essential but if you have one, I would use it.
Ishtar Peeler
Hi Chef,
Do I stick the oven safe thermometer through the foil to the meat so I can see it lol
Chef Dennis Littley
Only if you want to see the temperature
Ishtar Peeler
lol I just went6 and bought one that woo hoo and I just finished making my dry rub, wish me luck! Merry X Mas chef!!!
Debra Andrews
I purchased a 7 lb brisket. How do I determine the cooking time?
Chef Dennis Littley
Cook the brisket 60 minutes per pound at 275 degrees F so approximately 7 hours. Use a meat thermometer and make sure to give yourself extra time just in case it hasn’t reached the optimal internal temperature range of 195 -205 degrees F.
Chriss
Hi,
I made this and was wondering if , when you get to the point of cutting and exposing the brisket in the oven, do you remove the foil altogether? and roast for a couple more hours?
Chef Dennis Littley
You need to use an oven thermometer and you don’t want to cook it too long uncovered. It’s hard to say exactly how long it will take since ovens are all different. Just keep an eye on the oven thermometer.
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 the brisket
Then 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.
Greg
Hi, just confirming the 2-3 hour rest time. Seems a bit long.
Excited to try this tomorrow. Will be too cold outside to use my smoker. 🙁
Chef Dennis Littley
hi Greg
that was a misprint. One hour is sufficient for resting time.