Perfect Smoked Beef Brisket Recipe using a Pellet Grill
This Perfect Smoked Beef Brisket recipe is the best way to achieve juicy, melt-in-your-mouth tender, beef brisket right from your own backyard.
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Equipment
- 1 pellet grill
- wood pellets
- 1 temperature probe
- butcher paper
- 1 cooler
- 1 sharp knife
- 1 Cutting Board
Ingredients
- 10-15 lbs brisket whole
- ¼ cup salt
- 3 tbsp ground black pepper
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 tbsp garlic powder
- 2 tbsp onion powder
- 1 tsp cayenne powder
Instructions
Prep
- Place the brisket on a flat, clean surface with the fat side down and trim the hard fat chunk that is at the top of the point, where it meets the flat. It has a triangular shape.
- The silver skin is a thin membrane of connective tissue that gets tough and chewy when cooked, be sure to remove this too.
- Flip the brisket over so that the fat side is facing up. Trim and remove some of the excess fat to create an even layer, leaving about an ¼ inch of fat. It doesn't need to be perfect, so don't fret too much about having it precise.
Dry Rub
- Add salt, brown sugar, ground black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and cayenne to a small bowl and mix well to combine. The cayenne doesn't add enough heat to make the brisket spicy, but if you're sensitive to spice you can leave it out.
- Optional: Lightly rub a binder like yellow mustard or Dijon mustard all over the brisket to make the seasoning stick to the surface.
- Apply the seasoning blend over the entire brisket, including the sides, pressing it into the meat. Cover the brisket with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for 8-24 hours, giving the seasoning plenty of time to flavor the meat.
Smoke
- Remove the brisket from the refridgerator 1 hour before smoking.
- Fill the hopper with wood pellets and set the grill to 225-250 degrees. Allow the grill to preheat for 15 minutes.
- Insert the temperature probe into the brisket and place the brisket fat side up in the middle of the smoker and close the lid.
- To gauge how long your cut of meat will take to smoke, a general rule of thumb is an hour to hour and 15 minutes a pound, not including time in the cooler. But know that your brisket won’t be done to time, but to temperature. Option 1: Leave the beef brisket undisturbed in the smoker until the stall. The benefit of this method is that the meat comes up to temperature faster because you aren't repeatedly opening the smoker. This would matter more in colder months.Option 2 : Spray hourly with just enough apple cider vinegar to wet the surface of the meat as the beef brisket cooks until it reaches the stall. This will help to keep the brisket moist and also tenderize the meat.We have done it both ways with great results.
- When the internal temperature reaches the 150-165 degree mark, the meat will stall. Read below how to get past the stall.
Smoking Through the Stall
- The best way to overcome the stall is to wrap your meat. Wrapping a brisket in butcher paper is called "The Texas Crutch" and is used to speed up cooking, lock in moisture, and improve the bark appearance. Butcher paper allows the meat to breathe, keeping the bark intact. Foil holds in all of the moisture and steams the brisket, causing the brisket to lose its bark and have a pot roast texture.
- Lay out two pieces of butcher paper, slightly overlapping in the middle. Lift the brisket into the middle of the butcher paper and wrap until the brisket is completely covered, tucking the ends of the paper under.
When It's Done
- Once the brisket reaches 195 degrees, we use these two tests to make sure that its done.
- First, unwrap the brisket from the butcher paper and give it a gentle shake, it will giggle like Jell-O when it's ready.
- Second, when you probe the brisket with your finger or the end of a wooden spoon in a few different places, it should be like soft butter. If it's not ready yet, the meat will feel tight and tough still when probed. Rewrap and place back onto the smoker for more time.
Cooler
- When the beef brisket has passed the tests, remove it from the smoker and place the wrapped brisket in a cooler for at least an hour to finish cooking. This nice long rest completes the cooking process and brings the internal temperature up to 200 degrees.
Carve
- How you want to eat the brisket determines how you want to cut it. If you are going traditional, slice the brisket into ¼-inch slices, going against the grain. Pay attention to where the grain changes from the flat to the point if you plan to slice the whole brisket.
- It's easiest to start slicing the flat first (because it’s just one layer of muscle) and then rotate the meat and finish slicing with the point. A great option for the point is to make them into burnt ends. Just cut this section into chunks, toss in BBQ sauce, and place back on the smoker until the BBQ sauce has a nice crust on it.
Storage
- Smoked beef brisket is best the day it's smoked. But with such a large piece of meat, you'll sure to have leftovers. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. To reheat, wrap the brisket in aluminum foil and and warm in a 325 degree oven until the meat is warmed through.
Notes
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Nutrition
Calories: 534.2kcalCarbohydrates: 16.7gProtein: 63.1gFat: 22.3gSaturated Fat: 7.9gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.7gMonounsaturated Fat: 10.5gCholesterol: 187.5mgSodium: 2130.8mgPotassium: 1055.7mgFiber: 0.5gSugar: 14.3gVitamin A: 6.6IUVitamin C: 0.2mgCalcium: 38.2mgIron: 6.1mg
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