This Texas-style Smoked Brisket recipe will be the star of the the barbecue! With just a few simple seasonings, you can infuse the most delicious sweet and smokey flavor into this tender beef. Follow this easy recipe and learn how to smoke a brisket for game day tailgating, summer BBQs, and more!
What’s in this Smoked Brisket Recipe?
This simple recipe is a great introduction to smoking. With just a handful of ingredients and a little bit of time, you’ll be on your way to the perfect smoked brisket!
- Spices: Kosher salt, brown sugar, smoked paprika, onion powder, chili powder, garlic powder, and ground black pepper form a sweet and savory dry rub that infuses the brisket with so much flavor.
- Brisket: I recommend a brisket flat, which is a lean, boneless cut.
Pro Tip: Choose a piece of brisket with a decent fat cap to help seal in moisture and protect the meat from excess heat while in the smoker.
Variations on Smoked Beef Brisket
You can change up the flavor of this brisket by choosing a different spice blend, such as five spice, blackened seasoning, taco seasoning, chili seasoning, Creole seasoning, or adobo.
That totally depends on the size of the brisket. In general, it takes about 1½ hours per pound of meat at 225°F or 30-40 minutes per pound at 250°F.
I recommend hickory, mesquite, oak, maple, or cherry. All impart flavors that enhance the flavor of the brisket. You could even blend a few different types!
This is a popular smoking method that requires you to smoke the brisket at 225°F for 3 hours, wrap it in foil and continue cooking for 2 hours, then unwrap it and cook it uncovered for 1 hour before serving.
This is a variation on the 3-2-1 method where you smoke the brisket at 225°F for 4 hours, wrap it in foil and continue cooking for 2 hours, then reduce the heat to 200°F and let it cook for an additional 10 hours before serving.
I prefer to do away with all of the complicated rules and fuss and just check on my brisket periodically. However, you can wrap it if you’d like! There’s certainly no harm in trying it other than the potential for the bark to be less crispy. Just be sure not to wrap the brisket too early or the bark can adhere to the foil and come off once it’s fully cooked.
I personally like to place my brisket fat side down to protect the meat from drying out closest to the heat source.
Ideally, I would recommend flipping your brisket at least once to even out the airflow around it. However, it is not absolutely necessary, so do whatever works for you!
How to Store and Reheat
Store leftover smoked brisket in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Reheat in a 300°F oven in a foil-covered roasting pan covered with beef broth or BBQ sauce until it’s fully heated through (it should take about 20-30 minutes).
How to Freeze
Freeze beef brisket in an airtight container or Ziplock bag for up to 3 months. Let thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.
Serving Suggestions
Serve this smoked brisket flat with BBQ sauce, Boston baked beans, creamy coleslaw, grilled corn on the cob, macaroni salad, and other barbecue side dishes.
Smoked Brisket Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1½ tablespoons smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- ½ tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 4 pound brisket flat
Recommended Equipment
- Smoker Box
- Wood Chips
Instructions
- Combine all of the seasonings in a small dish. Rub the mixture over the brisket, coating it entirely.1 tablespoon kosher salt, ¼ cup brown sugar, 1½ tablespoons smoked paprika, 1 tablespoon onion powder, 1 tablespoon chili powder, ½ tablespoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon ground black pepper, 4 pound brisket flat
- If time allows, wrap the brisket in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for a couple hours or overnight.
- At least 1 hour prior to cooking, bring the meat to room temperature and soak the wood chips in a bowl of water.
- When ready to grill, fill the smoker box with wood chips. Place the smoker box on the grill. Preheat the grill to medium heat (about 350-375°F).
- When ready to start grilling, turn the heat down to low between 225-250°F.
- Place the brisket over indirect heat by turning off half of the burners on the grill and placing the brisket over the unlit burners.
- Grill for about 4½ hours with the grill cover closed, or until the meat reaches a temperature of 200°F.
- Allow the brisket to rest for at least 45 minutes prior to slicing.
Last step! Don’t forget to show me a pic of what you made! Upload an image or tag me @thecookierookie on Instagram!
Becky’s tips
- If scaling this recipe up or down, in general, it takes about 1½ hours per pound of meat at 225°F or 30-40 minutes per pound at 250°F.
- I prefer to smoke my brisket fat side down.
- In terms of wood chips, I recommend hickory, mesquite, oak, maple, or cherry. You could also do a blend of a few kinds.
- While there’s no need to wrap this brisket, you can follow the 3 2 1 or 4 2 10 methods described in the above FAQ if you prefer.
- Be sure to let the brisket rest before slicing to lock in the juices.
Nutrition Information
Ummm…brisket takes a lot longer than 6 hours. And you won’t get enough smoke penetration or bark formation if you use foil. Was this written by AI?
Hi Ella, Becky writes all of these recipes herself! The timing was based on her grill and the size of the piece of meat she had. Adjustments may be necessary for a larger or smaller piece of meat. She also does not wrap the brisket in foil, and she provides insight as to why in the FAQ section. We hope you’ll give our recipe another read-through!
Why share “recipes” online if you don’t know your stuff? And then to be snotty to this comenter pointing out that at your cook times your brisket FLAT must have come out tough as can be. So many mistakes here.
For one, 3-2-1 is a popular RIBS BBQ technique. Suggesting that it’s common to apply this approach to a Brisket FLAT is a bold proclamation.
Maybe before you try to revolutionize BBQ you should learn to cook it half decently. Awful recipe. Awful writing (Brisket recipe is really a Brisket FLAT recipe. Gimmie a break. Eye rolling.) Awful attitude. Trying to teach people how to cook when you can’t even be bothered to remember what the recipe you cited is for. Ugh. Pathetic.
Hi, I’m sorry you felt my response was inappropriate. I was simply trying to answer the questions asked in a kind manner, as I do with all questions asked on our site.
We do specify in the recipe that it is for a brisket flat, which is a type of brisket, and we did a lot of research on other cooking methods before writing the post… the 3-2-1 method is one that came up a lot for brisket, so we thought we would address why we did not use it.
I’m sorry you felt that our recipe was not to your standards, but we do not purport to be experts at all things. This site is called the Cookie Rookie because it is about Becky learning to cook along with her followers and sharing her experiences along the way. Hope you have a nice day!