Oven Baked BBQ Brisket
Easy homemade BBQ brisket with a sweet and tangy sauce and all the fixings. So good!
With growing up in Fort Worth, I have had a lot of BBQ brisket. I grew up on the west side of Fort Worth, and we would go to get BBQ at Angelo’s. Angelo’s has been around since 1958. I was born in 1961, so I probably started going to Angelo’s with my family not too long after it opened. As an adult, I have gone to Railhead BBQ and Cousins. I love good lean sliced brisket. I love it as a plate at a BBQ place with lean slices covered in BBQ sauce with “all the fixings” which means side dishes and usually sliced bread, sliced onions, pickles, and peppers are also available along with sweet tea. I also like it chopped with sauce on a bun. I have even had brisket tacos before. One thing that I don’t like is the price of a BBQ dinner these days.
So, I started making BBQ at home. I started with making baby back ribs in the oven. You can usually find ribs somewhere on sale at a good price compared with getting ribs at a BBQ place. Plus ribs are my daughter’s favorite kind of BBQ. So now with being able to make them at home we can have them a lot more often. But I am not that crazy about ribs, I prefer sliced brisket or chopped brisket with lots of sauce. I like a sauce that is sweet and tangy. So when I make sauce at home, I doctor it up with some brown sugar, some apple cider vinegar, and some liquid smoke. It’s so good!
I recently decided to try making brisket at home. I found brisket on sale at the grocery store. I get one that has been trimmed and is around 4 lbs. I don’t want to make one that is too big. While the brisket’s cooking, I make all the fixings. We like to have potato salad, baked beans, of course, and sometimes coleslaw. In the summer, we also like to have sliced cantaloupe. I’m getting hungry. Let’s get started!
Tips:
Look for a thin even flat brisket with a thin fat cap. Also look for some internal fat. This will help keep the brisket moist during cooking.
Don’t overcook the brisket because it will be too dry.
Ingredients:
Beef Brisket: I buy a smaller brisket of around 4 lbs that has been trimmed. I also wait to buy one when they are on sale. Leave the fat cap on during cooking. It can be removed after cooking if you like like leaner slices.
BBQ Rub: Instead of mixing up my own dry rub, I use a 3 step process to season the brisket. I start with seasoning the brisket with salt on all sides. I have been using a store bought brisket rub for years that I also use when making ribs. It imparts a good flavor to the meat. The final seasoning steak seasoning lightly sprinkled on all sides of the meat. I like the peppery flavor that it adds to the brisket.
BBQ Sauce: I make my own BBQ sauce starting with a base of my favorite bottled BBQ sauce. To that I add brown sugar to add to the sweetness, apple cider vinegar to add to the tanginess, a squirt of mustard which adds a little mustardy kick, and I also add liquid smoke to the sauce. When cooking BBQ in the oven, you need the liquid smoke to add that smokey flavor to the meat.
Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 250 degrees, and cover a large sheet pan with foil. Spray with cooking spray.
Season all sided of your brisket (trimmed already) with salt with your brisket on a cutting board or a surface that will catch all the extra seasonings that miss going on the brisket. Next season all sided of the brisket with whatever dry rub you have chosen and pat it in. Then lightly sprinkle all sides with steak seasoning.
Wrap the brisket in foil and place on the foil lined sheet pan, and put in the oven on the middle rack for more even cooking.
Bake for 3 hours, but check occasionally just to make sure there are no drippings spilling out on to the bottom of the oven.
Check the temperature of the brisket. At this point it should be getting up around 170 degrees. Put back in the oven for another hour. If your temperature is less than this, it might need to cook longer than another hour. If it is at a higher temperature, then it might need less time. So adjust your cooking time accordingly.
During the additional cooking time, make your BBQ sauce and your side dishes. Divide BBQ sauce into 2 separate bowls. One bowl of sauce will be used to baste the brisket, and the other bowl of sauce will be used to pour over the sliced brisket after plating. You don’t want to use the basting sauce on the cooked slices of brisket. It could contaminate the cooked meat,
After the additional cooking time, check the temperature again. It should be around 190 degrees. Remove the brisket from the foil and return to the sheet pan. This would be the time to remove the fat cap or you can leave it on the brisket.
Brush BBQ sauce on all sides of the brisket. from one bowl of sauce. Set aside the other bowl of sauce to use after plating. Raise the oven temperature to 300 degrees and return the brisket to the oven.
After 20 mins, take the brisket out and brush it again with BBQ sauce and return to the oven for another 20 mins.
After 20 mins. take the brisket out of the oven and check the temperature. It needs to be at least 200 degrees. If not, leave in the oven another 15 mins and check the temp again.
When the brisket reaches temperature, remove the oven and let it rest. During this time, you can set out all your side dishes and put out your dishes and silverware.
When everything is ready, slice the brisket and serve. Sauce can be added after plating. Enjoy!
Serving suggestions:
The brisket can be served sliced on a plate with all the fixings and side dishes.
The brisket can be chopped and served on a bun with sauce on top of the brisket
Recipe:
Ingredients:
Approx 4 lbs trimmed brisket
Brisket rub (I use a store bought rub, but a homemade rub can also be used.)
Steak seasoning (I use a store bought steak seasoning)
Salt (no pepper needed because the steak seasoning has pepper in it)
BBQ sauce:
1 c BBQ sauce (Use your favorite or make homemade)
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp liquid smoke
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 t yellow mustard
Directions:
Preheat oven to 250 degrees, cover sheet pan with foil, spray foil with cooking spray
Season all sides (including the bottom) lightly with salt with your brisket on a cutting board or on a piece of foil
to catch all the extra seasoning that doesn’t make it on to the brisket
Sprinkle your brisket rub on all sides of the brisket (including the bottom) with a good coating and pat it in.
Sprinkle the brisket lightly with steak seasoning on all sides (including the bottom)
Wrap up the brisket in foil and place on the foil lined sheet pan.
Place on the middle rack of the oven and cook for 3 hours. Check occasionally to make sure no drippings are dripping out of the baking sheet and into your oven.
While brisket is cooking, you can make your side dishes and mix together the ingredients in the sauce. (The sauce can be warmed to dissolve the brown sugar, but I don’t. If you don’t warm the sauce, and you do a taste test, it might not be as sweet as it will be when the sauce gets hot in the oven.) Divide the sauce into 2 bowls. One will be used to baste the brisket with sauce, and the other bowl of sauce will be used to pour over the sliced brisket after plating. You don’t want to use the basting sauce on the cooked slices of brisket. It could contaminate the cooked meat.
Check the temp of your brisket. After 3 hours mine is usually around 170-175 degrees.
Cook for another hour and check the temperature. Mine was around 190. Remove the foil from around the brisket.
This would be the time to remove the fat cap or leave it on the brisket.
Brush the brisket with sauce on all side (not the bottom) and return uncovered to the oven at 300 degrees for 20 mins. Take out of the oven and brush with sauce again, return to the oven for another 20 mins. (You can skip this step, if you don’t want sauce on your brisket. The sauce can be served with the slices after plating.)
Take the brisket out of the oven and check the temp. If it is not at 200 degrees continue cooking until it reaches 200 degrees.
Remove from the oven and let it rest for 30 mins.
Slice and serve with sauce poured over the slices after plating and enjoy!
Notes:
You can finish cooking the brisket without basting it with sauce. Some people prefer their brisket with just the dry rub. Then the sauce can be added after plating.
The leftover brisket can be kept refrigerated for up to 3 days. I do not keep leftovers longer than that. If you want to keep it longer, it would be best to freeze the leftover brisket. It is best to protect it from the air, wrap it in layers of foil and/or parchment paper and then put into a freezer safe storage bag and kept no longer than 3 months. Label with the date.
Leftover brisket can be chopped and used to make chopped BBQ sandwiches, brisket tacos, brisket nachos, or as filling in beef enchiladas when mixed with a little enchilada sauce.
Conclusion:
I hope that making brisket becomes something you make frequently for your family. I am writing this blog on Labor Day evening. I made brisket for our Labor Day lunch with coleslaw and baked beans. We all enjoyed our meal today. BBQ is great to have on holidays and special occasions. This recipe was brought to you by Lisa Ward, the Cowtown Deal Hunter, born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas where I live today with my kids. Bye y’all ! It’s getting late.
