This Oven-Barbecued Beef Brisket is so smokey, tender, and juicy. No one will ever guess it wasn’t cooked on the grill.
We are very partial to pork in the Carolinas and I truthfully haven’t eaten a whole lot of beef brisket in my life.
But this Oven-Barbecued Beef Brisket. OMG!
This is a recipe from Cook’s Illustrated and it makes THE most flavorful brisket.
It is one of the most scrumptious pieces of meat I have ever tasted and I think it has the potential to create quite a few brisket lovers.
The brisket is coated in a rub and completely wrapped in bacon – 1 full pound of bacon- and slow-cooked in the oven. The smokey flavor of the bacon really penetrates into the meat and all that pork fat coating the beef brisket really adds to its flavor.
So much smokiness that it will fool most people into thinking this brisket was cooked on the grill or in a smoker.
Once the brisket has cooked fully, the bacon is removed and serves double duty as a flavoring for the BBQ sauce. The meat is then broiled to give it a nice char to complement the smokey flavor.
A super flavorful sauce that is both sweet and spicy is made from the bacon, which is finely chopped, cider vinegar, dark brown sugar, chicken broth, ketchup, and chipotle peppers. Once cooked, you can strain the sauce and discard the bacon, or I like to strain half of the sauce and then add it back to the saucepan. This way, there’s still some bacon, but it’s not an overwhelming amount.
Leftovers heat up well and this would be a good thing to cook in advance if you are having dinner guests. If you are just feeding your family, you can get multiple meals from this Oven-Barbecued Brisket. No kidding, I usually manage to get 3 meals out of it. Leftovers can be made into Brisket Grilled Cheese Sandwiches or Brisket Nachos.
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Watch the short video below to see how to make Oven Barbecued Beef Brisket.
Oven-Barbecued Beef Brisket
Ingredients
Rub
- 1 1/2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons paprika
- 2 teaspoons dry mustard
- 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Brisket
- 1 (4-5 pounds) brisket roast – if there is a thick layer of fat, trim it down to 1/4 inch
- 1 pound bacon
Sauce
- reserved bacon from cooked brisket
- 1 onion,, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup cider vinegar
- 1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 1-2 cups chicken broth
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 4 teaspoons canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce,, minced
Instructions
- Make the rub. Mix all ingredients well in a small bowl and set aside.
- Place oven rack in upper-middle position and heat oven to 275 degrees. Rub dry rub all over brisket and poke holes all over with a fork. Place half of bacon going crosswise in a broiler safe 9 by 13-inch pan (it’s best not to use glass). Put brisket fat side down on top of bacon. Lay the rest of the bacon crosswise on top of brisket, wrapping it down around the sides, and tucking any excess under. Cover pan with foil and place in oven for 4 hours.
- Take pan out of oven. Carefully flip brisket over, fat side up. Replace foil and return to oven. Turn off heat and leave brisket in oven 1 additional hour.
- Pour accumulated juices from brisket into large measuring cup or a bowl. Remove bacon from brisket and chop into pieces. Cook bacon in medium saucepan over medium heat for about 5 minutes, until fat has rendered. Add onion and cook until softened, 4-5 minutes. Take off heat and add vinegar and dark brown sugar. Return to heat and simmer until reduced to a syrupy consistency, about 5 minutes.
- Skim fat from accumulated juices and add chicken broth to make a total of 3 cups. Add to mixture in saucepan and reduce until about 3 cups in volume, 8-10 minutes. Take off heat and add ketchup. Mix well and strain if desired. (I like to strain about half the solid pieces out and leave the rest). After straining, add chipotle peppers.
- Turn oven to broil. Brush brisket with 1 cup sauce and broil until top is lightly browned and fat starts to crisp. Cut brisket against the grain into 1/4-inch slices and serve with extra sauce.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe adapted slightly from Cook’s Illustrated.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
This was just great, Thank you. I would rather pay you for the recipe then deal with all the intrusive advertisements on this web page though.
Brilliant recipe, came out wonderful! Don’t tweak a thing, it’s perfect.
Delicious! A crowd pleaser.
Hi, If I am doubling or tripling the amount of meat/brisket to about 10 or 15 lb, do I need to add more time to the cooking? my oven is large.
Thank you!
The advertisements are over the top. They really kill the whole experience of finding a recipe you may really enjoy.
I appreciate you need to make money to be able to publish your content, but do you really need quite so many ads, including a really annoying auto-play video on your page? Hard to see the recipe for the ads.
Can this brisket be made ahead? If I’m working, can I make it in Wednesday, to serve on then weekends?
Or- can I make it anytime and freeze it for a week or so?
You can definitely make it a few days in advance and reheat it. I haven’t tried freezing it.
Did everything just as recipe, except crisped the bacon from the brisket in the microwave and added to a bottle of my fav BBQ sauce. This is the best brisket!
This is as good as most BBQ joints
This was delicious! My 18-year-old son literally stood over me for the last 20 minutes waiting to dig in…he’s currently on his 2nd helping! Thanks for a great recipe. I wouldn’t change a thing!
I couldnt find a beef brisket but I did happen to have a 2lb chuck tender roast on hand. I went ahead and tried it, following the recipe exactly and it was SO GOOD. so tender. I never have such luck with a roast. I cooked for one hour less, but still let it sit in the oven for the recommended time. My entire family devoured it
Whoa! This was the recipe I chose to make for my first brisket and wow, was I amazed! And our dinner guests. It’s was completely gone and my 3 yo actually ate it too! As well as our friends’ children, and if you have kids, you know how hard it can be to get them to eat dinner so I was so amazed that my son ate it all and got seconds. This will now be my go-to brisket meal and I can’t wait to get another brisket. I did thicken the sauce a little with a corn starch-water slurry so that was my only twist on the recipe. Otherwise, we followed it!