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.
Hi! First off, thank you so much for sharing this recipe!! I am planning to make this for my family as we all love BBQ Beef Brisket; however, my kids are young and can’t take spicy so I’m wondering if I could just omit the chipolet peppers in the BBQ sauce? Should I replace it with paprika? How will it affect the sauce? Bad, good…it’s OK, not the end of the world? Please advise as I have a dinner coming up and I’d like to make this and I just remembered a couple of guests coming cannot take spicy at all. Thank you in advance!!
If you take some of the adobo (the sauce) from the canned chipotles in adobo without the actual chipotle (which are smoked jalapeños), you will get a great deal of the smokiness, with very little of the spiciness. Supplement that with some smoked paprika and it should be fine – both for your young children and for the adults.
That’s great advice Dave! There really is so much flavor just in the sauce part!
I bought all my ingredients and ready to go, just wondering if anyone made this in the crock pot? If not, can it be done in the crock pot and on low or high?
I started this in the crockpot on low for a few hours then transferred it to the broiler for the last little bit.
Looks amazing and plan on trying…do you need to put any liquid in the pan when you start the brisket?
No liquid is needed. Since Brisket has quite a bit of fat and lots of juices will accumulate in the pan as it cooks.
Hi, I am making this for Christmas dinner,for my whole family…i have a 10pound brisket! So should i double the recipe entirely? Even the cooking time? Thank you so much! Cannot wait to try this?
I would double the recipe. If you’re cooking it as one piece, I might add 30 minutes or so to the cooking time. Or you could cut it in half and cook it in 2 different pans and keep the cooking time the same. Hope everyone enjoys it and Merry Christmas!
Hi – I made this on Saturday. It was delicious! We loved the heat from the peppers in the bbq sauce. My husband devoured it! Thanks!
Will it make a difference if I use turkey bacon?? Going to make for thanksgiving and have one set of friends who don’t eat pork, 🙁
Wow! This is gorgeous! I don’t eat it a lot but I absolutely love brisket…And many that I’ve had have been a bit on the dry side but this looks incredible! I’ll be making this for sure!
What do you do with the accumulated juices from the brisket set aside in a bowl? Does it also go in the sauce pan containing the bacon, onions, cider vinegar, chicken stock, etc? Or does it get discarded and not even used in the sauce? Directions above don’t say what to do with the accumulated juices. Please clarify. . . .Thank you.
What do you do with the juice that has. brown sugar ketchup vinegar…. Verythin
Simmer it until it thickens to your liking.
I reduced the juices and used them in the sauce instead of chicken broth. Extra yummy!!
This looks so mouthwatering I can’t wait to make it this weekend! What kind of onion do you use? Yellow, white, or red?
Yellow onion is my personal favorite to use. Hope everyone enjoys the brisket!
Made this today with my small, 2 lb, brisket. Cooked it for the same amount of time as the recipe said – it was fantastic!!!! Thank you!!!