Simple Oven Baked Brisket Recipe

If you’ve ever wanted to make brisket but thought it was too hard or too risky, this recipe is for you. With just a simple spice rub, a roasting pan, and a little patience, your oven does all the heavy lifting. You get a beautifully crusty bark on the outside and fork-tender, juicy beef on the inside — no smoker required.

The first time I made brisket in the oven it came out looking like a piece of coal. I could have cried — all that time and money! So I figured out exactly what went wrong and turned it into this foolproof recipe. Now it’s one of our most-requested dinners, and the leftovers are just as amazing as the first night.

You loved how we baked up our Corned Beef recipe, and I’m certain you’ll like this oven baked beef brisket too.

Why You’ll Love This Oven Brisket

• Juicy and tender with a minimal amount of work
• Brisket is always the star of the meal and will feed a crowd
• The leftover options are amazing and reason enough to make this baked brisket oven

What is Brisket?

Brisket is a cut of beef that comes from the lower breast or pectoral muscles of a cow. This is a muscular (well exercised) area which is why it’s tough.

How to Pick a Good Beef Brisket (Flat vs. Point)

Beef Briskets can vary from about three pounds up to a very large brisket. The size will not determine the quality of the outcome.

A whole brisket is cut into either a “Flat” or Point”. Both bake beautifully but here’s the difference.

• Point cut is a rounder thicker piece of meat. It generally has more fat marbling, so it is very flavorful.
• Flat cut can also be referred to as round and is a thinner piece of meat and it’s a little leaner. It’s easier to slice so it makes a nice presentation.

Both beef brisket cuts are delicious so don’t stress if you don’t know the difference or don’t have the option of one versus the other. Brisket also makes an amazing Corned Beef!

How much brisket equals one serving?

You can expect a brisket to cook down 50 percent of its total weight. It’s always best to have more meat than you need in my opinion. Therefore, I always plan on 1 pound of raw meat per person, or 1/2 pound cooked.

It also depends on how you are serving it. I want a tender brisket thinly sliced. I don’t cook it long enough to shred. Slices will not go as far as chopped or shredded brisket will. I found detailed serving information here.

How many people will I be serving or how much do I want leftover? This tells me how big a brisket cut I want. I generally go for the 4 to 5 pounds. We love the leftovers.

Tools we used for oven beef brisket recipe

• Roasting Pan – I like using a roaster that comes with a rack and a lid. You also need a large enough one for a large brisket or turkey at Thanksgiving.
• Instant-Read Meat Thermometer – This is a kitchen must-have. We use this one when grilling or even baking bread.

How to Trim a Brisket Before Cooking

Once you bring your brisket home, give it a quick trim before you do anything else. It only takes a few minutes and it makes a real difference in how the finished brisket tastes and feels.

Pat the brisket dry with paper towels, then look for three things to clean up:

• Hard fat (deckle): This is the dense, hard chunk of fat usually found on the underside between the flat and the point. It won’t melt during cooking, so cut it off.

• Fat cap: A little fat cap is a good thing — it helps protect the meat during cooking. Just trim it down to about ¼ inch. Too much fat and your slices end up greasy; too little and the meat dries out.

• Silver skin: That thin, shiny bluish-white layer on the surface of the meat. Remove as much as you can because it doesn’t break down during cooking and acts as a barrier that keeps your dry rub from reaching the meat.

Pro Tip: Don’t stress about making it look perfect. Focus on the hard fat, thick pockets, and visible silver skin. The goal is an even shape that will cook consistently and hold the rub well.

Oven Baked Brisket Ingredients

Brisket

I used a 5-1/2 pound brisket flat for this recipe.

Brisket Rub Recipe Ingredients

• Brown sugar
• Paprika – smoked or variety of your choice.
• Salt – kosher salt works well for this recipe
• Garlic powder
• Cracked black pepper – coarse black pepper would work too
• Onion powder
• Dry mustard powder
• Cayenne
• Chili powder
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp dried thyme

We love this rub with beef brisket, chicken, or even salmon. Other amazing options would be my Creole Seasoning Blend or my Rib Spice Rub recipe. These blends don’t require that you add additional salt and pepper to the meat.

How to Make Oven Brisket Step by Step

Earlier in the day or the night before

Note: I recommend letting the brisket rub sit on the meat for 6 to 8 hours or overnight so the meat has a chance to absorb all of the amazing spice flavors.

1. Remove the brisket from the refrigerator. Trim the fat cap to 1/4 inch and dot the moisture off of the brisket with paper towels.
2. Combine and whisk the brisket rub ingredients together.
3. Sprinkle some of the dry rub on a baking sheet covered with a large piece of plastic wrap. Place the brisket over the dry rub and sprinkle more on the top. Turn it over and apply more to the bottom.
4. Wrap the beef brisket tightly and refrigerate for 6 to 8 hours before cooking or overnight. At least 30 minutes if you’re in a rush.

How To Cook Brisket In The Oven

1. Remove the brisket from the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature.
2. Preheat the oven to 275°F and place the oven rack so the meat cooks close to the middle of the oven.
3. Prepare the roasting pan by placing the rack inside and filling the bottom with water just below the rack. You don’t want the meat sitting in the water.
4. Remove the plastic wrap from the brisket and place the brisket fat side up on the roaster pan rack. Replace the lid and place the brisket in the oven.
5. Bake covered until the brisket reaches 140 to 145°F. Remove the lid and continue baking to 190-200°F.
6. Remove the brisket from the oven and let it rest for 30 minutes.

Brisket Cook Time and Temperature Guide

The temperature of your oven means everything. Higher heat can equal less cooking time. If you have the time low and slow is the way to go.

Since a beef brisket is a tougher cut of meat, it has to cook slower so the fibrous tissue breaks down, making it tender.

We choose to slow cook brisket by baking it at 275°F, covered until it reaches an internal temperature of 150°F to 165°F, which takes about 3 hours. Baked brisket is actually safe to eat at 145°F, but will be tough.

At that time we remove the lid so the bark can crisp up and cook it until it reaches 190°F to 200°F for slicing or 205-210°F for chopping or pulling, which took about 1 more hour.

Tip: Once the internal beef brisket temperature reaches about 145°F, I check it about every 20 to 30 minutes, so I don’t overbake it.

You can overbake a brisket. If that happens, your brisket can taste dry, crumble, and fall apart.

We’ve baked brisket in the oven at 325ºF and it was at 185ºF within 3 hours. Test it at 2 hours and see what the internal temperature is.

How to Store and Reheat Leftover Brisket

Best Way To Store Beef Brisket

Before I bake the brisket, I plan on how I will be serving it such as;

• If I bake just enough for a couple of meals, I will slice it and store it in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
• If I want to repurpose oven brisket, I get a general idea of what I’m going to be doing with it and when I plan on using it.
  • You can chop it or slice it before refrigerating it or, you can freeze it in the quantity for the recipes you plan on making eventually.
• Baked brisket freezes well for up to 3 months in an airtight container.
  • To freeze sliced brisket, I will usually separate individual servings. That makes a quick dinner during the week.

How to thaw oven-baked brisket

Beef brisket can be placed in the refrigerator to thaw overnight. You can also partially thaw it at room temperature and then finish thawing it in the refrigerator to finish thawing.

Best way to reheat oven-baked beef brisket

Brisket can be used from a frozen state if using it in soups or stews. You can also put frozen brisket slices in a slow cooker covered in a sauce such as BBQ sauce. Cook on low until heated through.

Oven Brisket Recipe FAQs

Should I trim the fat off a brisket?

Do I need to trim the brisket before cooking?

Yes! Remove hard fat, thick pockets of excess fat, and any visible silver skin before seasoning. Silver skin won’t break down in the oven and can make the brisket chewy. Trim the fat cap to about ¼ inch — thin enough for the rub to do its job, thick enough to protect the meat during cooking.

Should I cook brisket fat side up or fat side down?

A: Fat side up! As the fat renders during cooking it bastes the meat and helps keep it moist throughout the long cooking time. This is especially helpful when cooking in the oven instead of a smoker.

Do you oil brisket before adding the rub?

No, there is no reason to oil the meat before applying the brisket rub.

Should I cover the brisket with foil while it rests?

No, don’t cover the brisket with foil. That will ruin that crusty bark that you’ve worked so hard to get.

Can this oven beef brisket recipe be cooked on a grill?

Yes, oven-baked brisket is amazing when cooked on a grill just like you would in an oven, low and slow.

Why is my brisket tough?

It almost always just needs more time. Brisket is naturally tough because it comes from a hardworking muscle. The connective tissue and collagen need a long, slow cook to break down into that tender, juicy texture you’re looking for. If it feels chewy when you test it, cover it back up and keep going.

Why do you cut brisket across the grain?

When you slice the brisket across the grain you break up the tough fibers evenly making it tender. When you slice it with the grain those fibers remain intact and make for a tough and chewy brisket.

Can you overcook brisket?

Yes — if brisket goes too far past its ideal finishing temperature it can get dry and start to fall apart instead of slice cleanly. That’s why we use a thermometer rather than cooking by the clock. Pull it at 190°F–200°F for slicing or 205°F for pulling/shredding.

Grilling Brisket on a Charcoal Grill

I can’t stress enough that every brisket is going to cook differently and you have to give yourself plenty of time and use an instant-read thermometer to guide you. We grilled a 7-pound brisket and it took 10 hours plus we rested it one hour.

We own a “Big Green Egg” which uses lump charcoal. Any charcoal grill where you can control the temperature would work.

Apply the rub like we did with our baked brisket.

We choose to slow cook brisket by baking it at 250°F, 25 degrees lower than our baked brisket until it reached an internal temperature of 165°F which takes about 6 hours.

We increased the grill temperature to 275°F and wrapped it in butcher paper which we believe helps it retain moisture without steaming the meat like foil does. Put it back on the grill and cook to an internal temperature of 200°F to 210°F, for another 4 hours.

Note: You can use parchment paper in lieu of butcher paper.

Remove it from the grill and let it rest for 1 hour. We set our brisket in a small cooler to rest. It stays warm and moist.

Tips for the Best Oven Brisket Every Time

• Apply the rub with a spoon. That way you can store any that you don’t use for the next time. If you use your hands to apply it you’ve contaminated it and can’t use any leftovers.
  • There is no need to rub it in.
• Don’t cover the beef brisket with water or broth. You will not be able to the flavorful crusty bark.
• Before baking, we slice the tip to see the direction the grain is running. You want to slice your cooked brisket against the grain. By looking at it before it’s baked, you’ll know how to slice it. In the image below, the grain is going vertically ↑↑↑ so we will slice it horizontally →→→.

• Always let the brisket rest after baking for at least 30 minutes before slicing. We just put it on the cutting board and don’t cover it.
  • You can tent it but don’t wrap it. We’ve tried wrapping it in butcher paper and parchment paper while resting and it did nothing for the final outcome in our opinion.

What should I serve with brisket?

• Cheesy Potatoes Casserole
• Dill Pickle Pasta Salad
• Green Bean Casserole
• Creamed Corn
• Grilled Sweet Potatoes

You can find all of our side dish recipes here!

What to make with leftover brisket

• BBQ Brisket Sandwiches
• Brisket Tacos
• Mac and Cheese with Brisket