An easy recipe for oven brisket. Rub with spices, cook in a foil pouch for a few hours, then briefly broil to crisp up the fat cap. Easy and delicious!
This oven brisket recipe is as easy as can be. Unlike the very tender ribeye roast, beef brisket is a tough but very flavorful cut of beef that requires low and slow cooking, making it ideal for a slow oven. Simply rub the brisket with spices, cook in a foil pouch, then broil to crisp up the fat cap. Easy and delicious!
How long do you cook brisket in the oven?
Beef brisket is my favorite meat to order in barbecue joints, although in those places it’s smothered with sugar. The best places smoke the meat slowly, over 18 to 24 hours. The result: wonderfully smoky, flavorful and tender meat.
Even if you don’t own a smoker, your oven is a great tool for making tender, flavorful oven brisket. Use smoked salt and smoked paprika to give the meat a bit of that wonderful smoky flavor, and cook on low for several hours. I cook a 3 pound brisket for 3 hours in a 300°F oven.
Do you cook brisket in the oven fat side up or down?
Beef brisket comes with a wonderful fat cap. Please don’t remove it completely, before or after cooking. It’s really the best part. But do ask your butcher to trim it into a manageable thickness – 1/4 inch is ideal.
Cook the brisket fat side up. This will allow some of the melting fat to seep into the meat, making it juicier and more flavorful.
Why is brisket a Jewish tradition?
In traditional Jewish cooking, brisket is most often braised as a pot roast, especially on holidays. For reasons of economics and kashrut, it was historically one of the more popular cuts of beef among Ashkenazi Jews.
How to serve oven brisket?
Serve brisket with any side dish you like! It’s a very versatile main dish. I often serve it with mashed cauliflower and with roasted Brussels sprouts. But really, it goes with anything.
What about leftovers?
Leftovers of this oven brisket are very tasty. This is the type of meat that gets better with time. Use them as you would roast beef, cold slices on a plate with mustard and pickles, or make a cloud bread sandwich.
Oven Brisket
INGREDIENTS
- 3 lb. brisket, fat trimmed to ¼-inch thick
Dry Rub:
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt (or smoked salt)
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon dry mustard
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Look at the raw brisket and locate the direction of the grain. When it’s cooked, you will want to cut against the grain.
- In a small bowl, mix the rub ingredients together. Gently rub the spice mix all over the brisket.
- Make a foil pouch: place the brisket, fat side up, on two layers of foil. Pull the edges of the foil up around the brisket and wrap it. Use a third foil layer on the top if needed. Seal well to keep moisture in, but don’t wrap the meat too tight – leave some room for the steam.
- Place the foil pouch on a foil lined baking sheet. Cook the brisket for 3 hours (about 1 hour per pound).
- Turn off the oven and allow the brisket to rest until it’s cool enough to handle.
- Remove the brisket from the oven and open the foil pouch. Pour the cooking juices into a measuring cup. You can skim the fat from the top if you want (I don’t).
- Turn the oven to broil. Brush the brisket with some of the cooking juices. Broil the brisket until the fat browns and starts to crisp, about 2 minutes.
- Allow the brisket to cool a few minutes before slicing. Slice the brisket against the grain and on the bias into ¼-inch slices, as shown in the video, and serve with the cooking juices for dipping.
WATCH THE VIDEO:
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Vered DeLeeuw, LL.M., has been following a healthy real-food diet and blogging about it since 2011. She has taken 
