Beef Brisket Recipe: Low, Slow, Simple and Perfect Every Time (2024)

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This recipe for braised beef brisket is surprisingly simple and turns out amazing every single time. Flavorful and tender, this one’s going to wow you!

I’ve been making Pioneer Woman’s brisket recipe with my own tweaks for years. When I made it recently for a family gathering, my sister (who had never made brisket before, nor tried mine) said, “Why isn’t this recipe on your blog?”

Good question, Amy. Here ya go!

Braised Beef Brisket Basics

Okay, first things first. (And I think this may only apply to my fellow Yankees, I have a feeling all good Southerners know this innately–no offense, Yanks). When I told my parents I was making brisket for the above-mentioned family gathering they both, on separate occasions, said “Corned beef brisket?”

What the what?

Corned beef belongs in Reubens–period. And to be honest, I didn’t even realize that ‘brisket’ was attached to the end of ‘corned beef’. lol

So yeah. Do not pick up a corned beef brisket and expect this recipe to work. It will not.

Any size works, but why not go big?

I typically pick up a pretty large piece of meat for this recipe, like 10-12 pounds. Leftovers are phenomenal regardless of who lives with you. But I happen to live with one who eats meat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner–so leftovers are essential.

Leftovers also freeze beautifully, and can be used in a variety of other recipes if you want to mix things up. (I’m thinking french dip sandwiches, taquitos, enchiladas, bbq pizza…)

But, if you choose to make a smaller cut, it is super simple to adjust the recipe. Just scale back the ingredients a bit and the time. Bingo!

The Secret to Fall Apart Brisket

Low and slow is the secret, my friends. Low and slow. If you take your brisket out and it is tough…put that baby back in the oven, it needs more time.

Brisket is a tough cut of meat, and it needs the long time in a low oven to melt all the good stuff in there that makes meat tender and juicy and wonderful.

Fat is also important. But not too much. Almost every time I make this, I end up trimming off a good bit of the fat cap.

You want fatty yumminess, but not oil slick territory. How much you trim really depends on what’s on the cut to begin with as well as your personal taste. I tend to cut off about half of the really thick layers of fat.

Another secret for this brisket recipe is that it marinates anywhere from 24 to 48 hours in– what seems to me every time I make it– to be just too simple for the flavor it gives.

This is where the big change is that I make from The Pioneer Woman’s recipe. Liquid Smoke is not my jam so I eliminate that all together, and we found the amount of soy sauce that she used to make the brisket far too salty, and so played around with it until I found what we prefer.

A couple of other notes here: you can use either freshly squeezed or bottled lemon juice with great results. I’ve also substituted garlic powder in place of fresh chopped garlic in a pinch.

I like to use the big, foil pans from the Dollar Store. Super easy clean-up, too!

Serving your Beef Brisket

When it’s done braising for lots of hours, you’ve just got a couple of things to do before you’re ready to eat.

First, remove the rest of that fat cap…after thanking it for doing it’s job making your meat succulent and delicious, of course.

Then, using a serrated knife, cut the meat across the grain. The direction of the grain of the meat is super easy to see in a brisket, you want to cut against that.

Slices are nice…I cooked this one a bit too long to get slices, so we went more for hunks. Mouthwatering either way, I promise. But cutting across the grain matters a lot regardless!

The last thing you need to do before serving is to skim off some of the fat in the liquid. Even with removing some of the fat cap before cooking, there’s usually enough of a layer of liquid fat covering the deeply flavorful drippings in the pan that I remove as much as I can with a spoon.

Now–dig in!

We like ours pretty simple…either plain (yes, it’s that flavorful!) or with our favorite BBQ sauce.

Mashed potatoes are my favorite side to serve with brisket, although any vegetable and perhaps a roll would be yum.

By the way, do I need to spell out that this is an amazing pick when you need to feed a crowd? Because it definitely is. If you’re looking for more ways to feed crowds, check out these posts:

Hot dogs in the crock pot for a crowd

Ideas for feeding large groups