How to Make Perfectly Smoked Brisket Every Time (2024)

The go-to guide for perfectSmoked Brisketevery time. Use our seven step guide, from selecting, trimming and how to smoke it. This Smoked Whole Brisket Recipe can be perfected by following some key steps.

We also have a complete guide for a smoked brisket flat as well if you can’t find a full packer brisket.

Smoked brisket is complicated. It’s more about a process than a recipe. As caterers and authors of a BBQ cookbook, we have smoked hundreds of briskets throughout the course of our career. No two briskets are ever the same, so we developed these milestones on how to smoke brisket perfectly every time.

So please read this in its entirety first, before skipping down to the smoked brisket recipe or check out our top tips for perfectly smoked brisket.

Steps for Smoking Brisket

We focus on seven steps for a perfect smoked brisket.

1. Selection
2. Trimming
3. Seasoning
4. Smoking
5. Wrapping
6. Resting
7. Slicing

What is Brisket?

Brisket is the pectoral muscle that comes from a steer or cow. They are made up of two distinct muscles with important connective tissues — The point and the flat (or deckle) make up the entire brisket. Each have different layers of marbling as this is an area of the cow that is used a lot as the cow walks, and so low and slow helps get it tender.

It’s because of how dense the muscle is that the braising, or longer cooking time, is so important, it breaks down all the dense muscle and fat for a tender bite.

You typically want to buy an entire packer brisket (the point and the flat). When possible avoid buying just the flat. The flat is leaner and is only half the muscle when compared to a whole packer.

To get that full flavor you need the entire packer (both cuts of muscle). Go big when buying, like at least a 14 pound cut,because you will trim off a fair amount of fat, so a 12 pound packer is likely to be 10 pounds after being trimmed, and more like 8 pounds after cooking.

Plan 60 minutes of cooking time for every pound of brisket as a general rule of thumb.

• Sharp Knife for Trimming
• Dependable Brisket Carving Knife
• Peach Butcher Paper
• Two zone thermometer
• Instant read thermometer
• Large tongs

Step 1: Selection

This brisket recipe is only two ingredients – brisket and seasoning. Quality of the meat is the most important decision for a great brisket.

Marbling is the term used for the intramuscular connective tissue, or fat. The marbling of the entire cut is going to dictate a large part of the cooking experience. In order to get that rendering for a juicy tender meat morsel, you have to make sure that the brisket you are buying is of the highest quality you can afford with good marbling.

• Grass Fed – Not as ideal for smoking because most often it has very little intramuscular fat.
• USDA Rated – Select, Choice, or Prime are your USDA graded beef options. You can see more on the difference in our article on Choice vs Prime beef.
• American Wagyu – Incredible marbling, and also some of the most expensive.

Chef’s Tip:When buying one at a grocery store, physically lift it and bend it to see if it’s tender and pliable. If it is too stiff move on to a different one that bends a little bit. If it’s pliable when you buy it that will carry through the cooking. If it’s stiff then we find it stays relatively tough even after smoking.

Step 2: Trim the Brisket

Good brisket has a fair amount of fat. Some that will render, some that will not. So you have to prepare the brisket by trimming off the fat that won’t render before seasoning. Be sure to have a sharpboning or filet knife.

Start by trimming the flat side by removing the silver skin and any fat pockets just sitting at the surface. See video for full tutorial on trimming.

1. The brisket flat and the point are also separated by a layer of fat. The best briskets are those that are able to render that fat pocket down enough that it is pleasant to eat. But before you season, you need to remove portions of those fat pockets.
2. With the flat still facing up, remove the dense white fat pocket that is on one side of the brisket. You will remove a fair amount of the dense fat pocket, almost starting to cut into and under the flat. That is about the time to stop trimming.
3. Next flip it over and trim the fat cap. This fat cap sits just above the brisket point. We leave about ¼ inch of fat on the fat side of the brisket. This will allow a small layer of fat to protect the brisket while cooking. Take care when removing the fat, do it in slow and small cuts so you don’t remove too much or accidentally get into the meat.
4. The sides of the brisket may have some fat hanging over the side. We typically remove another ¼ inch from both sides of the brisket to smooth out the sides and expose the meat.

At this point it is not uncommon that you have removed up to 4 pounds of trimming. This is why it’s best to have a quality trimming knife.

Step 3: Season the Brisket

After trimming, we coat the brisket with olive oil, which acts as a binder and helps the dry rub stick. We mix coarse black pepper, kosher salt, and granulated garlic (not garlic powder) in equal parts in a small bowl. It’s our go to SPGseasoning. It is simple and allows the smoked brisket meat to shine. This seasoning is more inspired by Texas style (although some Texans may scoff at the garlic). Alternatively you can use our brisket rub recipe which adds paprika, onion powder, and cayenne pepper.

We don’t inject or spritz with liquids, such as apple cider vinegar, as we have found that when buying quality cuts you don’t need it and only run the risk of creating more of a roast flavor due to the moisture, essentially steaming out of the meat. We don’t add brown sugar because sugar caramelizes when cooked for a long time and we want the beef and smoky flavor to be the main profile.

Step 4: How to Smoke Brisket

Preheat the smoker to250 degrees Fahrenheit (F)with both lump charcoal and wood. We use fruit woods for brisket for a sweeter flavor. Insert a remote thermometer probe into the flat of the brisket, it is leaner and the more important part of the brisket to monitor while cooking. The temperature for smoking perfect brisket is 250 degrees F for slowly rendering fat. At 225 it takes longer than we prefer and it has no material difference in flavor or texture.

Flat Side Up or Down?Different styles of smokers have the heat source radiating from different parts of the smoker.Have the fat cap point toward the hotter part of your smoker. It will insulate the more delicate flat. For pellet smokers, as an example, the heat radiates from the top down.

The brisket will smoke about five hours in the smoker where the smoke connects with the brisket giving both bark and smoke flavor.

Spritz(Optional) – This is a bottle of liquid that you spray (or spritz) onto meat after the bark forms. We don’t do this forallof our briskets, but can be done for more flavor. If you spritz, it is done while the brisket is in the smoking step and not wrapped. For fun brisket spritz check out our Merlot spritz from our cookbookFire + Wine.

Step 5: Wrap the Brisket

When the smoked brisket reaches 165 degrees F internal temperature, we remove it from the smoker and wrap it in pink butcher paper. This is called the Texas crutch.

Wrapping allows the internal temperature to rise faster. Peach or pink butcher paper is more breathable than aluminum foil, which translates to less of a “pot roast” flavor and texture. The wrapping period is also important because it is the final stage to allow the intramuscular fat to fully render out. Don’t have butcher paper? Use foil, that’s ok. For smoked brisket you can cook it all unwrapped. It just may take slightly longer and the finishing temperature guide is still the same.

See Also

How Much Brisket Per PersonHow Big of a Brisket Should I Buy? - Complete CarnivoreEat on a Budget With 9 Cheap, But Still Delicious Cuts of MeatHow Much Brisket Do I Need Per Person?

The Stall

During the smoking process, the brisket will encounter a period of time called “the stall”. The stall can happen anywhere between 160 to 175 degrees F. As the heat from the smoker renders the pockets of fat and muscle fibers, the fat liquefies. As the fat liquefies and interacts with the meat there is a cooling effect that happens, almost like when you sweat.

So don’t be alarmed if you see a couple of hours of incremental movement in the internal temperature of the meat. You have pushed through the stall when the fat has rendered enough that there is balance and the meat starts to increase in heat again.

This is why, regardless of the stall, we wrap at 165. Once the brisket hits 180 degrees, you’ll see the temp increase much faster. This is also important to note that we cook to temperature, not time. Some briskets will just take longer (or not) and why we focus on a temperature milestone rather than a specific time.

Step 6: Remove and Rest

As the wrapped brisket reaches close to 195 degrees F, you will want to to start probingthe flat portionof the brisket with an instant read thermometer (like a Thermoworks MK4Thermapen) to see if it is done. If the thermometer is meeting resistance as you insert it, that means the intramuscular fat hasn’t fully rendered out and you should continue cooking. It should feel as if you are inserting the probe into room temperature butter.

Be patient and wait for that soft butter-like feeling. We find many people get nervous and want to pull at a specific temperature. The range a brisket can be done will range anywhere from 195 degrees F to 215 degrees F. Trust the probe and keep checking every 15 minutes until you get that feel.

Pro Tip– Avoid taking the temperature in the fat pocket between the flat and the point. That will come up in temperature much faster than the surrounding brisket. So be sure to temp in the middle of the flat and the middle of the point in multiple places.

Lastly, please make sure you let it rest for at least 30 minutes after removing it from the smoker!

The brisket rest is very important. If you slice the brisket right after removing from the smoker, you’ll see all the juices just pour out on the cutting board versus staying in the meat. The horror!!! All of your hard work, gone, just like that, because you were too impatient to let it rest!

What if my brisket is done early?If it’s done early then hold the temperature to slowly let it cool. What do you hold it in?A cooler (with NO ice) works well. This acts like a Cambro warmer. You can hold the temperature for four hours in the cooler in case your brisket is done early.Just be sure to leave it wrapped.

Step 7: Slicing Brisket

For best results, the most important step after cooking is to slice against the grains of the brisket. This is true especially for the flat cut because the muscles are in different directions than the point. Start with along carving knife.

1. Cut it in half about where the point ends. This separates some of the flat from the point.
2. Slice the flat into pencil thin slices across the grain. The grains are at a slight angle (see video).
3. Take the larger cut that is both the point and the flat, and then slice that in half. From there simply make more pencil thin slices.

See video for more details on slicing.

Smoke Times for Brisket

This is thepost-trimweight of the brisket with the temperature of the smoker at 250 degrees F.

We also find that American Wagyu cooks slightly faster than Prime or Choice, so we shave off about 10% of the time when smoking American Wagyu.

Monitoring Brisket Temperature

We use the Smoke Unit from Thermoworks to monitor the internal temperature of brisket throughout the BBQ cook. It even has a remote unit so you can see the temp from afar.

In addition to the Smoke unit, you should also use a Thermapen or equivalent instant read thermometer, then you can probe in multiple areas while keeping the Smoke unit in the same location as it nears the end of the cook.

Sides

If looking for sides consider quick pickled veggies like peppers. Add some BBQ Beans and a no mayo coleslaw for the perfect spread.

Wine Pairing with Brisket

Brisket is incredibly rich and because of the heavy weight of the dish we opt for a clean and crisp wine to cut through the richness of the meat. For whites try sparkling wine or a dry and crisp rosé.

If you like a red wine then we love tempranillo or a nice red zinfandel.

Smoked Brisket Frequently Asked Questions

This post was originally published in 2016, and updated in 2023 with more Q&A and details on tools used. The original recipe remains the same.

Mary (a certified sommelier and recipe developer) and Sean (backyard pitmaster) are co-authors of the critically acclaimed cookbook, Fire + Wine, and have been creating content for the IACP nominated website Vindulge since 2009. They live in Oregon on a farm just outside Portland.

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