How to Cook Brisket in the Oven

How to Cook Brisket in the oven! Everything you need to know about oven-roasted brisket, from tips on how to get the best result to cooking temperatures and more. Pair it with your favorite side dishes for an unforgettable meal!

If you’re looking for a goof-proof beef brisket recipe, you’ve found it! Roasting brisket in the oven results in a crispy fat cap and tender, juicy meat.

With a few simple steps, you’ll end up with an impressive centerpiece for special occasions.

For the sake of full transparency, Smoked Brisket is my all-time favorite method for cooking brisket.

For me, nothing comes close to that charred fat, smoky flavor, and tender beef.

However, because not everyone owns a smoker or a grill, I thought I would share an easy tutorial on how to cook brisket in the oven for an amazing result every single time. 

As long as you get the cook temperature right and give yourself time to dry brine the brisket, it will result in the best beef brisket with perfectly juicy and flavorful meat with a lovely crust on the fat.

Which leads me to my next point.

Dry Brine Brisket!

I’ve mentioned this is my Prime Rib Recipe, Perfect Grilled Steak, Beef Tenderloin Recipe and my Smoked Tri Tip , but dry brining your meat 24 hours before you cook it is the best insurance policy for tender meat.

Dry brining meat involves nothing more than placing it on a baking sheet, sprinkling the whole surface (including the sides of the brisket!) liberally with coarse kosher salt and leaving it uncovered in your refrigerator overnight.

That’s it!

Dry bringing allows the salt to penetrate deeply into the meat, thereby tenderizing it while seasoning it deeper than you would otherwise get without the dry brine.

This one tip will change the way you do meats forever, as it is such a simple step but it is arguably the most impactful thing you can do to ensure your roast turns out amazing each and every time.

Because brisket is a tougher cut of beef and a big piece of meat with a generous amount of connective tissues, it can benefit greatly from dry bringing to ensure it tenderizes substantially for tender beef brisket.

Due to the dry bringing process and the long cook time, I do recommend leaving yourself plenty of time to prepare this amazing brisket.

If you plan on using a dry rub that contains salt, feel free to use it for the dry brining process. The salt in the brisket rub will still work its magic, and you’ll have the added benefit of adding more flavors to the meat.

What Cut of Meat is Brisket?:

Brisket comes from the pectoral muscle of the cow in the lower breast region. It is a flat cut of meat with a thick layer of fat on one side but not much fat intramuscularly.

If you pick up a whole brisket, you may need to trim off some of the fat. Otherwise, smaller briskets typically come pre-trimmed in which case I recommend leaving the full portion of fat.

The general rule of thumb for flavorful brisket is to allow the meat a long time to cook, whether it be in a smoker grill or the oven.

Slow roast oven brisket results in beefy flavor and crispy fat that everyone will love.

Tips for The BEST Brisket:

Tip #1: I mentioned this above, but my number one tip for perfect brisket is dry brining it in advance. Even if you only have an hour or two before you need to cook the brisket, it will still benefit from spending some quality time with salt.

Tip #2: My second tip is to always use a meat thermometer to ensure you’re getting the cook you want on any piece of meat.

For taste and texture, brisket should be cooked to 180 to 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Using a meat thermometer will ensure you don’t over or undercook the brisket and that you end up with juicy, tender beef.

Tip #3: My final tip is to cook brisket at a low temperature for a long period of time.

Brisket is naturally a tough cut of meat, so slow cooking it is the way to go. While it can be tempting to sear that fat at a high temperature, doing so will likely result in tougher meat.

For this reason, be sure to roast brisket at a lower oven temperature, between 225 to 300 degrees Fahrenheit to achieve tender brisket.

Marinated or Dry Rubbed Brisket:

If you love using dry rubs on your brisket, you can absolutely perform the dry brine step using a dry rub instead of salt alone. 

Just be sure your rub contains plenty of salt or sprinkle the brisket with salt before applying the dry rub to ensure the tenderizing action happens.

I like using my Dry Rub for Ribs on just about everything! You can also use my Best Steak Marinade recipe to marinate the brisket ahead of time by doubling or tripling the recipe.

As a personal preference, I believe most meats don’t need a lot of fancy rubs or marinades and can get away with being very lightly seasoned without a lot of pomp and circumstance provided you’re starting out with a quality piece of meat.

For this reason, I stick with sea salt, garlic powder and pepper and just love how flavorful the juicy beef turns out.

Still, a good coffee rub or any meat rub involving dry mustard or chili powder is a great option too. A marinade involving Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, and soy sauce is also classic.

If using liquid smoke, be sure to only use a tiny amount because a little bit goes a long way.

How Many People Does One Brisket Feed?:

Brisket shrinks substantially during the cooking process, as it loses water and fat is rendered. A 5-pound brisket typically only yields 3 to 3.5 pounds of meat.

Whenever I’m serving guests, I allot for 1 pound of meat per person but realistically most people won’t eat more than half a pound in one sitting unless they have a very large appetite. 

In this sense, a 5 pound brisket (pre-cooking) will comfortably feed about 6 people.

I recommend taking into account the imminent shrinkage of the brisket when deciding how big to buy versus how many people you’re feeding.

Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s make the best brisket in the oven!

How to Cook Brisket in the Oven:

Step 1: Dry Brine the Brisket:

Remove the raw brisket from its packaging and pat it dry with a paper towel.

Transfer it to a large baking sheet or roasting pan. Sprinkle the brisket liberally with coarse sea salt, making sure to get the sides as well.

Allow the brisket to sit uncovered in the refrigerator overnight (24 hours is ideal), or as long as you can before cooking it in the oven.

If you plan on using a dry rub on the brisket, you can do so now rather than waiting to rub the brisket just before baking it.

I’ve found garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika make for a great dry rub!

Step 2: Season the Brisket:

At least 30 minutes before you want to cook brisket in the oven, remove it from the refrigerator to allow it to come closer to room temperature. Sprinkle it liberally with garlic powder and black pepper and a little additional salt and allow it to sit.

Step 3: Cook Brisket in the Oven:

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Transfer the brisket to a long sheet of aluminum foil with the fat side up. Double wrap the brisket in foil, then place it back on the baking sheet (or roasting pan).

Roast the brisket in the preheated oven until it reaches an internal temperature of 180 to 200 degrees Fahrenheit, about 1 hour and 15 minutes per pound of meat.

Once the brisket reaches about 145 degrees F, you can uncover the foil and raise the oven temperature to 300 degrees F to allow the fat to become crispy for the last 45 minutes to 1 hour of baking. 

The best way to check the internal temperature of the meat is to use a quality meat thermometer and insert it into the thickest part of the meat. Wait patiently until the thermometer gets an accurate read.

Remember that large roasts will increase in temperature by about 5 to 10 degrees after they are out of the oven, so keep this in mind before you pull it out.

Step 4: Let Brisket Rest:

Once the brisket is out of the oven, allow it to sit for at least 20 minutes to give the juices an opportunity to evenly distribute throughout the meat for the best texture.

Step 5: Serve:

Transfer the finished brisket to a cutting board, reserving the drippings to make au jus for dipping if desired.

Slice meat against the grain of the meat, and serve it with your favorite side dishes.

Store any leftover brisket in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

If you want to get real fancy, serve this oven roasted brisket with Bacon Jam! You’ll be the talk of the town. 

How Long to Bake Brisket in the Oven:

The exact amount of time it takes to cook brisket depends on many factors. The size of the brisket, the temperature of the brisket going into the oven, and the temperature at which you roast the brisket all play a role in the total cook time. 

A smaller brisket like a 3-pound brisket, for instance, will take between 3 and 4 hours at 250 degrees F.

Simply take the temperature of the brisket after 2 hours of baking, then every 30 to 45 minutes, more frequently as it gets higher in temperature.

Many of the recipes I’ve seen on the internet indicate you should bake the brisket at 300 degrees the whole time, double wrapped in foil.

If you go this route of using a higher temperature, a good rule of thumb is 1 hour of bake time per pound of meat. 

Serve oven-roasted brisket with barbecue sauce or steak sauce.

Use leftover breakfast in an egg scramble the next day, or for brisket sandwiches.

What to Serve with Roasted Brisket:

Here are some of my favorite side dishes to serve with brisket!

• German-Style Potato Salad with Caramelized Onions
• Pea Salad with Bacon
• Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Garlic and Lemon 
• Mayo-Free Macaroni Salad
• Smashed Sweet Potatoes with Garlic Butter and Honey

And that’s it! Everything you need to know about how to cook brisket in the oven. I hope you enjoy this juicy meaty adventure!

How to Cook Brisket in the Oven

A complete tutorial on how to cook brisket in the oven. Follow these tips for the best result every time!

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Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 4 hours hours

Total Time: 4 hours hours 10 minutes minutes

6 to 10

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 (3 to 5-pound) beef brisket, trimmed to 1/4" of fat
• ▢ Coarse sea salt
• ▢ Garlic Powder
• ▢ Black Pepper

Instructions

• Remove the raw brisket from its packaging and pat it dry with a paper towel. Transfer it to a large baking sheet or roasting pan. Sprinkle the brisket liberally with coarse sea salt, making sure to get the sides as well. Allow the brisket to sit uncovered in the refrigerator overnight (24 hours is ideal), or as long as you can before cooking it in the oven.
  
• At least 30 minutes before you want to cook brisket in the oven, remove it from the refrigerator to allow it to come closer to room temperature. Sprinkle it liberally with garlic powder and black pepper and a little additional salt and allow it to sit.
  
• Preheat the oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Transfer the brisket to a long sheet of foil. Double wrap the brisket in foil, then place it back on the baking sheet (or roasting pan). Roast the brisket in the preheated oven until it reaches an internal temperature of 180 to 200 degrees Fahrenheit, about 1 hour and 15 minutes per pound of meat.
• Once the brisket reaches about 145 degrees F, you can uncover the foil and raise the oven temperature to 300 degrees F to allow the fat to become crispy for the last 45 minutes to 1 hour of baking. The final cooking temperature for brisket is 203 degrees Fahrenheit. Meat continues cooking while it rests, so you can pull it out of the oven around 190 – 195 degrees F and allow it to finish cooking as it rests, if you'd like. Otherwise, pull it out of the oven once it reaches 200 degrees Fahrenheit.
  
• The best way to check the internal temperature of the meat is to use a quality meat thermometer and insert it into the thickest part of the meat. Wait patiently until the thermometer gets an accurate read.
• Remember that large roasts will increase in temperature by about 5 to 10 degrees after they are out of the oven, so keep this in mind before you pull it out.
• Once the brisket is out of the oven, allow it to sit for at least 20 minutes to give the juices an opportunity to evenly distribute throughout the meat for the best texture.
  
• Transfer the finished brisket to a cutting board, reserving the drippings to make au jus for dipping if desired.
• Slice meat against the grain of the meat, and serve it with your favorite side dishes.
  
• Store any leftover brisket in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Video

Notes

The final cooking temperature for brisket is 203 degrees F. In this sense, brisket is always served well-done, never medium-rare or medium. For the best results, use a meat thermometer to keep tabs on the internal temperature. 

Nutrition

Serving: 8ounces – Calories: 460kcal – Protein: 76g – Fat: 16g

Course: Main Dishes

Cuisine: American

Keyword: how long to cook brisket, how to cook brisket in the oven, oven baked brisket recipe, roast brisket, roasted brisket

Servings: 6 to 10

Calories: 460kcal

Author: Julia

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