Best oven baked brisket with a dry rub and the most amazing sauce to keep it nice and fork tender when it’s done. Out of this world YUM!
This oven baked brisket came out better than I ever could’ve imagined. Tender and juicy with a bold sauce to keep it most, we will be making this over and over again for sure.
I will say I haven’t cooked a beef brisket often. When we bought our half of a cow this year I saved it for a special day.
Knowing how expensive they can be it’s not something you want to take chances with and need to KNOW it will come out amazing…or why spend the money right??
- I will tell you, I was kinda’ floored.
- We have used our steak dry rub or tri tip dry rub on the outside and it’s amazing. Then mixing a few of our favorite marinade / sauce ingredients together made it out of this world.
If you want to treat your family to something special on the weekend, or maybe cook something different for Christmas dinner this year, this is it!!
Here are a few questions you might have before you get started on this beauty.
It is quite tough so it requires low and slow cooking to break down the connective tissue and get it nice and tender. A slow cooker or low temp. in the oven is ideal for this cut of beef.
That depends on how large it is but our 3.2 lb. piece took exactly 5 hours in the oven to reach perfection.
195 degrees F is ideal so it isn’t overcooked and becomes dry. It may get a bit higher when it is removed from the heat source initially but should definitely rest for at least 20 minutes before slicing to stay juicy.
Yes. Since it needs to be cooked or smoked for a long period of time it can get dried out if it’s not kept moist. Wrapping with foil is a great way to keep it tender and juicy.
The key to the best tasting meat though is the rub and/or sauce if you ask me. I want a Wallop of flavor in every bite. This is how it’s done y’all.
Best Way to Cook Brisket
Here are all the ingredients you are going to need. As far as how many pounds you should buy, I like 3-4 myself.
It is enough to feed the 5 of us with a bit left over for the next day to enjoy.
- Beef brisket
- Sauce
- Broth
- Onion
- Minced garlic
- Chili powder
- Rice vinegar
- Worcestershire sauce
- Ketchup
- Olive oil
- Tinfoil and baking sheet
Brisket Dry Rub
- Brown sugar
- Chili powder
- Paprika
- Salt
- Garlic powder
The first step is to mix together the dry rub ingredients. I like to rinse the meat and then pat it dry lightly with a paper towel. The dry rub will stick pretty well with a bit that will fall off.
If you rub / pat it on on top of a cutting board you can then gather what falls off and add it back on when it’s on your baking sheet. It’s kinda’ messy so using tinfoil to cover your pan is kinda’ a must too.
- After the initial 3 hours covered in the oven you’ll want to boil the sauce ingredients.
- You just want the onions to soften and some of the water to evaporate so it is a bit thicker. It will still be pretty liquidy though and that is okay.
This is a must to keep it moist AND to add a TON of flavor!
Here is a quick step by step but there is a printable recipe card at the bottom of this post too.
Time needed: 5 hours.
Oven Baked Brisket
- Mix beef dry rub
Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl. Rinse off brisket and pat dry with paper towels. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
- Coat
Lay meat flat on a cutting board. Pour half rub on top and rub/pat on so there’s a nice thick coat. Flip over and do the same thing on the bottom.
Put foil on a baking sheet (or roasting pan would work). Lay brisket on top, allow excess rub to fall off on cutting board. Pour excess from board on top of meat and press on again. - Bake
With foil cover the top and secure on the sides so it’s all enclosed. Bake for 3 hours.
- Make sauce
Before taking it out add sauce ingredients into a small saucepan on the stovetop. Boil until onions are softened.
Take meat out, take foil off and pour 1/3 – 1/2 of sauce on top of meat. (if sides of pan aren’t too high just pour on 1/3, you don’t want it to be higher than 1/2 way up sides) - Cook again
Put aluminum foil back on the top and put beef brisket into the oven again for 1.5-2 hours (mine was 3.2 pound brisket and 1 1/2 hours was enough, larger would need more time to get tender) until meat is fork tender.
Then take foil off and bake uncovered for 30 minutes so outsides can get nice and brown. - Rest
Remove pan and put foil back on top to let meat rest for 30 minutes before slicing. Serve slices with a side dish with some of the remaining sauce poured on top to make it super moist.
If you lift the foil up after 4.5 hours total cooking time and with a fork it doesn’t feel tender enough to cut with the side of it, then you need more time. Add 30 minutes until it reaches that point.
I highly recommend the sauce we used. You could alternatively use a bit of water to thin out some bbq sauce and use that to keep it moist. This is what ours looked like when we took it out and before we put foil back on.
How long do you rest a brisket?
You really want it to sit a good 30 minutes, some prefer longer. It will soften as it cools off a bit and releases. It tries hard to keep in that moisture and needs a bit of time to relax if you will.
How do you store and reheat brisket?
It’s all about aluminum foil really. Store what you didn’t eat inside some of this. Wrap it tight so it doesn’t dry out.
When reheating oven baked brisket that is left over, use some of this sauce! Don’t throw away what is left, store sauce in a container next to your meat.
- Slice meat, place inside some foil, pour a bit of sauce on top and wrap it up tight.
- Preheat oven to 200 degrees F
- Put it on a baking sheet and heat until warm
- Plate, warm remaining sauce and pour more of that on top
- Serve!
What should I do with leftover brisket?
I will start by saying that we only really have enough for 1 or 2 of us to have lunch the next day. I just make some white rice and reheat a serving for myself to enjoy. It is one of the few repeat meals I can’t get enough of.
My favorite is probably to dice it up into small pieces. Then put it into a bowl with some of your leftover sauce on top. Stir so it’s all coated and then mix it with brown rice and vegetables on the side.
- You can also shred and put inside homemade tortillas with cheese for over the top quesadillas.
- Make the best baked potatoes and stuff with leftover meat. Pour sauce or a bit of liquid smoke on top and you’re ready!
- Instead of pepperoni, shred meat and make a brisket pizza!
- Another easy beef brisket recipe is to just warm meat, throw it inside small tortillas and load it up to make tacos with:
- Cheese
- Guacamole or sliced avocados
- Cole slaw
- Sour cream
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Best Oven Baked Brisket Recipe
Looking for more great ideas like this one?? Try these:
- Our smoked pulled pork turned out amazing. Using the same dry rub as we did here, it comes out fork tender with bold flavors.
- If you have a chuck roast you can make our Instant Pot carnitas that have out of this world flavors. Using a bottle of green salsa and seasonings you’ll be blown away with it.
- Then move on to the best baked pork chops that only take 12 minutes to reach perfection.
Oven baked teriyaki chicken thighs are super cheap. We share here how to make a pressure cooker brisket too.
Below are the step by step directions that are easy to follow. It also includes nutritional facts like calories, saturated fat content etc. It will vary depending on how lean your piece is and the size though. Enjoy friends!
Oven Baked Brisket
Ingredients
- 3-4 lb beef brisket mine was 3.2 lbs.
- dry rub
- 1/2 c brown sugar
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tbsp chili powder
- 1/2 tbsp paprika
- sauce
- 2 c broth vegetable was used, or beef
- 1 small onion diced
- 2 tbsp minced garlic
- 1/8 tsp chili powder
- 3 tbsp rice vinegar or white wine vinegar
- 3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 c ketchup
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl.
- Rinse off brisket and pat dry with paper towels. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
- Lay meat flat on a cutting board. Pour half rub on top and rub/pat on so there's a nice thick coat. Flip over and do the same thing on the bottom.
- Put foil on a baking sheet and lay brisket on top, allow excess rub to fall off on cutting board.
- Pour excess from board on top of meat and press on again. Cover pan with meat on top with foil.
- Bake for 3 hours. Before taking it out add sauce ingredients into a small saucepan on the stovetop. Boil until onions are softened.
- Take meat out, take foil off and pour 1/3 – 1/2 of sauce on top of meat. (if sides of pan aren't too high just pour on 1/3, you don't want it to be higher than 1/2 way up sides)
- Put foil back on the top and put back into the oven for 1.5-2 hours (mine was 3.2 lbs. and 1 1/2 hours was enough, larger would need more time to get tender) until meat is fork tender.
- Then take foil off and bake uncovered for 30 minutes so outsides can get nice and brown.
- Remove pan and put foil back on top to let meat rest for 30 minutes before slicing. Serve slices with a side dish with some of the remaining sauce poured on top to make it super moist.