So this recipe for barbecue brisket takes HOURS! But would you believe it is one of the easiest things I have made on the grill lately? It may take hours until it is ready to eat, but most of the work is babysitting the grill. This means, sipping on a strawberry lemonade, reading a good book and soaking up some early summer rays. Oh wait, you’re a mom? Yeah, me too…that is enough time to break up about three sibling quarrels, change two dirty diapers, help with a last minute school project and finish up the cupcakes for the bake sale. Throw in one load of dishes and two loads of laundry and we have a very productive, mom-friendly Brisket!
This recipe for barbecue brisket is cooked on the grill. You can choose to use a smoker box for a deeper, smokey flavor or not. If you want to smoke your brisket check out my post on making your own smoker box to put right on the grill. You can put this diy smoker together in seconds and it only costs about $0.75!
Mix all your spices up in a small bowl. This is enough to cover a small to medium brisket around 2-6 lbs. When choosing a brisket, make sure it is one with a thick layer of fat on one side. This will help keep the meat moist and give it more flavor as it cooks.
Rub the spices onto your brisket in a thick layer and let sit at room temperature while you get your grill ready.
Turn your far left heating element on high, and leave the rest off. Place your diy smoker box over the heating element that is on, and let it heat up until it starts smoking, about 10-15 minutes. Once it is producing smoke, place your brisket on the top rack of your grill to the right. Again refer to this post for detailed instructions. Make sure your brisket it fat side up! This allows the fat juices and flavor the sink down into the meat, instead of just dripping off the bottom.
Between 1 and 2 hours your brisket will start to drip juice. Make sure you have an old pan underneath your brisket to catch the drippings. You will want to use the drippings to brush onto the brisket about every 30 minutes until it is finished. I love using my silicone brush for this! It’s easy to clean and you never have to worry about stray brush hairs in your food! The only time you should be opening your grill is to baste. Work quickly as not to lose too much heat or smoke. Smoke for about 1 1/2 hours per pound.
Using a meat thermometer, check the internal temperature of the meat. Once it is above 160 degrees, you can remove your brisket. However it is suggested to let it come to 185 degrees, it may take a while longer, but the brisket will be much more tender. Remove the brisket from the grill and let rest for at least a half hour before slicing.
When ready to slice, make sure to use a sharp knife and cut against the grain.
Serve with your favorite sides. No need to be fancy, the brisket speaks for itself! This goes so great with my homemade BBQ sauce!
**Disclaimer: I am by no means a BBQ/smoking expert! This brisket turned out fantastic and our family loved it, however there may be other practices of smoking that work better! Feel free to experiment and research what works best for you. Please share any tips or ideas you may have in the comments below!
Happy Grilling!
The best recipe for Barbecue Brisket {Using A DIY Smoker}
Ingredients
- 3-6 lb Brisket fat intact
- 1/4 cup Paprika
- 2 tbsp Brown Sugar
- 1 1/2 tbsp Onion Powder
- 1 tbsp Oregano
- 1 tbsp Garlic Salt
- 1 tbsp Salt
Instructions
- Mix spices together in a bowl and generously rub into the brisket.
- Place on the grill over indirect heat with a drip pan directly under the meat.
- After about an hour, start to use the drippings to baste the brisket every half hour.
- Grill or smoke (if using a smoker box) for 1 1/2 hours per pound of meat, or until internal temperature is between 160 degrees and 185 degrees.
Nutrition
If you love to cook, try these out!
I’m gonna try this…hope I do good.
At what temp on a gas grill?
Turn on one heating element to high and leave the rest off. This should produce enough heat to keep your grill between 225 and 250 degrees, which is optimal smoking temperature for most meats.
This was the absolute best recipe ever!! I marinated my brisket for 2 days and the result was picture perfect and so moist with crispy smoked skin on the edges!! Definitely a winner and the DIY homemade smoker was genius!!
Wonderful, so happy you loved it!
Do you have a recipe for the marinade?
My brisket didn’t produce any drippings not sure why
What temperature should the bbq be?
I have a master built sportsman elite 225 to 230 oak and Apple chips ,about 4 hours on smoke 3 1/2 covered turned out ausom
DO NOT use the packet. Use the recipe provided. Simple, yet delicious! This came out perfect!
Thanks, Karrie!
IMG_9312.jpeg
Smoked brisket
Dear KT
Thanks for a clear step by step, fool proof recipe!
Culinary success!
François
Québec
Canada
It looks yum! I love the flavor of the spices. I always find a hard time to mix them in the right proportion so what I usually do is get barbecue spice mix from any store outside, usually it is the Horton Spice Mills and get the work done. But I would definitely like to try it out this way. Once again, great blog!
Thanks Dalia!
Are you using pork or beef?
Beef!
Perfect! I just bought a huge beef brisket yesterday! (Had the butcher cut it into 3 big pieces) I’m going to try this, this weekend! Perfect timing! And sounds GOOD!
Well, Tried this recipe today, along with your directions for the DIY smoker, and YOU NAILED IT!!!! I’m 66 years old, and I think “it’s the bomb” means fantastic! I can’t believe how well the little smoker thing worked! The spice rub, everything was 5 star! Family couldn’t get enough! The “bark” was wonderful, the meat inside, tender and so flavorful!
Thank you Karrie for a great dinner!!!
Huuuuge hit! Made this for 4th Of July and everyone loved it! The spice mix was just perfect, and your instructions for DIY smoker box was very helpful! I chopped the burnt ends into one inch pieces and cooked them for about another hour in the drip juices and omg, delicious! Thanks for the great post!
So happy you loved it!!!! Yay!!