Tackling your first smoked brisket can feel like a barbecue rite of passage. This guide provides the perfect smoked brisket recipe pit boss owners can rely on to produce a tender, juicy, and incredibly delicious result. We’re stripping it down to a simple, Texas-style method that lets the beef and smoke be the stars of the show.
Forget being intimidated. This recipe for smoked brisket is a step-by-step manual for achieving that legendary smoky flavor, perfect bark, and melt-in-your-mouth texture that makes for the best brisket smoked right in your own backyard.
Choosing and Trimming Your Brisket
The journey to the perfect smoked brisket begins at the butcher counter.
- The Meat: You’re looking for a whole packer beef brisket, which includes two muscles: the leaner “flat” and the fattier “point.” Look for one around 12-15 pounds with good flexibility and a thick, white fat cap.
- The Trim:
- Place the brisket on a large cutting board, brisket fat side up.
- Trim the thick, hard fat cap down to an even ¼-inch layer across the entire surface. This fat will render during the cook, keeping the brisket moist.
- Flip the brisket over and remove any silver skin or large, hard chunks of fat from the meat side. Don’t worry about making it perfect; just remove the toughest parts.
The Simple Ingredients & Equipment
True Texas-style brisket is all about the beef and the smoke.
Ingredients:
- 1 whole packer brisket (12-15 lbs)
- Coarse kosher salt
- Coarse black pepper
- Optional: Granulated garlic powder
Equipment:
- A Pit Boss Smoker (or any reliable smoker)
- Pink Butcher Paper (do not use foil)
- A reliable instant-read meat thermometer
- A sharp knife for trimming and slicing
The Smoking Process: A Step-by-Step Guide
This pit boss smoker brisket recipe is all about temperature and patience.
Step 1: Season the Brisket For your rub, use a simple 50/50 mix of coarse salt and pepper by volume. If you like, you can add one part garlic powder to the mix. Generously coat the entire surface of the trimmed brisket—top, bottom, and sides. Let the seasoned brisket sit while you prepare your smoker.
Step 2: Smoke to the Stall (The First Phase)
- Prep Your Smoker: Before any long cook, it’s wise to make sure you clean your pit boss grill and perform a pit boss pellet removal to start with fresh pellets. For brisket, you’ll want your smoker to be a clean and reliable heat source.
- Preheat: Preheat your smoker to 250°F (121°C). Load it with your favorite wood pellets for smokers; post oak, hickory, or mesquite are classic choices for beef.
- Place Brisket: Place the brisket on the smoker grate with the fat side facing up. Insert a leave-in meat thermometer probe into the thickest part of the flat.
- Smoke: Let the brisket smoke for several hours until the internal temperature reaches “the stall,” typically between 160-165°F. The bark should be a dark, rich mahogany color. This can take anywhere from 4 to 6 hours.
Step 3: Wrap the Brisket – The stall is when moisture evaporating from the surface cools the brisket, preventing its temperature from rising. To push through it, we need to wrap.
- Lay out two long sheets of pink butcher paper, overlapping them slightly.
- Place the brisket in the center of the paper.
- Wrap the brisket as tightly as you can, like you’re wrapping a present. The butcher paper allows the brisket to breathe so the bark doesn’t get soft. This is how you get a perfect brisket in butcher paper.
Step 4: Finish to Temp – Place the wrapped brisket back on the smoker. Continue cooking until the internal temp reaches around 203°F (95°C). More importantly, it should be “probe tender”—when you insert your thermometer, it should feel like probing into a jar of peanut butter with very little resistance.
Step 5: The All-Important Rest – Once the brisket is probe tender, it’s not finished cooking yet. Pull it from the smoker, leave it in the butcher paper, and place it in a dry, empty cooler. Let it rest for a minimum of one hour, but 2-3 hours is even better. This is the most crucial step for a juicy final product.
Step 6: Slice and Serve – Unwrap the best brisket smoked and place it on a large cutting board. Slice the flat against the grain into pencil-thick slices. Rotate the point 90 degrees and slice it as well. Serve immediately.
Conclusion of The Smoked Brisket Recipe
Following this perfect smoked brisket recipe pit boss guide will give you the confidence to produce a world-class brisket. It’s a rewarding process that is the pinnacle of backyard barbecue. Once you’ve mastered brisket, try another great recipe like our Pit Boss Salmon Recipe or an easy Pit Boss Pizza Recipe. Looking for a new grill? Feel free to shop Pit Boss grills and smokers to see their latest models.
FAQs About Smoked Brisket
What is smoked brisket?
A smoked brisket is a large cut of beef from the lower chest of a cow, cooked low and slow with wood smoke for many hours. The process breaks down the tough connective tissue, resulting in incredibly tender, moist, and flavorful meat.
What temp to smoke brisket?
The ideal temperature for smoking the perfect smoked brisket is between 225°F and 250°F (107-121°C). This low temperature gives the fat and collagen time to render properly without drying out the meat.
How long does it take to smoke a brisket?
There is no exact answer, but a general rule is 1 to 1.5 hours per pound. A 12-pound brisket can take anywhere from 10 to 16 hours, including the resting period. Always cook to internal temperature, not time.
How to smoke brisket on a Pit Boss?
Using a Pit Boss electric smoker or pellet grill is ideal. Set the temperature to 250°F, place the seasoned brisket on the grate, and smoke until the internal temperature hits the stall (around 165°F). Then, wrap it in butcher paper and continue cooking until the internal temperature is around 203°F and it feels probe tender.
How long to smoke a brisket on a Pit Boss?
On a Pit Boss set to 250°F, a typical 12-15 pound packer brisket will take approximately 8-12 hours of cooking time before the mandatory 1-3 hour rest.
Troubleshooting Tip: If you ever have a major pellet jam during a long cook, you may need to know about a pit boss full auger removal and replacement.