Oven BBQ Beef Brisket Recipe

A white baking dish filled with sliced oven roasted barbecue beef brisket topped with a hickory brown sugar bbq sauce.

4.85 from 185 votes

This slow roasted BBQ Beef Brisket recipe is made in the oven or slow cooker for the most tender and juicy meat ever, with a sweet & smoky barbecue sauce! I'm sharing all my best tips for how to cook brisket for a crowd, since this is a great choice for large dinner parties. It's so good, no one will care the meat wasn't smoked for hours!

Prep Time10

Cook Time5

Total Time5 10

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: American

Servings: servings

Calories: 868kcal

Author: Amy Nash

Ingredients

Brisket

5-6 pounds brisket
3 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
3 teaspoons table salt
2 teaspoons celery salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
2 teaspoons granulated sugar

Sauce

20 ounces hickory-flavored barbecue sauce (Sweet Baby Ray's is my favorite)
¾ cup brown sugar

Instructions

The night before you plan to cook and serve the brisket, combine the salt, celery salt, garlic powder, onion powder and sugar in a small bowl and set aside. Place the brisket in a large roasting pan and trim the fat if it is thick, but leave at least a ¼" layer. Moisten the brisket with all of the Worcestershire sauce, then sprinkle the top and bottom of the brisket with half of the mixed seasonings, reserving the other half. Cover tightly with foil and place in the refrigerator overnight.
The next day, preheat the oven to 250°F. Remove the brisket from the fridge and uncover. Sprinkle it with the remaining seasonings, then cover it with foil again and place it in the oven to roast for 5-6 hours (plan on approximately 1 hour per pound of meat).
Remove the brisket from the oven and remove the aluminum foil. Pour off the fat. In a medium bowl, stir together the brown sugar and barbecue sauce, then pour it over the brisket. Increase the oven temperature to 350°F, then return the brisket to the oven, uncovered, and roast an additional 30 minutes to an hour, or until the sauce is hot and the meat is tender. Remove from the oven and let the meat rest for 15 minutes, then slice into finger-width strips against the grain or chop and serve.

Video

Notes

Storage: Keep leftovers in the fridge for 3-4 days in an airtight container and reheat in a 350°F oven for 10-15 minutes or in the microwave for a couple of minutes before serving.
Freezing: You can freezing the leftover meat for 2-3 months. Just thaw and reheat before adding to things like nachos or one of the ideas mentioned above.
Cut against the grain: If you look at the meat you will notice that the tissues run in one direction. You want to slice perpendicular to those lines, called cutting against the grain, for the most tender bites of meat.
Plan ahead: The best tip you can have for cooking brisket in the oven is to give yourself plenty of time. Don't forget to check your packaging for weight before throwing it out so you know just how long to cook it for!
Fat cap on top or on bottom: I always make this brisket recipe with the fat cap on bottom. Some people swear by having the fat cap on top so the fat can melt down into the meat. I like that approach when smoking brisket, but for brisket in the oven I like the fat cap on bottom so the meat on top can dry out a bit more and develop more of a crust. It's really just personal preference though and I don't think there is really a wrong way, despite what others might say.
Brisket for a crowd: I love this recipe for big groups because the results are always reliable, it's practically foolproof, and everybody loves it. I have done this for church Christmas dinners where I needed to cook 120 pounds of brisket for 300-350 people and I just farmed out individual briskets and ingredients to a few friends with double ovens, large electric roasters, or slow cookers who could start the meat first thing in the morning so they could roast all day and be tender and ready for slicing that night at the party.

Nutrition