The Best Guide to Pellet Grill Brisket

This is the best home chef's guide to a perfect brisket on a pellet smoker. I break down everything you need to know to create a delicious pellet grill brisket with a beautiful smoke ring and absolutely amazing flavor. Impress your friends and family with the juiciest, most tender brisket they'll ever have in their life!

This post has been over a year in the making. As y'all know I've been slowly turning my New York City husband into a Southern gentleman...and everybody knows that the best barbecue comes from the South.

Who else is crazy enough to be smoking a prime rib roast outside on Christmas Eve? Who else is crazy enough to smoke 20 briskets just to get a food blog post out?

So these photos? I want you to examine them closely. Go on, zoom up in there. Know that there is no photoshopping of liquids, no injections, no gimmicks; the glistening, juicy slices of perfectly smoked brisket with iconic smoke rings are all the real deal.

And I'm going to lay out how to get the best results with your very first brisket. Everything from what to buy, the exact techniques, the secrets to literally fall-apart, jiggly, juicy, tender, perfect smoked brisket.

So this summer, throw your brisket onto your traeger or pit boss pellet smoker and feel confident that you will feel the crowd at your 4th of July BBQ the best thing their taste buds have ever been blessed with. Ever. And yes, they will want seconds...remind everyone to bring their tupperware.

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Jump to:

• Equipment
• Ingredients
• Wet Brine vs. Dry Brine
• What is Texas Style Brisket?
• The Texas Crutch
• How to Make this Pellet Grill Brisket Recipe
• How to Prepare a Brisket for Smoking
• Slicing Tips
• Pro Tips
• Serving Suggestions
• Storage and Reheating
• FAQs
• More Summertime Party Recipes
• 📖 Recipe

Equipment

Pellet Grill Smoker - this is a type of electric smoker that is a home cook's best friend. It does all the hard work for you of maintaining a constant temperature and giving all that good smoke flavor.

Wood Pellets - This is what gets smoked in the pellet hopper. They come in several different woods and therefore, flavors. We like using hickory or apple wood for brisket, but I would advise against mesquite because its flavor is so strong.

Baking Sheet and a Wire Rack - this is what you'll dry brine the brisket on in the fridge.

Meat Thermometer - I prefer using a thermometer probe that can stay inside the wrapped brisket during the second half of the smoke. I have also used an instant read thermometer, but for your first few times making this, I highly suggest the probe that can attach to your phone and alert you when the internal temperature of the brisket reaches peak perfection.

Peach Butcher Paper - Peach paper helps us get over the dreaded temperature stall by using a technique called a Texas Crutch. The main goal in using this paper specifically (and not use aluminum foil) is so that the bark remains, well...barky, and the smoke flavor is still able to permeate through the paper. Do not use regular butcher paper, they are often treated and coated with stuff we don't want on our brisket.

Cooler - okay, this is a trick we learned from pitmasters who do competitions. Get your cooler out of the garage, make sure it's nice and clean, and this is where your pellet grill brisket will rest. Resting in a well-insulated cooler helps the brisket actually maintain its heat longer as it rests and gets all the juices redistributed.

And if you need the brisket to have a long rest time before serving (no one wants cold brisket. No one.) you'll want to create a very warm environment in there by covering the brisket with towels as well.

Sharp knife and cutting board - you need a big boy cutting board here, preferably one with a juice groove because whew this brisket is juicy!

As for the knife, most people say use a serrated knife, which are great for cutting through tough, fibrous cuts of meat. My husband uses his chef knife to cut through our brisket, he says it's like cutting through warm butter. *totally bragging here*

Ingredients

Full ingredients, measurements, and printable instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

• Whole Packer Beef Brisket - this is the big boy! A full-packer brisket typically weighs anywhere from 10 to 20 pounds and is complete with both the point and the flat at the big bulk stores or butcher shop. I find that prime briskets are worth the price in terms of marbling (though they aren't usually much more expensive than choice brisket at my local Costco), but wagyu brisket is over the top in both price and fat, in my opinion.
• Kosher Salt - Many chefs and pitmasters swear by kosher salt due to its pure, clean taste and versatility. It has a larger grain size than table salt, which makes it great for seasoning meat.
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper - “Freshly ground” is the key here. That pre-ground powder that comes in tins has only a fraction of the essential oils (read: FLAVOR) that whole peppercorns bring to the table.
• Garlic Powder - love this so, so much. Because the smoker is at such a low temperature, you don't need to worry about the garlic powder burning.
• Light Brown Sugar - Light brown sugar has a slightly lower molasses content than dark brown sugar, which gives it a subtler caramelly sweet flavor. It helps to create a beautiful caramelization on the surface of your gorgeously smoked brisket. Feel free to swap in dark brown sugar if that's what you have on hand.
• Paprika - This vibrant red spice is made from ground dried chile pepper. When used in this brisket dry brine rub, it helps to create that signature "bark" on the outside of the meat while infusing it with a rich, savory flavor.
• Beef Tallow - Optional, but encouraged for the Texas Crutch technique. When used for wrapping brisket, this beef fat creates a natural barrier that seals in the meat's juices, preventing it from drying out during the cooking process. Beef tallow also adds a rich, meaty flavor that permeates throughout the brisket for a more succulent result.

Wet Brine vs. Dry Brine

Y'all know my obsession with brining, especially dry brining. I dry brine turkey for Thanksgiving and have never had a dry turkey (made by me) in my life.

I also like wet brining, like for fried chicken. The wet brine solution there is a buttermilk base, filled with herbs and spices, and it really gives plenty of flavor.

But there's a time and a place for wet brining solution...and that's when you aren't caring about the external aspect of what you're brining. Fried chicken gets fried in batter to get crispy, while brisket is just naked in seasoning.

Dry brining gives you a tender brisket without risking ruining the bark. You don't want a wet brisket, it'll steam in the smoker rather than create bark.

The dry brining process uses the natural moisture in the meat to dissolve the salt on its surface and draw it back in. This needs time to do so an overnight, uncovered dry brining session in the fridge will give you a more thoroughly seasoned, much more flavorful brisket...and smokier brisket since the meat will want to create bark instead of steam from too much added moisture.

And not to mention, it's much, much easier than getting out a huge container to fit the brisket and make a brining solution and having to make room in your fridge for all of that.

Dry brining brisket is 100% the way to go here.

What is Texas Style Brisket?

To smoke a brisket like the pit bosses do, you'll need a whole packer brisket, aka a Texas-style brisket.

This brisket isn't usually at the grocery store, you'll find it at the butcher shop...or Costco. You'll find some pretty nice ones at Costco, the prime brisket there is quite affordable for such a huge piece of meat.

A whole packer brisket is made of the entire brisket, the point and the flat. This is going to weigh anywhere from 8-20 pounds, but we usually stay around the 14-16 pound area for a crowd (about 10 people with plenty of leftovers).

The point cut is the piece of meat that you won't find at the local store, it's rich with good marbling and dense meat. Super juicy, full of flavor, and the point (also called a deckle) is used to make delicious burnt ends!

The other cut is more common in the grocery stores, it's the flat. This piece is not fatty, though it does have a fat cap. It's a tough cut of meat with no marbling but tons of connective tissue, which makes it become juicy and tender once properly cooked.

The Texas Crutch

Something we learned over this past year is that brisket is finicky and unforgiving. Wrong temperatures, wrong technique, and you'll have a dry piece of beef on your hands.

Which is why we rely on the good ole Texas crutch.

Some pitmasters swear by this, some say it's cheating. But it's the only way to ensure you as the home cook will have a delicious brisket that'll stay nice and juicy and get over that stall. You can lose a lot of moisture from trying to wait out a stall without wrapping the meat.

What's the stall? Some pieces of meat stall out in temperature when smoking, it has a lot to do with the meat sweating and cooling down, this happens around 150ºF for brisket.

But we need to reach 202-205ºF where the connective tissue is officially melted down into juicy goodness, so we wrap it up in peach paper.

The wrapped brisket retains its moisture and the added moisture itself helps heat up and push the meat through that stall. A win-win.

We find that adding beef tallow to the top of the brisket before wrapping really helps both retain that moisture within the brisket (sort of like a seal!) and help overcome the stall with the Texas Crutch method.

Also flavor. So much flavor.

Haven't done a 'yeah, science!' on here in awhile. So, yeah, science!

How to Make this Pellet Grill Brisket Recipe

I want you to understand: this is a long game recipe. It is something that takes planning to make because you're dry brining overnight, then smoking all day or overnight. All smoked brisket takes time, but it's definitely worth it.

How to Prepare a Brisket for Smoking

Here's a few tips on trimming the brisket:

1. Round out the flat. You'll notice that up above there is meat that was taken off during the trimming. Some of it was unwanted greyed meat, some of it was the very thin (and very easy to burn) end of the flat. You want to round out that little area so your brisket cooks evenly. You can see the rounding of the flat in the before/after shots here.
2. You don't have to go crazy trimming the fat. My husband actually does very minimal fat trimming compared to other people. Because the brisket goes through such a long cooking process, that layer of fat helps protect the meat from the heat of the pellet grill as it renders down.
3. But definitely cut some of that fat vein out of the point. That huge block of hard fat that runs through the point/deckle on the side? The brisket benefits from you cutting some of it out (but don't try to remove all the fat we need some fat). Season in the flap it makes when you dry brine! (Pro Tip: Save that fat to make beef tallow!)

Slicing Tips

Always slice perpendicular to the grain, though because these are two different cuts it can be hard to tell where the grain changes.

Here you can see the grain goes in different directions between the flat and the point. It's a good idea to separate the flat and point after smoking to serve, that way you can slice them in different ways without running into the other cut for the best results.

Pro Tips

• Waste not, want not. Save the fat trimmings from the brisket to render into your own DIY beef tallow. On that note…
• Use beef tallow for the best, most succulent results. Y’all, this one simple ingredient makes a HUGE difference in the flavor and texture. It’s crazy!
• Be the tortoise, not the hare. Smoking a pellet grill brisket is a slow and steady process that can take upwards of 16+ hours. That's a long cook! Be patient and allow plenty of time for the brisket to cook low and slow until it reaches the desired internal temperature. The main focus is the temperature, not the time.
• Don’t rush the rest. You’d be tired after 16 hours of cooking, too! Give your meat plenty of time to rest for the juices to adequately redistribute.
• If you're doing this in the winter, expect to use more pellets to keep the pellet grill smoker hot.
• Refill the hopper if you're smoking overnight! Don't let it run out of wood to burn.
• A windy day can prolong the cook time! Wind is a pain to deal with, but don't fret. We are more worried about the temperatures than the time. This is why a meat probe is so important.

Serving Suggestions

The point cut of the brisket is perfect for burnt ends!

Leftovers are also delicious smothered in cheese! Try brisket mac and cheese, brisket queso, or brisket grilled cheese sandwiches!

Chop the leftover brisket flat up and serve in BBQ sauce on a sumptuous smoked brisket sandwich.

Serve with the classic cookout sides: baked beans, potato salad, grilled corn, and cornbread!

Storage and Reheating

Once your brisket has cooled down to room temperature, wrap it tightly in aluminum foil or plastic wrap to prevent air from getting in. Place the wrapped brisket in an airtight container or a large resealable plastic bag.

Store the brisket in the refrigerator for up to four days or in the freezer for up to three months.

NOTE: If you’re freezing the brisket, I recommend vacuum sealing it to prevent freezer burn. If you don’t have a vacuum sealer, place the brisket in a freezer-safe zip-top bag and slowly submerge it in water to press any extra air out.

Reheating Instructions

To reheat, remove the brisket from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes. Unwrap the brisket and place it in a baking dish or on a baking sheet and cover tightly with foil to prevent it from drying out.

Bake in a preheated oven at 325ºF (165C) for about 15 minutes per pound, or until the internal temperature reaches 165°F (74°C). Remove the foil from the brisket and continue baking for an additional 15-20 minutes, or until the brisket is heated through and has a nice crust on the outside.

Let the brisket rest for a few minutes before slicing and serving.

Note: You can also reheat your brisket on the grill or in your smoker, but be sure to keep a close eye on it to prevent it from drying out.

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