Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 22 hours
Total Servings: 12-14 servings
Today we'll be uncovering our favorite smoked pellet grill brisket recipe!
You'll receive all of the information needed to complete this dish.
We cover everything from ingredients to serving!
So if you're a fan of juicy and flavorful brisket, you'll want to stick around for this recipe.
Pellet Grill Brisket Ingredients:
- One 12-14 pound full packer brisket
- ⅓ cup ground black pepper
- ⅓ cup coarse pink Himalayan salt
- ¼ cup garlic powder
- ¼ cup smoked paprika
Pellet Grill Brisket Equipment:
- Wood Pellet Grill
- Wood Pellets
- Cutting Board
- Knife Set
- Meat Thermometer
- Unwaxed Butcher Paper
- Insulated Cooler (optional)
- Latex Gloves (optional)
Brisket Cooking Instructions:
Select Your Cut Of Brisket:
The first step in creating a mouthwatering brisket is always choosing your desired cut!
The main things to look out for when selecting your brisket are beef grade, size, and uniformity.
For a higher quality brisket, shoot for USDA Prime brisket, or if you're looking for a more affordable option you can go with USDA Choice-rated brisket.
The next thing to check for is to see if the brisket has an even thickness on the flat end.
This part is considered to be the tip, which will be the part that finishes cooking first.
Lastly, just make sure the brisket you are buying will be big enough if you are cooking for others.
Generally, it's a good plan to have a big enough brisket, allowing everyone to get 1 pound.
Preparing The Ingredients:
Time to prep!
First, take your brisket out of its packaging, and place it onto a cutting board.
Take your knife set out and carefully being to trim what is known as "hard fat".
Most cuts of brisket will have a decent amount of hard fat that needs to be trimmed.
Some call this "silverskin" because of its slightly shiny, brighter-colored fat contents.
Your brisket should be nice and uniform now that you've removed any excess fat.
Now measure out the salt, pepper, garlic powder, and smoked paprika.
Whisk them together in a bowl and set aside.
That's all the prep you'll need for this recipe!
Pre-Heating The Grill:
This step is very important to ensure that your whole packer brisket cooks properly all the way through and is done at the right time.
With this recipe, timing is everything!
Be sure that your hopper is full of your desired pellets, so it has enough fuel for the duration of the cook.
Power on your grill and set it to 225℉.
Close the lid and let it preheat for about 15 minutes.
After that, your grill should be ready to rock!
Apply The Seasoning:
While your grill is preheating, that gives you plenty of time to apply your seasonings to the brisket!
Take the bowl of seasoning that you previously mixed and evenly sprinkle the entire bowl over your brisket.
Using food-grade latex gloves, you can rub the seasoning into the brisket, making sure the rub penetrates the top layer of the brisket for a bold flavor.
Once your brisket has been properly seasoned it's time to start cooking!
Smoke The Brisket:
At this point, your grill should be at about 225℉ which is the ideal temperature to start slow smoking brisket on a pellet grill.
Open the lid of your grill and place your brisket in the center of the grill grates.
It's important to keep in mind that when you smoke brisket, it tends to take 1-1.5 hours per pound.
In this recipe, we are using a 14-pound brisket and shooting for the 1.5-hour per pound range.
This means our brisket will take over 20 hours to fully cook!
(This may vary depending upon the size of brisket you are using)
Now is a good time to insert your instant-read meat thermometer into the thickest part of the brisket which usually has the lowest fat content ensuring accurate temp readings.
Continue the cooking process until the internal temperature of the brisket gets to about 165℉.
Wrap The Brisket And Finish Smoking:
Once the internal temperature of your brisket reaches 165℉ it will start to lose excess moisture, which is commonly known as the brisket stall.
This can affect the time it takes for the meat to rise in temperature.
To prevent this, you can take your brisket off the grill and wrap it in two 4'x18" pieces of unwaxed butcher paper.
Wrap it as tightly as you can get it.
This method is known as the 'Texas Crutch' and will help keep the bark texture!
Once wrapped up you can put the brisket back on the grill and continue smoking!
Be sure to check on the brisket temperature once every 1-2 hours, so you can make sure it is not being overcooked.
Check For Doneness And Let Rest:
After your brisket reaches an internal temperature of about 205℉ it should be fully cooked.
A simple way to check is by taking your thermometer probe and re-inserting it into the fat cap of the brisket.
If it slides in easily with no resistance, it's done.
If there is still a bit of resistance when inserting it, cook the wrapped brisket for another 10-15 minutes and try again.
This process is similar to testing the doneness of a cake!
It's important to make sure your brisket is nice and tender.
Undercooked brisket will be tough, regardless of meat grade.
While overcooked brisket will be ultra delicate, like pot roast.
Now that you've made sure your brisket is fully cooked turn off the grill, and need to let it rest!
A good way to let it rest while maintaining its temperature is to wrap the brisket in a cloth (over the butcher paper) and let the brisket rest in a pre-warmed cooler for at least an hour!
You can logically keep the brisket resting in the warmed cooler for hours, or until the temperature gets below 150℉.
You can also do this method in an oven set to 140℉ if accessible.
Now that your brisket is fully cooked and has had time to rest, there are only two more steps left before you can eat!
Slicing And Serving The Brisket:
The last thing to do before you dig in is slice the brisket and serve!
Take your completed brisket from its resting spot, remove the cloth and the butcher paper and place the meat onto a clean cutting board.
Put on a new pair of clean food-safe gloves, so you can safely cut the brisket.
Using a sharp knife, evenly cut the brisket into the desired amount of servings.
In our case, that's 14 pieces of sliced brisket, all weighing around 1 pound.
Although you can cut it into however many servings you need!
Be sure you are cutting across the grain when slicing brisket.
Now that your brisket is cut, you can transfer it onto a platter and serve!
Enjoy your long-awaited pellet grill smoked beef brisket!
The Best Side Dishes For Pellet Grill Smoked Brisket:
While yes, you can eat your delicious brisket all on its own, there are a multitude of sides that will compliment your smoked meat!
Just to name a few, we've included mac and cheese, coleslaw, potato salad, corn on the cob, watermelon, and grilled onions!
Any of these side dishes would go fantastic with this brisket, and there are many more you could choose from.
Get creative and expand your flavor profiles when making side dishes!
How To Store Leftover Brisket:
Cooking with such a large amount of meat can result in a lot of leftovers.
But don't worry, we expect there to be leftover brisket!
We have a few solutions to this problem.
The most common way to store leftover brisket is to either put it in a large ziplock bag or an airtight container.
Keep it in your refrigerator for up to 5 days!
This method makes it simple to reheat or repurpose your leftovers.
Another way to store leftover brisket is to vacuum seal the remainder and freeze it!
By freezing it, you can keep it fresh for up to 12 months, just unthaw and reheat it when you want to eat it next!
Brisket Nutritional Facts
(Per Serving)
Calories: 700
Fat: 33g
Carbs: 0g
Protein: 94g
The Best Pellet Grill Brisket Recipe
To conclude this recipe, we owe our readers a big thank you!
We hope that this recipe turned out just as expected and we especially hope that you enjoyed your time!
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Happy grilling.
