Pellet Grill Brisket

The only thing it takes to create amazing brisket on a pellet grill is time! Some folks might claim that the only way to produce a brisket with authentic Texas-style bark and a smoke ring is by cooking it on a stick burner pit, but I’m hear to show you how you can do it on a pellet grill. With a few simple seasonings, some butcher paper, and plenty of low and slow hours on a pellet grill, you will blow your friends and family away with this pellet grill brisket. I start with a full packer brisket weighing in at 16lbs – I was lucky enough to catch this Certified Angus Beef brisket at my grocery store. The first step is to trim the brisket. For this, I’m using my Red Handle 6″ Boning Knife.

Remove the thick “vein” of fat located between the flat and point. Take off any discolored or “grey” looking meat from the edges. This is where the meat oxidizes a little in the packaging. I also trim the thin edge on the flat because it will over cook and crumble. Round off the tip of the flat as well as most of the silver skin on top. On the fat side of the brisket I knock it down to 1/4” thick. I like fat on the bottom of my slices but it doesn’t need to be too thick. Also the fat will help insulate the brisket during the long cook.

Now that it’s trimmed you want to get some seasoning on the brisket. I use a layer of my Killer Hogs Hot BBQ Rub. It has a little more pepper and less sugar than my regular rub and goes great on Beef. I also layer on a light coat of my Killer Hogs TX Brisket Rub for added salt and texture.

You can use any seasoning you want just give it a good coat; brisket is a big cut of meat and needs plenty of seasoning. The seasoning goes on a few hours before the brisket hits the pit. This gives the seasonings time to work on the brisket. You want at least an hour but up to 4 hours is perfectly ok.

When it comes to cooking brisket on a pellet grill you can plan on it taking upwards of 16 hours on a brisket this size. I start the brisket out overnight. At 10:30 pm the pellet grill is fired up to 195 degrees running pecan pellets. It’ll take about 20 minutes or so for the grill to stabilize. The brisket goes on the pit fat side down and then it’s time for me to go to bed. The pellet grill does all the work for you; just make sure you have plenty of pellets in the hopper.

After 8 hours in the smoke, a beautiful bark is set on the brisket and it gets what I call “the meat sweats”. Moisture will start seeping out of the flat and accumulating on the top side. This is exactly what you want to see. At this point it’s time to wrap.

To keep all that delicious bark we worked so hard to create the brisket gets wrapped in butcher paper (you can find some food safe butcher paper on Amazon) If you use foil the bark will steam and turn soft but by using a good peach butcher paper the bark is preserved and has perfect texture. Tear off 2 strips of paper about 48” each. Overlap the paper to form one wide sheet. Place the brisket in the center of the paper and fold one end up and over the flat tucking it tight. Bring the opposite end up and over and tuck it under the point end. Fold the edges underneath the brisket forming one “package”. Before placing it back on the grill insert a probe thermometer (I use a Thermoworks DOT) into the center of the flat. Internal temp at this point will be somewhere around 150-160 degrees. Place the brisket back on the pit fat side down. (The folds of the paper will be on the bottom if you did it right.) Now continue to cook the brisket until the internal hits 200 degrees. The pit can be bumped up to 250 degrees at this point and it should take a little over 8 hours to finish.

When the DOT alarm goes off verify the internal temperature by using a Thermapen or other hand held thermometer. You want to feel for a soft texture in the flat and point. The flat should match the DOT alarm and the point will be a few degrees higher. The cooking part is finished at this point but the brisket still needs to rest before slicing. Place it in a dry “empty” cooler with the lid on and let it set for a couple hours. This will give the brisket time to relax and will make for a juicer brisket in the end.

After the rest, remove the brisket from the butcher paper and place on a cutting board. Use a 12” brisket slicer and start at the flat end. Cut the brisket into 1/4” slices stopping once you get towards the end of the flat. At this point turn the point end 90 degrees and slice the point into slices as well. You can trim the edges into burnt ends for a real treat.

This brisket will rival any “stick burner” out there. The slow time in the smoke at the beginning of the cook works magic on the bark just practice patience and let the pellet grill do all the work. Print