Barbecuing might be one of the most popular cooking methods for brisket, and it’s for good reason; the meat cooks slowly over a long period of time and absorbs the flavors from the barbecue sauce or rub. A delicious brisket can also be cooked under similar conditions with an old fashioned slow cooker. As seen in this delicious recipe from Recipe Tin Eats, even a crock pot brisket with savory barbecue sauce compares to a professional brisket dinner.
Ingredients for the Crock Pot Brisket
Brisket & Rub:
- One 3-4 pound beef brisket
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- 1 tablespoon of brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons of paprika powder
- 1 teaspoon of onion powder
- 1 teaspoon of garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon of cumin powder
- ¾ teaspoon of mustard powder
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- ½ teaspoon of black pepper
Barbeque Sauce
- 2 cloves of garlic
- ½ cup of apple cider vinegar
- 1 ½ cup of ketchup
- ½ cup of brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons of black pepper
- 2 teaspoons of onion powder
- 2 teaspoons of mustard powder
- 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
- 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
Directions for the Crock Pot Brisket
- In order to begin this delicious recipe, you’ll want to mix your rub ingredients together. Wearing gloves, spreadyour brisket rub all over the beef brisket on all sides. If you have the time, it’s best to let the rub rest on the beef brisket for a minimum of 30 minutes and a maximum of 24 hours in the refrigerator on a platter.
- Then using a slow cooker, combine the ingredients for your barbecue sauce inside the inner container of the slow cooker. Mix them thoroughly before adding your beef brisket into the slow cooker. Be forceful so that the entire brisket fits in the cooker; squish it if you need to.
- Next is the easy part, unless you’re the impatient type. Turn on your slow cooker so that the brisket cooks for 8 hours for a 3-pound brisket and 10 hours for a 4-pound brisket.
- After it’s finished cooking, remove the brisket from the cooker and place it onto a tray. Pour the liquid that’s remaining in the slow cooker into a saucepan. Then, bring the saucepan to a simmer over medium-high heat and reduce the liquid so that it thickens into a syrup-like consistency.
- At the same time as the previous step, drizzle oil over the brisket and then roast it for 15 minutes in a 390°F oven until brown spots appear. At this point, remove the brisket, baste generously with BBQ Sauce, and then return it to the oven for 5 minutes. Repeat this step of removing, basting, returning, and continuing to cook the brisket for 5-10 minutes at a time until the surface is caramelized.
- Slice the brisket thinly across the grain and serve it alongside your remaining BBQ sauce. This recipe pairs well with a side of coleslaw, potato salad, or even buttered rolls. Enjoy!
Notes:
If you’d rather cook your beef brisket in the oven instead of a slow cooker, then you would need to put the Barbeque sauce ingredients in a roasting pan, add 2 cups of water, and mix it together. Then, add the beef brisket, cover it with a lid or a double layer of foil. Then, set the oven to 320°F, and cook the brisket for 4 hours covered and then uncovered for 30 minutes, until the meat is “fork tender.”
During the cooking process, be sure to baste the meat with the pan juices every hour and check every now and then to ensure that the liquid doesn’t reduce down beyond the consistency of BBQ sauce. If it does reduce, just add water. After it’s cooked, you’ll remove the brisket, scrape or pour the sauce off into a sauce pan, and simmer over medium heat until it thickens into a BBQ Sauce syrup consistency.
You’ll then roast for 10-15 minutes until the surface is caramelized, at which point you’ll return the brisket to the roasting pan and increase the heat to 390°F. Lastly, you’ll drizzle the brisket with oil, brush with sauce, and save the remaining sauce for serving.
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