Sous Vide Brisket Recipe // No Grill or Smoker Required! (2024)

by Erin

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Sous Vide Brisket comes out fall apart tender, juicy and delicious every time. Get the perfect “bark” by finishing it on your grill, smoker or even the oven!

Sous Vide Brisket Recipe // No Grill or Smoker Required! (1)

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How to Choose Brisket

What Temperature Do You Sous Vide Brisket?

How Long Do You Sous Vide Beef Brisket?

Sous Vide Brisket Seasoning

How Do You Cook Beef Brisket in Sous Vide?

Can You Sous Vide a Whole Brisket?

How Do You Finish Sous Vide Brisket?

Uses for Leftover Brisket

Wine Pairings for Brisket

What to serve with Brisket

More sous vide recipes

Sous Vide Brisket Recipe

Ingredients

Instructions

Notes

Equipment

Nutrition

I love that sous vide is basically a “set it and forget it” way of cooking. Meaning you can put your food in the water bath, walk away, and let it cook for hours on end with no fear of overcooking.

That’s because sous vide cooks up to a certain temperature, and then just holds your food there until you’re ready to eat.

And while this makes the sous vide the perfect tool for cooking on busy nights – sous vide chicken breasts, pork chops, and ribeye, have come to my rescue many times – this Sous Vide Smoked Brisket is not a dish you’re just going to throw into the sous vide and eat that night.

The process of making brisket takes more time – anywhere from 24-72 hours to be exact. So plan ahead for this one.

But the great part is that you can sous vide the beef brisket up to a week before you plan to serve it, then just keep it in the fridge. When you’re ready to eat, throw it onto your smoker, grill or into the oven for 2-3 hours and you’re good to go.

That’s actually what makes this the perfect dish for weekends with friends and family. All the prep work is done ahead of time, leaving you free to enjoy the day.

Another reason this sous vide brisket is the perfect recipe? It turns out deliciously tender every time! The low and slow cook time breaks down the fibers in the meat and renders the fat so it’s extremely juicy and flavorful.

Serve it with a side of homemade BBQ sauce, vinegar coleslaw, and mac and cheese for the most perfect meal ever!

Or check out these 35+ EASY Sides for Brisket!

How to Choose Brisket

  • Look for a beef brisket with a lot of fat and marbling. You can use either a flat cut or a point cut brisket, though a point cut is generally more tender. But the main thing you want to look for is the fat cap still attached. A brisket that is trimmed too much will come out more dry.
Sous Vide Brisket Recipe // No Grill or Smoker Required! (2)

What Temperature Do You Sous Vide Brisket?

  • Tender steak-like texture // 135-degrees F: Not fall apart tender, will still hold its shape. (36-72 hours)
  • Fall apart tender // 155-degrees F: Super tender and moist. (24-36 hours)

How Long Do You Sous Vide Beef Brisket?

  • The longer you cook it, the more tender it will become. When cooking at 135-degrees, I like to cook it for 72 hours. If cooking at 155-degrees F, 36 hours will give you very tender meat.

Sous Vide Brisket Seasoning

I like to season my brisket simply with salt and pepper to let the true flavor of the beef shine through. If you’ll be finishing your brisket in the oven (rather than on the smoker or grill) and want a smoky flavor, add some liquid smoke to the vacuum bag before the sous vide process.

A tip I learned from Serious Eats, is to add some pink curing salt to the spice rub mixture so that your brisket will have a pink smoke ring. This step is optional, but makes for a nice presentation.

Of course, if you would like to add additional spices to your brisket, you could definitely add them to your rub. Cumin, chili powder, paprika, garlic powder and mustard powder are all great options.Here’s my go-to brisket dry rub recipe!

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How Do You Cook Beef Brisket in Sous Vide?

  • Rub brisket with salt and pepper, add liquid smoke if finishing in oven.
  • Vacuum seal or use the water displacement method to remove as much air as possible. (You may want to double bag since this is a long cook time and the spices may interfere with a proper seal.)
  • Cook 24-72 hours at your preferred temperature (155-degrees F for fall apart texture).
  • Remove from sous vide and pat dry well with paper towels.
  • Rub with additional spice mixture.
  • Finish on the grill, smoker or oven (instructions below).

Can You Sous Vide a Whole Brisket?

  • For this recipe, I use a 4-6 pound brisket. If it will fit into your vacuum seal bag, you can leave it whole. If not, you can cut it into 2-3 pieces and seal them separately.

Note: You may need to double bag the brisket if the seal doesn’t form properly. It’s always a good idea to be on the safe side, especially with a long cook like this.

How Do You Finish Sous Vide Brisket?

  • Grill: Grill over indirect heat at a temperature of about 225-degrees for 3 hours.
  • Smoker: Preheat smoker to 225-degrees F. Add brisket and cook for 3 hours.
  • Oven: Preheat oven to 275-degrees F convection (or 300-degrees F standard). Add brisket and cook for 2 – 2 1/2 hours.
Sous Vide Brisket Recipe // No Grill or Smoker Required! (7)

Reheating Brisket Sous Vide

  • I love using the sous vide to reheat leftovers since it won’t dry out your meat. To do so, just heat your water bath to 165 degrees. Add your bagged brisket and heat for 30 minutes – 1 hour until warmed through.

Uses for Leftover Brisket

  • Tacos, enchiladas, burritos
  • Salad topping
  • Pizza topping
  • Scrambled with eggs
  • Added to soups or chilis
  • Topping for baked potatoes

Wine Pairings for Brisket

  • I suggest a light-bodied, fruit forward red like aBeaujolaisorGrenache to pair with the salty-fatty beef.

What to serve with Brisket

  • Vinegar Coleslaw
  • Cheddar Spoon Bread
  • Barbecue Sauce
  • The BEST Baked Beans
  • Apple Slaw
  • Pickles & Pickled Onions
  • Grilled Potato Salad
  • MORE → 35+ EASY Sides for Brisket
  • PLUS → 17+ Sauces for Brisket

More sous vide recipes

  • Sous Vide Pork Tenderloin
  • Sous Vide Pork Chops
  • Sous Vide Chicken Tenders
  • Sous Vide Homemade Limoncello Recipe
  • Sous Vide Filet Mignon
  • Sous Vide Infused Vodka
  • Sous Vide Vanilla Extract
  • Sous Vide Chicken Breast

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Sous Vide Brisket Recipe // No Grill or Smoker Required! (9)

Sous Vide Brisket Recipe

Sous Vide Brisket comes out fall apart tender, juicy and delicious every time. Get the perfect “bark” by finishing it on your grill, smoker or even the oven!

4.98 from 46 votes

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Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 1 day day 12 hours hours

Finishing Time: 3 hours hours

Total Time: 1 day day 15 hours hours 10 minutes minutes

Servings: 10 people

Created by Platings and Pairings

Ingredients

  • 1 brisket (4-6 pounds)
  • ¼ cup coarse ground black pepper
  • ¼ cup kosher salt
  • 2 teaspoons salt pink curing salt (optional)
  • ¼ teaspoon liquid smoke (optional – if finishing in oven)

Instructions

  • Set sous vide to 155-degrees F.

  • Combine pepper, salt, and pink salt (if using) in a small bowl. Sprinkle brisket with ⅔ of mixture and rub to coat. Reserve the remaining spice mixture for finishing.

  • Add the brisket to a vacuum bag and add liquid smoke (if finishing in the oven – not needed if finishing on the smoker or grill). If needed you can cut the brisket into 2-3 pieces so that it will fit into your bags. Seal.

  • Place the bag(s) in the water bath, making sure not to block the intake or output sections of the sous vide, and cook for 24-36 hours.

  • Remove brisket from water bath and place in a bowl of ice water for 30-45 minutes, until it reaches room temperature. (At this point, the brisket can be stored in the fridge for up to 1 week.)

  • Remove brisket from bag and place on a paper towel-lined plate. Pat it very dry with paper towels then season with the remaining spice mixture.

To Finish on the Grill:

  • Grill over indirect heat at a temperature of about 225-degrees F for 3 hours.

To Finish on a Smoker:

  • Preheat smoker to 225-degrees F. Add brisket and cook for 3 hours.

To Finish in the Oven:

  • Preheat oven to 275-degrees F convection (or 300-degrees F standard). Add brisket and cook for 2 – 2 1/2 hours.

  • Allow to rest 30 minutes. Then slice against the grain and serve.

Notes

You may need to double bag the brisket if the seal doesn’t form properly. It’s always a good idea to be on the safe side, especially with a long cook like this.

Recipe adapted from Serious Eats.

Did you make this recipe?Mention @platingsandpairings or tag #platingsandpairings!

Equipment

Sous Vide Brisket Recipe // No Grill or Smoker Required! (10)Sous Vide Brisket Recipe // No Grill or Smoker Required! (11)

Sous Vide Machine

Sous Vide Brisket Recipe // No Grill or Smoker Required! (12)Sous Vide Brisket Recipe // No Grill or Smoker Required! (13)

Vacuum Sealer

Nutrition

Calories: 281kcal | Protein: 38g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 112mg | Sodium: 2973mg | Potassium: 599mg | Calcium: 11mg | Iron: 4mg

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Sous Vide Brisket Recipe // No Grill or Smoker Required! (2024)

FAQs

How to make a brisket without a smoker or grill? ›

Coat the brisket with mustard then season it with salt, cracked pepper, and garlic powder. Let it rest overnight. Roast the brisket at 300°F and keep it covered in foil for the first six hours. Uncover the brisket in the last two to three hours of cooking to get a crisp exterior bark.

Can you sous vide a brisket then smoke it? ›

Combining sous vide cooking with actual smoke from the grill makes for brisket that's moist and tender yet still smoky, with a great bark.

What is the best temperature for sous vide brisket? ›

At 155°F / 68°C, we get much better results than at 145°F / 63ºC. Yes, the brisket will expel a lot of moisture as it cooks, but what it loses in water it gains in tenderness and moisture in the form of more connective tissue breaking down and fat rendering. For me, 155°F / 68ºC for between 24 and 36 hours is ideal.

How to finish a sous vide brisket in the oven? ›

Preheat your oven to 200°F or 300°F. Put a nice spice rub on your meat and put it in the oven for 2 to 3 hours while it comes back to temperature and the outside dries out some. Just make sure you monitor the internal temperature so it's not raising above the temperature you sous vided it at.

How long to cook brisket in the oven per pound? ›

Place in the oven and bake for about an hour and 15 minutes per pound, until the brisket reaches 170-180° (Initially, I used one of our 4 1/2 lb. flat briskets that took about 4 hrs., 15 min).

Can you finish cooking a brisket in the oven? ›

Finish Cooking In The Oven

After the brisket reaches 165-170°F in the cooker, wrap it tightly in two layers of heavy-duty aluminum foil, insert a probe thermometer into the middle of the flat portion to monitor internal temperature, and cook in the oven at 300°F to an internal temperature of 205°F.

Is it better to smoke before or after sous vide? ›

Season before smoking. Smoke then sous vide as low as possible for 6-8 hours at 150°F-180°F. Don't let the meat's internal temp exceed the target sous vide bath temp when you're smoking (either before or after).

How long to smoke meat after sous vide? ›

Chill the meat for a few minutes to bring the temperature down. Prepare your smoker and select your best Bradley Bisquettes for flavor if you want to serve it immediately. Set your smoker at 225 °F (107 °C). Place your meat on the smoker racks and smoke for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

How long to warm up brisket in sous vide? ›

Method 1: Sous Vide

It's also great, and preferred, to have any leftover liquid from the cook or beef tallow in the bag. Set up an immersion circulator at a temperature of 165. After the water is to temp, submerge the brisket. Allow 90 - 120 minutes depending on the size of your brisket.

Can you overcook brisket in sous vide? ›

And because your sous vide machine will be set to the exact temperature that you want the food to reach, you know it'll never go above this point and overcook. You just need to make sure that you're cooking your ingredients at the ideal temperature, which you can work out using our Sous Vide Cooking Time Calculator.

What temp is brisket most tender? ›

The brisket is at its most tender when it reaches an internal temperature of around 195 to 205°F (90 to 96°C). However, the exact temperature for peak tenderness can vary based on factors like the cooking method, the grade of the meat, and personal preference.

How to make brisket flat juicy? ›

Leaving a thin layer of fat helps the meat stay moist. If the layer is too thick, the meat will take longer to cook, and may have an unpleasantly greasy texture.

Can you make brisket without a smoker? ›

And an oven smoked brisket will never be exactly like its smoked counterparts. You can however, come very close in terms of flavor and have an almost identical texture, all without owning a smoker of your own.

Can you undercook sous vide? ›

With sous vide's insurance of what J. Kenji López-Alt calls “edge-to-edge doneness,” it's extremely hard to undercook or overcook the meat. It also makes it easier to replicate similar results every single time.

What is the pink salt on brisket? ›

To get the pink color you have to put the brisket in a mixture of curing salts, spices, regular salt, sugar, and water for 5 days. The pink comes from the curing salts, aka pink salt, that is sodium nitrate that is dyed pink so that it wouldn't be mistaken for table salt (it is not Himalayan pink salt).

What is a good alternative to smoking brisket? ›

There is one clear winner: chuck roast. Of all the brisket alternatives you could choose, chuck roast is the best option. It's affordable, it can withstand long cooking times, and it closely mimics the marbling and outstanding flavor of beef brisket.

What is the best cooking method for brisket? ›

It's a tough cut of meat, which is why the best way to cook brisket is a low-and-slow method: Long, slow cooking makes it tender.

Can you cook a brisket on a regular gas grill? ›

For gas: Place brisket, fatty side up, on grill grate as far away from lit burner as possible [E]. Cover grill and smoke meat, resisting the urge to open grill often, as this will cause the temperature to fluctuate. Adjust heat as needed to keep temperature steady at 225-250 degrees.

How to cook brisket in an air fryer? ›

Air frying brisket is all about slow-cooking. Set your air fryer to a low temperature, typically around 275°F (135°C). This gentle heat allows the brisket to cook slowly, breaking down tough connective tissues for that melt-in-your-mouth texture.

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