Injected smoked brisket recipe is more of an experiment than it is a rigid recipe. See, not that long ago I did a fairly scientific experiment between two pork butts. One was injected and one wasn’t. The injected butt won by a mile. But can I replicate those results with the almighty brisket?

I reproduced that fairly scientific experiment in this post. How is it scientific? I prepare three brisket flats identically and then cook them identically save for one detail. I injected two, although I didn’t inject one. The brisket that isn’t injected is the control group. The other two got two different injections just to see which one we like better.

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Injected Smoked Brisket Recipe Ingredients

2 disposable aluminum pans (optional)
1 brisket flat
Plastic wrap, optional
Brisket injection
SPG Seasoning
Beef broth
Food safe spray bottle
Wagyu beef tallow
Aluminum foil

I smoked the brisket with cherry pellets. Grillin’ Fool Greg (my dad) loves him some cherry. Cherry wood is very flavorful and makes for a phenomenal smoke ring. Remember that last part later because the smoke ring was really pronounced with this smoke session.

Target temperature in the pellet cooker is 275F.

While the smoker comes up to temp, inject and season the brisket. For this cook, we did three brisket flats. One we didn’t inject at all.

The other two we used two different injections. For one we used a Zatarain’s injection and the other we used DB180 brisket brine and injection.

Aluminum Pans not Required

The aluminum pan and plastic wrap are optional here. I love using the disposable pans when I do brisket or pork shoulder.

It makes it so much easier to maneuver the large chunks of meat and to get them in and out of a cambro or room temp cooler/oven/microwave.

Additionally, the plastic wrap is something I learned when doing this cook, but is also optional. Dad had this tidbit. More on that pro-tip a little later.

Toss the brisket into a couple aluminum pans, and I mean toss:

Time to Book a Ticket to Flavortown

I injected the flat with the Zatarain’s and most of the injection went into the meat. But some didn’t.

Like here when it sprayed onto the cutting board:

Or onto Brad’s shirt who was filming most of this shoot:

We also had a bunch spray across the deck and looked like something out of a crime scene.

Pro-Tip ~ Thus for the second brisket flat, I topped the pan with plastic wrap to hold in the injection:

Then, poke a hole right in the plastic wrap with the injector and pump the brisket flat every couple of inches along the top (and the sides).

The plastic wrap keeps the injection liquid in the pan instead of on Brad! BRILLIANT!!

Then, peel the plastic wrap back and BOOM, no mess:

Next, dab away the pooled injection liquid on the top and hit the brisket flat with SPG seasoning:

Coat heavily with SPG. The seasoning to meat ratio is not high, thus load up on the seasoning:

This is also why we inject.

Smoke and seasoning (and bark) are only around the exterior of the brisket. The injection adds flavor to the middle:

Then take the brisket flat, in this case three flats, over to the pellet cooker and load up:

How to Make this Smoked Brisket Recipe
Inject the brisket, season and then get it into a 275F smoker. Close the lid for 2 hours and then spritz with beef broth and keep doing so until the brisket flat enters the stall around 150F-170F when the temperatures of the flat plateaus. Then, when the brisket hits the stall, wrap in foil until the brisket reaches 185F-195F at which point remove from the foil and place back on the grill until the brisket hits 203F-207F. You can also keep it in the foil from the stall till 203F. We did the later. No matter which one you choose, allow the brisket to rest in a room temperature oven/microwave/cooler for at least an hour before slicing. Finally, make sure to slice thin, across the grain.

Now, grab a beverage (or two or three) and relax.

This will take a few hours, in the meantime, enjoy the smell of that cherry smoke:

After a couple of hours, grab the spray bottle, fill it with beef broth and give the meat a quick spritz:

Don’t start with the spray until the seasoning sets. That means it is fully adhered to the meat and won’t wash off when sprayed.

It generally takes 90-120 minutes for the rub to set.

I tend to err on the side of caution and go with 2 hours before I spritz.

Also, once we spray the brisket down, do so every 30-45 minutes until the wrap.

The wrap happens when we hit the stall which is between 150F-170F:

When to Wrap a Brisket?
When the brisket hits between 150F-170F is the time to wrap. That’s when the brisket stalls and the temperatures plateau as the fat liquify and slows down the cooking process. Wrapping in foil or butcher paper allows the meat to steam in its own juices which helps power through the stall faster than not wrapping.

There are many ways to wrap a brisket. Brisket can be wrapped entirely in foil. It can be wrapped in peach butcher paper.

Or, if using aluminum pans and the meat is flat, say with a brisket FLAT, just slap the lid on the disposable pan.

In this case, we did the latter, after dropping a few dollops of wagyu beef tallow on each brisket:

Back in the smoker:

Now we have two options:

Keep wrapped till the briskets hit 203F-207F (when the briskets are done)
Unwrap the brisket at 185F-195F and put it back in to firm up that bark until they reach 203F-207F

I did the former to save some time since I was really only testing the injection piece.

Hence, when my briskets hit 203F-207F I took them out of the grill and placed them into room temp ovens and microwave:

After an hour of resting time inside the room temp oven or microwave here are our briskets ready to slice:

Time to Slice

Undoubtedly, I was I feeling confident with that first slice on the non-injected brisket:

Although it passed the bend test on a THICK slice.

That is confidence! Unintentional since I didn’t plan on making that thick of a slice first.

Second slice was even better:

Our control brisket was fantastic.

Now for our two injected briskets.

This one is the pre-made injection:

Number two was also cooked well. It passed the bend test with flying colors.

But what about #3? Absolutely glistening as I slice and passed the bend test too:

Have you noticed the smoke ring? I’ve never seen one so pronounced:

And the smoke ring was like that on all three:

So which one of these glistening brisket flats was the best?

Injected Smoked Brisket Recipe Rundown

All three briskets were super tender, smoky and juicy. Although, which was the best? The injected briskets were much better than the brisket that was not injected. Of the two injected briskets, both were really good. One was a little spicier, the premade injection. The other was the competition BBQ injection. I’d have to give a slight nod to that the latter. I love spicy stuff, although when I eat brisket, I’m usually not going for spicy. For me, I’m injecting my pork shoulders from now on and I’m injecting brisket from here on out too. Indeed, it’s just that much better.

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Print Recipe

Injected Smoked Brisket Recipe

Three brisket flats are prepared identically and then smoked in the same grill. One is not injected while the other two are, in this smoked brisket recipe

Prep Time15

Cook Time6

Resting Time1

Course: Barbecue, BBQ, Beef Brisket, Brisket, Entree, Main Course

Cuisine: American, American Fare, Barbecue, BBQ, Beef Brisket, Brisket, Grilling, North American

Keyword: Beef Brisket, Brisket, Brisket Flat, Brisket Recipe, Cherry Pellets, Cherry Smoke, Cherry Smoked, Cherry Smoked Brisket, Cherry Smoked Brisket Flat, Flat, Foolproof, Foolproof Grilling Instructions, Injected, Injected Brisket, Injected Smoked Brisket, Injected Smoked Brisket Recipe, Injection, Pellet Cooker, Pellet Grill, Pellet Smoker, Pic-by-Pic, Picture by Picture, Smoked Brisket, Smoked Brisket Flat, Smoked Brisket Recipe, SPG, SPG Seasoning, Stall, Step-by-Step, The Stall

Servings: People

Equipment

2 disposable aluminum pans Optional
Plastic wrap Optional
aluminum foil Optional
Food safe spray bottle

Ingredients

1 Brisket flat Approximately 9 pounds
Beef injection
Your favorite beef BBQ seasoning We used SPG seasoning
1 cup Beef broth
3 tablespoons Wagyu beef tallow

Instructions

Place the brisket flat into a double layer of aluminum pans and cover with the plastic wrap
Inject every couple of inches and then peel back the plastic wrap, dab off the excess injection liquid and season with the SPG seasoning
Load the pellet smoker with pellets and set the temp to 275F
Place the brisket (in the aluminum pans) into the smoker and close the lid for 90-120 minutes
Add the beef broth to the spray bottle and give the brisket flat a spritz at the 90-120 minute mark. Then keep spritzing every 30-45 minutes until the brisket hits the stall
The brisket will hit the stall between 150F-170F at which point, wrap in foil or simply put the aluminum lid on the pan
Once the briskets get to 185F-195F remove from the foil and put back on the grill to firm up the bark while it gets to 203F-207F. You can also just take it to 203F-207F in the foil the entire time.
After the brisket gets to 203F-207F remove it from the grill and place it in a room temperature oven/microwave/cooler/cambro for at least an hour
Slice thin and across the grain

Video

Here are a few more pics of this cook

Scott Thomas

Scott Thomas, the Original Grillin’ Fool, was sent off to college with a suitcase and a grill where he overcooked, undercooked and burned every piece of meat he could find. After thousands of failures, and quite a few successes, nearly two decades later he started a website to show step by step, picture by picture, foolproof instructions on how to make great things out of doors so that others don’t have to repeat the mistakes he’s made on the grill.

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