More Quarantine Recipes: Beef Brisket!

This recipe isn’t exactly cheap just because brisket itself isn’t cheap, but my husband found one at the store and surprised me, so a new challenge was born. I’d never made brisket before but we had been talking about it because we love BBQ, and I was excited to try it.

The thing that’s awesome about this recipe is that it requires very little effort while producing absolutely awesome food. In fact, the vast majority of it is either napping or watching Netflix while you wait 8-10 hours for it to come out of the crock pot. Here’s the recipe.

I began my experiment on Easter morning, much earlier than I usually get up on weekends. That’s how devoted I am to brisket. If you ask my husband, he’ll tell you that’s a glowing endorsement of brisket, as he learned in 2016, shortly after I gave him (then boyfriend) a key to my apartment. He stopped by to say hi one morning and tried to wake me up, and my dead ass asleep response was “What do you want?” Yeah, I’m not a morning person and never have been but go figure; he married me anyway! And I got my ass up at 8 to get the brisket started. Dedication.

The prep is easy for this. Place the brisket in your crock pot and then mix up all the seasonings to make the spice rub (see recipe link above). Coat the brisket with the spice rub and a little olive oil and make sure it’s thoroughly coated.

Next, it’s time to mix up the BBQ sauce. Honestly, I briefly contemplated just using the BBQ sauce right out of the bottle and not mixing in the extra ingredients, but I decided not to be lazy. My preferred BBQ sauce is Sweet Baby Ray’s Sweet and Spicy, so I used that for the base. Just add in the additional spices and brown sugar (see recipe link above), mix, and coat the top of the brisket with the sauce. Refrigerate the remaining sauce for later. Cook on low for 8-10 hours (or high for 4-5 hours per the recipe but I used low to make it more tender).

The next step is the best. Do whatever you want for 8-10 hours! Personally, I chose to go back to sleep.

When the brisket is tender, pull it out of the crock pot and put it on a lined baking pan. Add some of the crock pot juices to the BBQ sauce. Finish the brisket in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, basting with sauce before baking and again after 10 minutes. You’re done!

I made some of our personal favorite veggie sides typically found at BBQ restaurants, sautéed green beans and fried okra. It was like getting dinner at our favorite BBQ joint but without the trip out of the house, and still cheaper.

The Verdict: This brisket was amazing. It was well seasoned, had a perfect little bit of heat, and was beautifully tender. One day later, there’s barely any left in the fridge. I’ll take that as a glowing endorsement. I’ll definitely make it again.

What are you cooking to help you get through these tough times? Talk to me in the comments!