This Instant Pot BBQ Brisket recipe is super easy! Rubbed in delicious spices and smothered in barbecue sauce, the beef brisket is pressure cooked in tasty broth until juicy and tender. You can serve it sliced in a brisket sandwich, tacos, or with mashed potatoes or rice (we share our hack for using up leftover brisket broth to make a delicious rice side dish).
Instant Pot BBQ Brisket
Infused with incredible flavor and cooked with spices and smokey BBQ sauce, this Instant Pot beef brisket is deliciously tender and easy to make.
Slow cooking or using an oven to make tender beef brisket can take hours but it's much quicker with the Instant Pot and requires minimum effort.
Beef brisket is rubbed in a tasty spice mix and cooked in a simple beef broth with BBQ sauce smothered over the top. The cooking broth can be used to make a rich gravy or you can simply serve the cooked brisket sliced with extra smokey barbecue sauce on top.
In addition, we used the leftover brisket broth to cook up a side of rich, buttery rice with peas and corn. It's fabulous as a side with the brisket or you can save the broth for another day or even freeze it for later.
What Is Brisket?
Brisket is a cut of meat, typically beef, that comes from the breast or lower chest of the cow. Brisket can also be cut from lamb, veal, or even buffalo.
Brisket can be a large cut of meat, between 3 and 8 pounds, and is quite long, so it is usually divided in half and sold as different pieces of meat. As such, the name brisket can refer to the whole brisket, the point cut (leaner side) and the flat or navel cut (fattier).
Brisket is rich in connective tissue collagen, which makes the meat tough (one of the toughest cuts!). But, with a little bit of time and the right cooking method, even the toughest piece of meat can be made delicious. Braising, smoking or slowly roasting the brisket renders the fat and slowly melts the connective tissue, resulting in soft and succulent meat. However, this can take several hours!
Pressure cooking is a great method as you can achieve the same result in a much shorter time. Plus, the braising and internal steaming environment will stop the meat from drying out.
Ingredients For BBQ Brisket
You will need the following ingredients for this Instant Pot brisket recipe:
- Beef brisket: For this recipe, we used a 3-pound (1.5 kg) piece of brisket with some fat on it. You can use a flat or point cut, one will have more fat on it, which you can also trim off. However, leaving some fat on will keep the meat more tender as it cooks. Here is a picture of two different sides of the same piece of brisket.
- Spice rub: brown sugar, salt, black pepper, smoked paprika, cumin, garlic powder and onion powder. You can also use store-bought BBQ meat spice rub.
- For the broth: beef stock and smokey barbecue sauce of choice.
How To Cook BBQ Brisket In Instant Pot
You will find the full recipe with ingredients and nutritional breakdown in the recipe card below. Here are some handy step-by-step photos of how to cook brisket in the Instant Pot. You can use a 6-quart or 8-quart Instant Pot for this dish.
- Prep. Trim some of the excess fat from the brisket but don't remove all of it from the top. Keeping some fat will keep it moist while cooking. Plus, it will render down.
- Step 1. In a bowl, mix the spices, salt and pepper to make a brisket rub.
- Step 2. Rub the spice mix all over the brisket evenly.
- Step 3. Add 1 cup of beef stock to the Instant Pot and whisk in about two tablespoons of the barbecue sauce.
- Step 4. Place the brisket in the broth, fatty side up.
- Step 5. Brush another 2-3 tablespoons of barbecue sauce over the top.
- Step 6. Secure and lock the lid. Set to Pressure Cook/Manual and adjust the time to 70 minutes at HIGH pressure. Once the timer is done, allow the pressure to release naturally.
- Step 7. Open the lid and remove the brisket to a cutting board. Pour the cooking broth to a jug or a container; there should be quite a lot of it. You can use some of it for cooking rice or potatoes in the Instant Pot and some to pour over sliced brisket.
- Step 8. Brush or spread the remaining barbecue sauce (or extra if you wish) over the cooked brisket. You can cover it with foil to keep warm or leave it in the Instant Pot while preparing sides.
When you're ready to serve the meat, slice the brisket into thin pieces and drizzle over with the cooking broth.
What To Serve With Brisket
Tender brisket is a versatile meat that can be enjoyed in many ways. It can be sliced or shredded and served as the main protein dish alongside side dishes such as mashed potatoes, roasted or air fried potatoes, roasted sweet potato or chips, rice or quinoa, macaroni and cheese, grits or creamy polenta.
Corn dishes such as creamed corn, corn on the cobb or cornbread are all traditional sides with brisket, as are dishes like coleslaw, potato salad, pasta salad and collard greens. You can also whip up creamy broccoli salad, crispy Brussels sprouts, buttery or grilled green beans, or fried tomatoes.
Brisket sandwiches or tacos are also very popular and you can dress them up or down as you wish. We love brisket rolls on soft brioche buns with shredded or sliced meat, BBQ sauce and pickles or coleslaw.
We used the leftover broth to make this brisket broth rice, which makes for a delicious side dish.
You can find more ideas for brisket sides here.
Didn't finish all the brisket? Here are 15+ Delicious Ideas For Leftover Brisket.
How To Store Brisket
- To store brisket in the fridge. Refrigerate the beef brisket in shallow airtight containers or wrap tightly with heavy-duty aluminum foil or plastic wrap. Properly stored, cooked beef brisket will last for 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator. Reserve some of the cooking broth and store it in an airtight container. You can use it to reheat the brisket to give it a little extra moisture.
- How to freeze cooked brisket. The main thing to remember is that air is the enemy when it comes to frozen meat. What you want is to create an environment that’s virtually oxygen-free in order to avoid freezer burn. Once the meat has cooled down, wrap it tightly in a few layers of plastic wrap (don't slice the leftover brisket!). Then store it in a container or a Ziploc bag for extra protection. Freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost overnight in the fridge and use it within 24 hours. Reheat until piping hot through.
- To reheat brisket. To reheat brisket add a splash of water or cooking broth to a shallow pan and place the cold brisket in it. Reheat in a hot oven, in a microwave or in the Instant Pot on Saute setting with a regular lid on. You can also pressure cook it for 1 minute on HIGH (with water or stock in the pot, the brisket can also sit on top of the trivet).
More Instant Pot Beef Recipes
- Instant Pot Beefaroni Recipe
- Instant Pot Roast Beef & Gravy
- Vietnamese Instant Pot Beef Brisket Tacos
- Instant Pot Beef Cheeks (Served 4 Ways)
- Instant Pot Ground Beef Recipes You Will Love Every Time
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Instant Pot BBQ Brisket Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 pounds brisket (1.5 kg.), you can use flat or point cut
- 1 cup beef stock
- ⅔ cup barbecue sauce smoky flavor
Dry rub
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1.5 teaspoon salt
- 0.5 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Trim some of the excess fat from the brisket but don't remove all of it from the top. Keeping some fat will keep it moist while cooking. Plus, it will render down.
- Combine the dry rub spices in a bowl. Sprinkle and rub over both sides of the brisket.
- Add 1 cup of beef stock to the Instant Pot and whisk in about two tablespoons of the barbecue sauce.
- Place the brisket in the broth, fatty side up. Brush another 2-3 tablespoons of barbecue sauce over the top.
- Secure and lock the lid. Set to Pressure Cook/Manual and adjust the time to 70 minutes at HIGH pressure.
- Once the timer is done, allow the pressure to release naturally.
- Open the lid and remove the brisket to a cutting board. Pour the cooking broth into a jug or a container; there should be quite a lot of it. You can use some of it for cooking rice or potatoes in the Instant Pot and some to pour over sliced brisket.
- Brush or spread the remaining barbecue sauce (or extra if you wish) over the cooked brisket. You can cover it with foil to keep warm or leave it in the Instant Pot while preparing the sides.
- When you're ready to serve the meat, slice the brisket into thin pieces and drizzle over with the cooking broth.
- Optional: You can use the brisket broth to cook rice in the Instant Pot, it's delicious and a good way to use up the leftover liquid.
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