This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
This Slow Cooker Barbecue Beef Brisket cooks up fall-apart tender with a super flavorful sauce!
After making this incredible recipe a few weeks ago, my husband Jack and I had half a slab of beef brisket in our refrigerator, just waiting to be used. So what to make? This Slow Cooker Barbecue Beef Brisket!
Brisket is a cut of meat from the lower chest area of cattle and while it’s a very flavorful cut of beef – unless it’s cooked correctly , it can be very tough to eat. So a low-and-slow cooking method like braising – on the stovetop, in an oven, or in a slow cooker – is really the ideal way to cook a beef brisket so it comes out tender.
Our beef brisket recipe today is written for the slow cooker and it allows you to do all of the prep the night before.
We left the brisket whole and seared it before adding the beef to the slow cooker along with some sautéed onions and a bit of tomato paste. Then we created a fantastic braising liquid of bourbon, cola, beef stock, sugar, mustard, ketchup, balsamic vinegar, molasses, Worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke
and a few dashes of hot sauce. (Trust me – all of those ingredients create one amazing braising liquid and it becomes an even more amazing barbecue sauce after it has cooked!)
Then – turn your slow cooker on in the morning and let it do its thing all day long. The brisket comes out fall-apart-tender and super flavorful! And it is amazing sliced up for sandwiches and perfect served along with our homemade coleslaw.
Our friends at Certified Angus Beef® brand are a great resource if you’d like more information about different cuts of beef, and how best to cook them. You can read more here. Disclosure: Certified Angus Beef® sponsored a trip for me to visit their headquarters in Wooster, Ohio earlier this year. We were not compensated for this post and simply wanted to share some additional resources for purchasing and cooking with beef with our readers. #ROASTINGSEASON
We love seeing what you made! Tag us on Instagram at @afamilyfeast or hashtag #afamilyfeast so we can see your creations!
Slow Cooker Barbecue Beef Brisket
Note: This recipe was written for you to sear the meat the night before and store in the refrigerator with all of the other ingredients overnight. It was written this way for a busy working household where you do all the prep the night before and just place the bowl in the slow cooker the following morning and let it cook all day while you are out. When you return at the end of the day, dinner is ready. Or feel free to prepare everything in the morning and let it cook all day. Either way, it will need 8-10 hours on low or 5-7 hours on high. (Slow cookers vary. Our brisket was pull-apart tender in nine hours on low.)
Ingredients
- 2 pounds beef brisket
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 2 cups diced onions
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1/2 cup bourbon
- 1 cup non diet cola
- 1/2 cup beef stock
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons molasses
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon liquid smoke
- Few dashes of your favorite hot sauce
- Bulky rolls
- Coleslaw (see our recipe here)
Instructions
- Pat the beef dry and season on both sides with the salt and pepper.
- Heat both oils in a heavy bottomed pan or pot until smoking hot and carefully lay in the beef. Let it sear without touching for about four to five minutes, flip and repeat. Remove directly to the slow cooker pot.
- Reduce heat to medium high and add onions. Cook for one minute and add tomato paste. Stir constantly for another minute.
- Pull the pan off heat and add the bourbon then back on heat to deglaze pan. (This is to avoid a flare up) Let reduce by half then add cola, beef stock, sugar, mustard, ketchup, vinegar, molasses, Worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke and hot sauce. Stir to combine and remove from heat.
- Pour liquid over beef. At this point, you can refrigerate until morning or place in slow cooker and set for eight to ten hours on low or five to seven on high. While beef is cooking, or the night before, prepare the coleslaw (see recipe here).
- Once beef is fall apart tender, remove to a cutting board to rest. Pour the contents of the slow cooker into a sauce pan and reduce to a thick sauce, about 1 ½ cups.
- To serve, slice the beef against the grain, place coleslaw on the roll bottom and top with the sliced beef and spoon on some of the sauce you reduced. Serve with lots of napkins.
Last Step! Please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.
You may also like:
- Cheesesteak Egg Rolls
- Beef Wellington
- Perfect Pan-Seared Steak
- Steak Tips with Caramelized Onions
- Bulgogi (Korean Beef Barbecue)
- 20+ Sizzling Steak Recipes
Is the fat removed ? And do you cook it fat up or down ?
Hi Tim – If there is a lot of excess fat on the brisket you can definitely trim some of it off. Since you sear the beef before putting it in the slow cooker, it really doesn’t matter if you cook it fat up or down. Hope that helps!
Hi…It states liquid smoke and where I’m from you can’t get that (jersey, channel island’s)…so do you have to use it?
Thanks
maria
Hi Maria- it gives the dish a smokey Barbecue flavor but no – not necessary!
What setting do you put the crockpot on?
Hi Debbie – Step 5 gives you the option for either low or high (cooking time will vary depending on which you choose).
I’m making this today! It just started but already smells great!
Hope you enjoy the recipe Jessica!
My husband and I LOVE brisket, a Seder favorite, but it has gotten SO expensive! I think it has caught on with the BBQ world – supply and demand. I will definitely be making this. Thanks for all the wonderful recipes.
Thank you for writing to us Gail – I hope you enjoy our brisket recipe!
What if you didn’t put the bourbon in it? Would it effect the taste much!!!
Hi Karen – No – it should still be fine without the bourbon!
What is a substitution for Bourbon…, and is it carob molasses that you use. ?thank you
Hi Mimi – You can swap in apple juice if you’d prefer a non-alcoholic substitution. I’m unfamiliar with carob molasses; we just used the jarred dark molasses (Grandma’s brand). Hope that helps!
Just made this and it is off the hook!!!
I’ve been looking for a dark rich BBQ sauce for brisket and pork. After days of searching online and about to give up, I found your recipe.
The note of whiskey and balsamic give it an exquisite taste. Exactly what I was looking for!
Thanks for posting!
Thank you Ez! We’re glad you enjoyed the recipe as much as we do! Thanks for taking the time to write to us today!
Hi Martha, I just wanted to tell you that I made this on 12/7. It was fantastic, so tender, the sauce was tasty too! I had to have the coleslaw too. My husband and kids loved it! This is a keeper! Thanks for the recipe.
Yay – thank you so much Marcia! I’m glad your family enjoyed the recipe as much as ours! Have a great day!
That first photo… that has to be the pretties brisket I have ever seen!
Thank you Kita! (It tastes as good as it looks!)
I love slow cooker recipes! They make the work week so much easier. And this brisket looks so tender, I want to reach through my screen and grab a plate!