Delicious and tender, this brisket recipe is so fast and easy because we use a pressure cooker, but an Instant Pot will do the same thing.
My grandmother was a master at making brisket in various ways. She even used brisket to brine her own corned beef. I’ve eaten corned beef sandwiches in New York, Toronto and Montreal and nothing even comes close to my grandmother’s corned beef. Unfortunately I don’t have her recipe, so maybe that’s a challenge for another day.
Today we’re making smoky and spicy brisket in the pressure cooker. If you don’t have a pressure cooker or Instant Pot, you really need to treat yourself to one. For this recipe it will cut your cooking time by one-third! Less time in the kitchen, means more time for crafting and DIY’ing! Although Ikea discontinued our pressure cooker, we like this pressure cooker on Amazon*, or try an Instant Pot if you want to get fancy.
Brisket Recipe Ingredients
Instead of getting Brisket fresh from the butcher counter, we bought this package. If you do that too, you’ll need to adjust the spicing (ie no salt) because these packages already have seasoning.
Do all your prep before you brown the meat.
Mini Cube Tray
We use this handy dandy mini cube tray* to freeze canned chipotle chile in adobo sauce. It’s meant to hold minced garlic, so you always have it on hand, but works on anything you don’t want to go to waste. We use larger cube trays to freeze tomato paste. Aside from our pressure cooker, it’s probably our most used kitchen gadget.
We used two cubes for this recipe, but if you don’t like a lot of spice, cut it back to one – or don’t use it at all.
There’s no sense in opening a can, using a tiny bit and letting the rest to to waste!
The secret ingredient my grandmother never used is liquid smoke. Along with the chile in adobo sauce, it adds a smokiness we love.
Dry the Brisket
In order to brown the brisket, get it as dry as you can with paper towel. If you don’t remove the moisture, it will just steam. And then you won’t get those delicious brown bits of fond in the bottom of the pot.
Browning develops flavour.
The brown bits left behind might not look great now, but will work their way into the final sauce and flavour it.
After removing the brisket, when you add in the rest of the liquid ingredients, be sure to scrape up and loosen all the fond.
Nestle the brisket back in.
Pressure Cook
Then set it and forget it for an hour.
Even though you’ll let it sit 15 minutes before opening, still take precaution and aim the lid away from you to avoid hot steam.
I’m far from adept at plating food. But remember this cookie cutter from our gluten free gingerbread cookie recipe? Saving time on cooking gives you time to have some fun and play with your food! Pile it up with rice and peas.
Then slather on some of that delicious sauce and enjoy! Aside from the pretty look of the peas and rice, we all really know what the star of this dish is :).
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Ingredients
Brisket Recipe
- 1 2-3 pound beef brisket trimmed of fat
- Salt and pepper
- 2 tbsp grapeseed oil
- One medium onion chopped
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- Four garlic cloves minced
- 1 tbsp minced canned chipotle chilli in adobo sauce
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 1 tbsp chilli powder
- 1 cup water
- 1 tbsp brown sugar substitute we use Swerve
- 1/4 cup ketchup see our recipe to make your own
- 1 tbsp cider vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke
Instructions
- Pat brisket dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper (skip this if your brisket is pre-seasoned). Heat oil in pressure cooker over med-high heat. Brown brisket on all sides, approx 8 minutes, and transfer to a plate.
- Reduce heat to medium. Add remaining oil and onion. Cook 5 minutes or until softened. Stir in garlic, tomato paste and spices; cook 30 seconds. Stir in water, sugar, ketchup, vinegar and liquid smoke. Scape up all browned bits on the bottom of the pot using a wooden spoon. Place brisket into sauce along with any accumulated juices on the plate.
- Lock pressure cooker lid and bring to high pressure over medium high heat. As soon as pot reaches high pressure, reduce heat to med-low and cook for one hour. Adjust heat as needed to maintain pressure.
- Remove pot from heat and let sit to 15 minutes. Quick release remaining pressure. Remove lid away from you to allow remaining steam to escape.
- Transfer meat to cutting board and tent for 10 minutes. If desired, bring sauce to simmer and cook until thickened.
- Slice brisket against the grain and serve with sauce.
* [If you’re looking for some of the things we used, we’ve got you covered (disclosure): Clicking on the affiliate links below means we may receive a commission. But don’t worry, you don’t pay a cent more and it helps us make more unique crafts to share with you! Thanks for helping to support our blog!]
