Best Brisket Burnt Ends
On July 18, 2022 (Updated September 26, 2024)
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This Burnt Ends recipe comes straight from the pitmasters in Kansas City’s biggest BBQ joints. Slow smoked brisket point is cubed and braised in a sweet and tangy BBQ sauce for the most tender, melt-in-your-mouth bites of meat candy.
What are Burnt Ends?
Burnt ends originally began as a Friday special at BBQ joints after the restaurant had collected the crispy ends of their sliced brisket throughout the week, sauced them up, and served them on bread. They became such a phenomenon that lots of restaurants started putting burnt ends on the menu.
Kansas City, Missouri is where burnt ends really took hold, and that’s where I went behind the counter to learn the ins and outs of how to cook them the “right way.” These tasty meat treats aren’t leftovers anymore, they are now a headlining item!
Burnt ends are made from the point end (also called the deckle) of a brisket. This cut comes from the pectoral muscle of the cow and is exceptionally tough because the cow uses it so frequently. It is also well-marbled with fat, so when the meat cooks low and slow over a wood fire those tight connective tissues break down and gelatinize as the fat melts and moisturizes the meat. You are left with these little nuggets of tender beef with a signature smoky bark and crazy good BBQ flavor in every bite.
Brisket Burnt Ends
This whole process for making burnt ends starts with a brisket. This recipe is made from the brisket point only, as opposed to smoking a whole brisket and then separating and cubing the point later. this technique is pretty unique to Kansas City, but it is definitely preferred for making the perfect burnt ends because you end up with more smoke and bark on the entire surface area of the brisket point.
Brisket burnt ends are made by smoking the point of a brisket, wrapping it in peach butcher paper, cutting the smoked brisket into cubes, then cooking the cubed meat in sauce and brown sugar. This results in a delicious almost candy-like cube of meat.
If you’re looking for a cheaper, easier way to make burnt ends, try my Poor Man’s Burnt Ends. They’re made with a chuck roast instead of brisket and are a great variation (with great flavor) on this traditional recipe.
Ingredients for Brisket Burnt Ends
Here’s what you’ll need to make these tasty meat treats.
- 6-8 pound brisket point
- 2 Tablespoons Hey Grill Hey Beef Rub (or 2 teaspoons each of kosher salt, coarse black pepper, and garlic powder)
- 1 cup beef stock
- 1 cup Everything BBQ Sauce (or your favorite Kansas City BBQ Sauce)
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
Kansas City-style BBQ sauces are made with a ketchup base combined with molasses, vinegar, and spices. My Everything BBQ Sauce is AMAZING on these burnt ends, but feel free to use whatever sauce is your favorite. Check out more sauces at the Hey Grill Hey Store and let me know which one is your favorite on this recipe in the comments below!
How to Trim Brisket for Burnt Ends
Unless you are able to purchase a brisket point by itself, you’ll need to separate the point from the flat to make these burnt ends.
Place the brisket on a large, stable cutting board with the fat cap down. First, trim the excess fat from the sides of the brisket. Next, use a sharp knife to cut through the fat, working your way down at a wide angle toward the cutting board. Lift the flat away from the point as you work your knife through. You should be able to cut along that layer of fat the entire way through. If you start to hit any muscle, readjust your knife and stay within that fat as much as possible.
Once the point and flat are separated, trim any remaining hard fat from the bottom of the point, and then trim the fat cap at the top to an even 1/4 inch thick.
How to Make Burnt Ends
Once you have all your ingredients assembled, you’re ready to turn on the smoker and get to the recipe! Here’s how to make burnt ends.
- Preheat. The key to great burnt ends is low and slow cooking. Preheat your favorite smoker to 225 degrees F with oak wood (or whatever is your favorite for brisket).
- Season. Season the trimmed brisket on all sides with Beef Rub or equal parts salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
- Smoke. Place the seasoned brisket directly on the smoker, close the lid, and smoke for 6-8 hours, or until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 165 degrees F. Spritz with beef stock every hour.
- Wrap. Remove the brisket from the smoker. Wrap it tightly with peach butcher paper, and return it to the smoker. Continue to smoke the meat until it reaches an internal temperature of 195 degrees F. This step takes around 3 hours.
- Cube. Take the wrapped brisket off the smoker and carefully unwrap the butcher paper. Drain any liquid into an aluminum pan. Cut the meat into 1 1/2-inch cubes, trying to make each piece the same size.
- Sauce. Place the cubed meat in the aluminum pan. Coat the cubes with brown sugar and BBQ sauce. Finish cooking the burnt ends in the smoker for another 1-2 hours or until they have soaked the sauce and are just about falling apart.
- Serve. Remove the meat from the smoker and serve with a slice of white bread for an authentic experience. You can also serve with additional BBQ sauce on the side. Enjoy!
How Long to Smoke Burnt Ends
It takes approximately 10-12 hours to smoke burnt ends.
The initial smoke takes around 6-8 hours, followed by 3 hours wrapped in butcher paper, then a final 1-2 more hours once cubed and cooked in the BBQ sauce and brown sugar.
This time will vary for each time you cook these due to a variety of factors (the consistency of the heat on your grill, how thick your meat is, etc). Rather than watch the clock while these are cooking on the smoker, gauge the doneness by the internal temperature. Invest in a reliable instant-read meat thermometer and track the temperature as these cook to let ou know when they are done.
More Burnt Ends Recipes
If you loved this recipe, I can guarantee you’ll love these other variations of “meat candy” from Hey Grill Hey. Click on the links below to read the recipes with different flavor variations!
Best Burnt Ends Recipe
Ready to become the master of brisket? Join my members-only group The Grill Squad to access my Brisket Pitmaster Class (and so much more!) to increase your confidence of all things BBQ. Let me help you make better BBQ, feed the people you love, and become a backyard BBQ hero!
This post was originally published in March 2018. We recently updated it with more information and helpful tips. The recipe remains the same.
Best Brisket Burnt Ends
Video
Ingredients
- 1 6-8 pound brisket point (also called the deckle)
- 3 Tablespoons Hey Grill Hey Beef Rub or 2 teaspoons each of kosher salt, course black pepper, and garlic powder
- 1 cup beef stock
- 1 cup Everything BBQ Sauce or your favorite ketchup-based BBQ sauce
- ½ cup dark brown sugar
Instructions
- Preheat. Preheat your smoker to 225 degrees F using oak wood.
- Trim. If you are starting with a whole packer brisket, separate the point from the flat by running a knife through the vein of hard white fat between the two muscles. Trim the brisket point by removing any remaining hard fat and trimming the top fat cap down to 1/4 inch thickness.
- Season. Season the brisket point on all sides with Hey Grill Hey Beef Rub or equal parts salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
- Smoke and spritz. Place the seasoned brisket point on your smoker, close the lid, and smoke until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 165 degrees F. This step typically takes 6-8 hours, depending on the size and thickness of your meat. Spritz with beef stock every hour during this initial smoke period.
- Wrap. Once the brisket reaches 165 degrees F, wrap tightly in peach butcher paper and return to the smoker. Smoke until the internal temperature reaches 195 degrees F. This step typically takes 3 hours.
- Cut into cubes. Remove the brisket to a cutting board. Unwrap from the butcher paper, draining any liquid from the paper into an aluminum pan. Cut the brisket point into 1 1/2-inch thick cubes.
- Sauce. Place the cubes into the aluminum pan and toss with the BBQ sauce and brown sugar. Work quickly during this step to prevent your brisket from cooling down too much.
- Finish smoking. Set the uncovered pan back on the smoker and close the lid. Continue smoking at 225 degrees F for 1-2 more hours, or until the burnt ends have started to absorb the BBQ sauce and caramelize on all sides.
- Enjoy. Remove the burnt ends from the smoker and serve with a slice of white bread for an authentic experience.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I’m smoking my point right now so I can pan up the cubes later today.Did you let the point rest after the original smoking, or did you take it right out of the smoker and cube it?
I let it rest for a little bit first.
Here I am a year later with the exact same question. I’m sure cooler resting it for a few hours will help more than it’d hurt.
Fantastic recipe and the Q
If i’m planning on cooking both the flat and the point, but making burnt ends out of the point should i leave the brisket whole or is it still better to separate the two sections? If i keep it whole, when should i separate in order to make the burnt ends?
A lot of people separate the two muscles! It makes it easier to cook each part exactly how you like them. Usually I leave them together for the cook and then separate the point to make burnt ends though.
My grocer had some five bound briskets. I marinated two in Cheerwine overnight, patted with salt and garlic- my wife hates pepper- and put on my Primo over lump with a few pieces of mesquite, 225 degrees F. No drama as they were wrapped and then hit 195 and I cubed them up- also happened to have ‘Cackalacky’ BBQ sauce, also with Cheerwine, and they began a final swim in the smoker. They were a real hit, had some very picky family members scraping the foil pan afterwards. I will definitely make again. I put the meat on the smoker at 9:30 am and all was done by six pm.
I tried this Burnt Ends recipe today, 11JUL 2021. I had smoked a full brisket for Memorial Day this, 2021. I put the point in the freezer until tonight. I wanted to make Burnt Ends. This recipe seemed simple enough. It was very easy to use but, I did have to modify a little bit.
Once I thawed the point, I trimmed all the excess fat from the point that did not render during the original smoking process. I then cubed up all the meat and put a full box of beef stock in my steamer pan then put the cubes in the steamer with the lid on.
I let the cubes steam for 10 minutes until I could see they were all wet and getting rewarmed to serving temperature. This is the best way to rewarm meat, in my opinion, it works every time!
I then put 1/2 the meat in one aluminum throw-away pan and the rest in another. My wife is not a fan of BBQ sauce so, I made her a batch with beef stock, honey, brown sugar. I used enough beef stock from the steam to coat the cubes and leave a small puddle of beef stock on the bottom of the pan. (I know, a puddle is not exact measurement but, that’s what I did, not a lot of beef stock) I then drizzled honey straight out of the bottle all over the cube until they were all covered with honey. Then I sprinkled 1/2 cup of brown sugar on top of the cubes with the honey and put them in my Pit Boss at 250 F degrees.
I made the same recipe with the rest of the cubes but, I added 1/2 cup of Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce and put them on the smoker at 250 F degrees.
The batch without the BBQ sauce was done first and it was very very good! I had to bump up the temp of the smoker to 350 F degrees to finish the cubes with the BBQ sauce. The ones with the BBQ sauce were still watery. Increasing the temperature helped the cubes get sticky and yummy!
Both were amazing and I would not hesitate to use this recipe over and over again! But, with my modifications. Try it out and see how you like it!
Made this on my welder kettle down here in New Zealand. It is soooo GOOD
Another absolutely amazing recipe, Susie! With your help and videos, I very successfully separated the point and flat of a 20lb packer brisket and smoked both. The burnt ends were out of this world and your Texas style brisket was to die for. And those aren’t my words!! Thanks for your guidance! I must admit, I’m starting to feel guilty with all of the compliments. From ribs to chops to whole chicken….you make me look like a pro!! Thank you for the great recipes!
Love reading different peoples methods. Love your stuff!!! Brisket, burnt ends and beef ribs are my favorite. Cant wait to get into your taco recipe’s!
I was hoping to confirm the rub amount. I was comparing this with the “Poor Man’s” version. This recipe has a 6-8 pound point with 2 tablespoons of rub, the “poor man’s” has a 3 pound roast with 3 tablespoons of rub. I know all meat are not creates the same shape/flavor so wanted to check.
I’ve used this recipe as a guideline to making smoked burnt ends on my Electric smoker. I Love it my friends beg me to make burnt ends now by far my favorite recipe and quite a bit more forgiving than brisket which I have really failed to master.