Poor Man’s Burnt Ends
On June 28, 2022 (Updated October 17, 2024)
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My poor man’s burnt ends recipe is a great way to get all of the classic BBQ flavors you love in burnt ends without having to smoke a whole brisket. By using a chuck roast instead of brisket, these chuck roast burnt ends save you some pocket change as well as some time spent at the smoker (without compromising on flavor!).
What Are Poor Man’s Burnt Ends?
Poor man’s burnt ends are beef burnt ends made with a chuck roast instead of a brisket.
BBQ Brisket Burnt Ends traditionally come from the fat-marbled point of a whole packer brisket. Slow smoked until they are nearly fall-apart tender and then basted in finger-licking BBQ sauce, they are the best bite in the BBQ world. These burnt ends are similar to brisket-style but might be a bit less intimidating than traditional brisket burnt ends.
Poor man’s burnt ends tend to be a cheaper option than brisket burnt ends, but you can often find meat that is relatively comparable in price. Think of them as bite-sized pieces of beef that are perfectly smoked and exploding with BBQ flavor.
Chuck Roast Burnt Ends
I understand that not everyone has the time to smoke up an entire whole packer brisket to make burnt ends. When you are craving burnt ends but don’t want to break the bank or make a smaller portion, using a chuck roast gives you a great flavor on a budget. I’ve also found that chuck roasts have a natural beefy flavor very similar to brisket, so the cut works amazing for making this burnt ends recipe!
For this recipe, I’m using a 3-pound chuck roast instead of a full-packer brisket to make a version called “Poor Man’s Burnt Ends.”
Poor Man’s Burnt Ends vs. Brisket Burnt Ends
For classic burnt ends, a whole brisket is smoked and the top muscle (the point) is removed while the leaner muscle (the flat) is sliced and served. The point is loaded with fatty marbling and amazing flavor. To enhance the flavor of the meat, it is often cubed and tossed with BBQ sauce before being grilled to meat candy perfection.
Honest truth, the price in my grocery store for brisket vs. chuck roast was almost identical (about $3/lb), so I don’t know where the phrase “poor man’s” even came from. Despite this, I would definitely make these again any time I’ve craving burnt ends but don’t want to smoke a whole brisket.
A whole brisket typically costs $40-50 and this chuck roast was under $10. My chuck roast burnt ends came in at about 3 pounds and was perfect for feeding my family.
Both burnt ends turn out delicious and both have a unique, delicious flavor, so I recommend trying out each type to determine which one is your favorite.
How to Make Poor Man’s Burnt Ends
The process for Poor Man’s Burnt Ends is very similar to smoking a whole brisket, but with the final intent of turning the whole cut of beef into BBQ burnt ends. This means more flavorful bark all the way around and oftentimes more even cooking. (It’s also fairly easy as well!)
Here’s the step-by-step on making these delicious treats:
- Preheat. Turn on your smoker and allow it to preheat to 275 degrees F with your favorite wood. I like to use hickory or oak pellets for my burnt ends as it beautifully complements the chuck roast.
- Season. Slather the roast in mustard then season. I recommend using my Hey Grill Hey Beef Rub (available from the Hey Grill Hey Store), but you can also use simple salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Season the roast liberally.
- Smoke that meat! Place the chuck roast on your smoker and smoke it until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F. For me, it took 5 hours to reach this temperature, so adjust smoking time as needed.
- Wrap the roast. Wrap the chuck roast in butcher paper or foil and smoke until the internal temperature reaches 195 degrees F (this takes about an hour).
- Rest, cut, and season. Allow the roast to rest for 15-20 minutes. Cut into small cubes and season with 1/4 cup brown sugar and Everything BBQ Sauce (or your favorite Kansas-City Style BBQ Sauce) and place them in a foil baking pan.
- Finish smoking. Place the pan back on the grill grates of the smoker, and cook for up to 2 more hours.
- Add finishing touches. Sprinkle with 2 Tablespoons of brown sugar and the remaining BBQ sauce. Return to the grill for just a few more minutes until everything is heated through and well mixed. Serve hot.
Tips for Cooking Poor Man’s Burnt Ends
Before you dive into this recipe, take note of a few tips to keep in mind that will help you get a great result.
- Cook to temperature, not to time. Often we want a recipe to give us an exact cook time, but the best way to cook is always to temperature. Every cut of meat is different, and each will finish at a different time. If you cook to temperature instead of time, you will never miss! For these burnt ends, I used ThermoWorks remote thermometer, The Smoke, and it was fantastic! There was a probe for the meat and another for keeping track of the grill temperature. Plus, I could view these temperatures remotely which is so convenient!
- Don’t forget to wrap. This recipe works fine wrapped in either butcher paper or foil; however, I prefer to use butcher paper.
- Meat grade matters! Normally with brisket, burnt ends are made from the fattiest piece of the muscle, so when you are choosing a chuck roast, try to select one with as much intramuscular fat as you can. This doesn’t mean you buy a roast with big, white chunks of fat in it. Rather, look for meat with small, white flecks of fat within the muscle.
More Burnt Ends Recipes
Ready to take on more burnt ends recipes? Check out these other tasty nuggets below!
- Burnt Ends Sandwich with Pickled Red Onions
- BBQ Brisket Burnt Ends
- Hot Dog Burnt Ends
- Maple Bourbon Pork Belly Burnt Ends
Poor Man’s Burnt Ends Recipe
Follow the video below and I’ll show you step-by-step how I make these easy Poor Man’s Burnt Ends at home. I’m all about helping you make the best backyard BBQ of your life, so check out more of my smoking and grilling recipe videos on YouTube, Instagram, or our Facebook Page. Follow along and let’s make awesome food together!
This post was originally published in May 2019. We recently updated it with more information and helpful tips. The recipe remains the same.
Poor Man's Burnt Ends
Video
Equipment
- 1 Smoker I highly recommend this pellet grill!
Ingredients
- 3 pounds chuck roast
- 2 Tablespoons yellow mustard
- 3 Tablespoons Hey Grill Hey Beef Rub or 1 Tablespoon each coarse salt, ground black pepper, and garlic powder
- ½ cup Hey Grill Hey Everything BBQ sauce or your favorite ketchup-based BBQ sauce
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
Instructions
- Preheat. Preheat your smoker for indirect grilling at 275 degrees F. Use hickory or oak wood for the most complementary smoke flavor.
- Season. Slather the chuck roast with yellow mustard then season liberally on all sides with Hey Grill Hey Beef Rub or equal parts salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
- Smoke. When your smoker is up to temperature, place the seasoned roast on the smoker and close the lid. Smoke the roast until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F (this took 5 hours on my smoker). You should have a fairly nice dark bark on the exterior of your roast at this point.
- Wrap. Remove the roast from the grill and wrap it in either butcher paper or foil. Return the roast to the grill and continue smoking until the meat reaches an internal temperature of 195 degrees F (this took just over 1 hour).
- Rest and cut. Remove the wrapped roast from the grill and allow to rest for 15-20 minutes. Cut into 3/4 inch cubes and transfer to a foil baking pan.
- Add sauce. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup brown sugar and drizzle with most of the Everything BBQ sauce, reserving a couple of tablespoons for later. Toss gently to coat all of the pieces in a little of the sauce.
- Finish smoking. Place the pan on the grill, close the lid and cook for an additional 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until the sauce is bubbly and the cubed bits of beef are falling apart tender.
- Enjoy. Sprinkle with the additional 2 Tablespoons of brown sugar and the remaining BBQ sauce. stir gently and return to the grill for just a few more minutes until everything is well incorporated. Serve hot as a main course or on white bread/buns with pickles and white onions.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Has this been tried without adding the sugar? I am on a zero sugar diet, but can live with what’s in the BBQ sauce itself. I’m afraid all that brown sugar would send my body into shock! LOL
Hey Ronnie- You definitely don’t need to sugar for these to be awesome! It definitely adds that meat candy taste, but they are delicious without it as well.
Thank you! Meat is in the fridge waiting for this weekend.
You’re welcome!
I am trying this today with Stevia brown sugar substitute as I am diabetic and like you can handle the regular sauce but not much extra. Will report on how it works
Like many, many others, I hit an internal temperature of 165* on two 3 pound roasts much sooner than the 5 hours you indicate. I have a Cookshack Inc. electric smoker, and I trust its thermostat, which I set at 275*. I had a temperature probe in each roast. Both probes showed 165* in less than 2 hours. I knew I wouldn’t have much bark in just 2 hours, so I let it go another hour. At 3 hours, I was at 190*, and that is when I foiled the meat and let it go for another hour to 200*. I rested the meat for an hour, cubed it, then put it in the indoor oven at 250* for an hour, then under the broiler about 5 min. It could not have been any better–moist, and falling apart tender. So, I loved the recipe, but I can’t imagine what the result would have been like had I used your timelines.
Hey Mike- That’s great you were mindful enough to watch the temperatures on your own. That is why I definitely suggest using a thermometer and watching your own temperatures. Every piece of meat, every smoker cooks differently. Mine, a majority of the time, have taken that 5 hours to reach 165 degrees F. For your roasts to reach 165 degrees in less than two hours really makes me question the thermometer on your smoker, but without being there to check it can be hard to diagnose stuff like this. All in all, I’m glad the results were good and you loved the results you achieved.
We have this in our electric smoker right now and the meat reached 165 a lot faster than the recipe indicated. We are continuing with instructions posted in recipe but am disappointed that we didn’t get the “bark” as indicated.. I am hoping it will still turn out as I love burnt ends but the burnt part is my favorite..
Cookshack smokers are like many really good smokers and actually have a pretty wide temp range inside. Even though the thermometer stated 275, it could have been much hotter where your meat was sitting. I’ve found with most of the better smokers a temp of 245 is far better. For what it’s worth.
Any smoker will take some trial and error, as all will cook slightly different than the other. Smoking is not hard, but it definitely is an art. Good art takes lots of practice. And, hey, you get to eat the results of all that practice, right?
Can I use a regular grill? Dont have a smoker. Any ideas or tips?
You can! There is a technique to smoke using a gas grill. Search google for foil packet smoking on a gas grill!
I don’t have a smoker but would love to try this recipe. Any suggestions on the second best way to make it?
Hey Lisa- there are instructions for adapting to your oven in the post above the recipe card. You simply follow the temperature guidelines listed in the recipe itself. Hope you enjoy!
I didn’t see the directions for cooking without the smoker above the recipe card….. Am I missing something?
Hey! I follow the same time and temperature guidelines listed in the recipe for your oven. If you want to add a hint of smoke, you can slather with a little liquid smoke or use smoked paprika in the rub.
Seriously fabulous! We are doing Whole30 now so I used a Whole30 bbq sauce that I made. I didn’t used the brown sugar at all. While I’m sure it’s marvelous with the brown sugar, it was very, very good without it. Thanks for the recipe. Will definitely be doing this again!
So glad you liked it Laura! It can be so hard to find Whole30 recipes, I’m happy to hear how you made this one compliant.
Hey, in the video it says start smoking at 225, in your written directions you say start at 275, which is it?
Follow the written instructions for 275. My video editor (husband) typed it into the video wrong. Sorry about that!
Glad to know I can do this in my oven. Got to try this one.
You have the worst email system I’ve seen.
I try to forward recipes to daughter.. it is sooooo slow or doesn’t let you type email address. And it very seldom forward email to daughter.
I love your recipes and all but sure need some improvement
So sorry Anne, I had no idea! There are so many moving parts on websites like this, sometimes it is super helpful to have feedback from readers when something isn’t working quite right. Thanks for taking the time to let me know and I will see if I can get it functioning better!
I was going to try a rump roast do u think it will work out similar to chuck roast?
Hi Heath- rump roast is typically more lean than chuck roasts and better suited to braising with liquid and shredding. I would use the rump roast in this recipe: https://heygrillhey.com/smoked-pulled-beef/
Made this this past weekend for the NCAA tournament. It was absolutely awesome! Thank you for sharing this. I’ll be making this again, for sure!-!
Love it! Thanks so much, Mike!
One of our local BBQ restaurants serves the most incredible burnt ends as their Friday daily special. Word has gotten out, and they always run out of them before the lunch run is over. I made “Poor Man’s Burnt Ends” in my smoker last weekend, using a 4-lb chuck roast. My menfolk raved about them! They said they taste as good as the ones from the BBQ joint. Best of all, they only took 8 hours instead of the 12-16 for a whole brisket… and only cost 12 bucks! As I write this I’m eating the last of the leftovers. YUM!!!
Thanks Andrea!! That is a huge compliment! I so appreciate you taking the time to come back and leave a review!!