Amazing, tender corned beef brisket cooked in the oven with just three ingredients. All you need is tangy and flavorful Dijon mustard, brown sugar for the flavor balance, and corned beef, of course! This brisket is flavorful, easy, and comes out so tender.
There are many more ways to enjoy corned beef like in a Reuben Sandwich or Reuben Dip.
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It’s been so many years of me making this delicious corned beef brisket recipe and my husband and I are still completely in love with it. This is one delicious (and totally easy) corned beef and I don’t think we’ll grow tired of it.
This corned beef made in the oven is not just flavorful but also incredibly tender and juicy. It’s the whole package, no matter what you want to do with it after. As good as Instant Pot Corned Beef Brisket is, this oven baked version is still my family favorite. And I absolutely love that I only need 3 ingredients to make it.
The aroma that fills your kitchen as it cooks really is wonderful. Get your side dishes ready while it cooks because you will want to dig in the moment it’s out of the oven. And make sure to make enough to have some leftovers! This corned beef is perfect for making Reuben sandwiches, Reuben egg rolls, and so much more!
What Is Corned Beef Brisket?
Corned beef is simply a beef that was cured in salty brine for several days. The process of curing the beef (and other meats) was originally done to preserve it with salt. The term “corned beef” is synonymous to “pickled beef” because the brine used for corned beef is similar to the pickle brine.
Traditionally, corned beef is made with a brisket cut of beef. Since it is a tough cut of meat, it’s best to cook it for a long period of time at lower temperature to make it tender. Sometimes, beef round or rump is used instead of brisket.
You can make your own corned beef by curing a brisket in salty brine in the refrigerator for about 10 days. After curing, you can cook it with additional spices, beef stock, and even beer.
The most traditional dishes that use corned beef are: Reuben sandwiches, corned beef and cabbage, and corned beef and potato hash.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Corned Beef Brisket – make sure to get uncooked corned beef brisket. I like to get closer to 4 lb. one so that we have leftovers. Remember, you can easily increase the amount of Dijon mustard and brown sugar to cover a larger brisket.
Dijon mustard – make sure to use Dijon mustard, NOT yellow mustard. Some other gourmet mustards can be used, just try not to use ones with competing flavors.
Brown sugar – it’s okay to use either light or dark.
How Long To Cook Corned Beef In The Oven?
Calculate cooking time for the brisket to be about 60 minutes per pound. Cook corned beef brisket covered in aluminum foil but not too tight, leave some room between the brisket and the foil.
After the time is up, open the aluminum foil and briefly place the brisket back in the oven under the broiler. Make sure that the brisket is at least 8 inches away from the broiler. If you have an option between high and low broil, choose low broil and keep an eye on it.
After you take it out of the oven, take it out of the roasting pan as well. Make sure to give the brisket about 10-15 minutes to rest before slicing.
How To Make Corned Beef Brisket In The Oven
Preheat the oven to 350°F and either get 1 large sheet of aluminum foil and two overlapping ones. The goal is to be able to completely cover the corned beef brisket loosely and create a pocket inside. Fit the foil in the roasting pan.
Bring the corned beef to boil: To get rid of some of the excess salt in the brisket, don’t skip this step. Take the beef out of the package, discard the seasoning packet, and rinse it in an empty sink under cold running water.
Place the brisket into a pot and fill it with cold water until brisket is covered. Bring the water to boil and once it starts to boil, turn it off, and take the brisket out (1). Place the blanched brisket into the prepared roasting pan (2).
Rub and wrap: place the brisket onto the aluminum foil in the pan. Rub it with a generous layer of Dijon mustard (3) on all the sides and the sprinkle brown sugar evenly all over the top and sides (4).
Bring the aluminum foil together and close it, covering the brisket loosely, leaving a little space between the brisket and the foil.
Cook: bake the brisket for about 2 hours and then take it out and open the foil (5). Turn on the broiler to low and put the brisket back in. Let the top caramelize but don’t walk away far, keep an eye on it (6).
Let the corned beef brisket rest on the cutting board for about 10-15 minutes before slicing it.
Recipe FAQs
Since corned beef is cured in salt brine, it contains quite a bit of salt. So bringing the corned beef to a boil in a pot of water, gets some of the saltiness out. It will decrease the amount of salt in the brisket and therefore make it less salty.
You absolutely can add some potatoes and if you wish cabbage and carrots to the brisket. Since beef will take MUCH longer to cook than vegetables, you will need to cook the brisket for a while first. Baby gold potatoes will need about an hour of total cook time, covered and uncovered. So set aside about an another hour at the end of meat’s cooking time to cook potatoes.
If your potatoes are larger, you can always cut it in half.
If you wish to add cabbage, cut the head of cabbage into 4-6 wedges and place them around the meat. Depending on the size of the cabbage wedges, it would take 45-60 minutes.
You can see the steps and get the idea of how to cook it in my Baked Corned Beef Brisket and Potatoes recipe.
Store leftover cooked brisket in an air-tight food storage container, in the refrigerator. Properly stored, it should be good for 3-4 days.
To reheat the sliced of corned beef brisket, I recommend doing it in the oven to preserve the juiciness. Wrap some slices in foil and reheat in the oven at 350°F just until heated through.
Serving Suggestions
With a Side Dish: serve it with sides like mashed potatoes, Colcannon, fried cabbage, and roasted potatoes.
Make something else out of it like:
More Beef Brisket Recipes To Try
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3-Ingredient Oven Baked Corned Beef Brisket Recipe
Ingredients
- 2-4 lb corned beef brisket
- 3-4 Tbsp Grey Poupon Dijon mustard (more for larger brisket)
- 3-4 Tbsp brown sugar (more for larger brisket)
Instructions
- Take the brisket out of the package and discard the spice pack that comes with it.
- Place brisket in a pot of water and bring it to boil. As soon as it starts to boil, take the brisket out. This will remove some of the excess salt in the meat.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Place the brisket, fat layer up, in the middle of aluminum foil big enough to cover the whole brisket.
- Rub the whole brisket with Dijon mustard. Then, evenly sprinkle brown sugar over the top and gently pet it on. Pat some onto the sides as well.
- Bring the aluminum foil together and close it, covering the brisket loosely, leaving a little space between the brisket and the foil. Place the covered brisket into a rimmed roasting pan.
- Bake it for 2 hours. Open the foil and turn on the broiler on low, if you have an option for low or high broiler setting. (If not, move the brisket to a lower rack.) Let the top caramelize for a few minutes but watch it so it doesn’t burn.
- BAKE TIME: the 2 hours recommendation time is for the 1.75-2 lb. sized corned beef brisket. If you have a larger piece of meat, you will need to cook it longer. Give it about 45-60 minutes per pound. Lean towards the 60 minutes per pound time.
- Take the corned beef brisket out and let it rest for a 10-15 minutes on the cutting board before slicing.
- Make sure to slice the meat against the grain! Luckily, with the corned beef brisket, it's very easy to see the grain.
Video
Notes
- Why boil first? Since corned beef is cured in salt brine, it contains quite a bit of salt. So bringing the corned beef to a boil in a pot of water, gets some of the saltiness out.
- Adding potatoes and/or cabbage: You absolutely can add some potatoes and if you wish cabbage and carrots to the brisket. Since beef will take MUCH longer to cook than vegetables, you will need to cook the brisket for a while first. Baby gold potatoes will need about an hour of total cook time, covered and uncovered. So set aside about an another hour at the end of meat’s cooking time to cook potatoes.
If your potatoes are larger, you can always cut it in half.
If you wish to add cabbage, cut the head of cabbage into 4-6 wedges and place them around the meat. Depending on the size of the cabbage wedges, it would take 45-60 minutes.
You can see the steps and get the idea of how to cook it in my Baked Corned Beef Brisket and Potatoes recipe. - Store and reheat: Store leftover cooked brisket in an air-tight food storage container, in the refrigerator. Properly stored, it should be good for 3-4 days.
To reheat the sliced of corned beef brisket, I recommend doing it in the oven to preserve the juiciness. Wrap some slices in foil and reheat in the oven at 350°F just until heated through.
Nutrition
Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles in February, 2017.
Shirley Larson says
Made this tonight with a 2.5 lb corned beef brisket we had in the freezer bought on sale for st patties day. Folowed the directions except kept in the oven for 3 hours. Delicious!! Made colcannan and boiled carrots as a side dish. The only thing I would do different as I am salt sensitive,, is soak the brisket overnight and change the water a couple times
Cris Everetts says
I’ve read all the comments, and am so excited to try this recipe out…..I will be doing exactly how you say, but I think I will add the packet after I boil the brisket, to the water and add small potatoes and carrots. Someone already did that. Will write back tomorrow and let you know how it goes, but I’m sure it will be terrific. Thanking you in advance, Cris
Dee says
I have this in the oven now & it smells scrumptious! I have a 3lb brisket so I’m going to bake it for 3 hours. This is my 1st brisket that I’m cooking & I’m glad to have found this recipe. I’m also making cabbage to go with it.
Cat Stone says
Instead of boiling the brisket at first, I just let it soak in cold water for about an hour – added the seasoning packet to the water then discarded it with the water. Followed the rest of the recipe to the tee and it was HANDS DOWN the best coned beef I have ever made in 30 years. Easier than boiled corned beef and tastes SO much better!!! I prefer a little more fat with my corned beef so I bought a point cut instead of flat cut and it was amazing!!!!!!! My husband is a vegetarian and usually loathes the smell of boiled corned beef but this time, he walked in the door and said, “What smells so good!?” Thank goodness, too. All the leftovers are mine!
Kringeesmom says
Made this for supper and my family loved it! Easier than pie. I added the seasoning packet to the boiling water.
Bonnie says
I was geocery shopping and cane across a corn beef brisket deal that I couldnt pass up….so bought 2 lol…anyways hadnt cooked one in forever, so with searching reciepes I came across yours…Its in the oven right now…I will let you know how it turns out…but with licking my fingers after patting the brown sugar onto the layer of dijon mustard, cant wait for it to be done…wow what a fabulous idea of combining the two flavors…love it! Cant wait to carlmalize and dig in!
lyuba says
I really hope it came out as good as you hoped!!
Jim says
Can I use this recipe in a slow cooker instead? Baking this meat tends to dry out in my opinion.
Joe says
Hi. Stumbled across your recipe last week. I’d never made corner beef before and my girlfriend had tasked me with cooking it for dinner. Not knowing it typically takes several hours to cook put me in a bind because by the time I got around to it I only had an hour and half until she was home. I picked your recipe because it was fast and easy. Her eyes widened when I told her I threw,away the seasoning packet and had used Dijon mustard and was baking it. She’s a chef and judging by her subdued but obviously sceptical reaction my hopes for the dish where dashed. Anyway . It was delicious of course. I came in the kitchen that night and she was sheepishly eating leftovers like potato chips. Two weeks later in making it tonight so I had to recheck the recipe and decided to comment. Thank you for this easy awesome and unconventional recipe
lyuba says
Hahaha, that’s great! That’s a high compliment from a chef 🙂
I’m so glad you both liked it!
Maggie Stafford says
I am about to make this dish now!!!
Thank you for sharing this recipe with the world.
Looking forward to Dinner,
Mags
tom says
Great recipe, I’ve done it twice now and both times excellent, 2 things you should change, don’t discard the spice pack, use it with the veggies and use the water that the brisket was in to cook the veggies, (ie taters, carrots, celery, onions, garlic)
Allya says
Good call, I was wondering how to impart the flavors to the veggies if they are not cooked with the meat!
lyuba says
That is a good idea! I’m actually working on another recipe for the corned beef brisket baked with the veggies. Hopefully I will be able to share it soon!
T.Isaacs says
Looking forward to seeing your new ways of preparing veggies. I am going to try your recipe when I get my Social security check. Thank you.
Jimbo says
Flavor was great, but seems at 2 hours, most of the juices came out. I made two separate pieces, and both were on the tough side. Had nearly 3 cups of liquid come out of the two pieces.
Bob says
It was tough because it was under cooked, not over cooked. It has to reach an internal temperature of around 200 f for the connective tissues in the meat to break down.
Pop Top says
I bought two 2 1/4 # flats. Did practice one last week as directed, It was ok but did have a bit of a tug. The second one, cooked yesterday but after the first 1 1/2 hours at 350 I dropped oven to 325 for another 1 1/2 hours . Pulled it out, kept it wrapped and rested for 30 minutes, then did the broiler thing. OUTSTANDING!
lyuba says
Wonderful!! I’m so glad you were able to get it just right, the way you wanted 🙂
Christina says
This was absolutely amazing!
Joanna says
This recipe was fabulous! It was remarkably easy and by far, the best preparation for corned beef I have ever tried. I will be serving corned beef more regularly now. Thank you so much for sharing your creation.
JoAnna