Amazingly tender Beef Brisket made in the oven. This brisket is cooked at low temperatures for several hours and comes out so flavorful and tender. French Onion sauce is responsible for the wonderful flavors of the brisket and after the brisket is cooked, the sauce is made into the best gravy you’ve ever tasted.
There are even more ways to enjoy some brisket like Dry Rub Beef Brisket that is cooked in the oven and Corned Beef Brisket that is also cooked in the oven.
BEEF BRISKET
If you think you’re drooling now, just thinking about this brisket, wait until the aroma starts filling your house. Wait until you take it out of the oven, start slicing it, and it just falls apart from tenderness. And of course, wait until you taste this amazingly tender beef brisket smothered in French onion gravy.
I can’t figure out if I’m more delighted about the brisket or the gravy. Both are amazing because the brisket soaks up the flavors of the sauce as it cooks and it is so tender. The sauce has an amazing flavor and it’s turned into the best gravy while the brisket is resting.
One simple ingredient is added to the sauce to make the gravy in just a few minutes. This meal is so comforting you can’t serve it with anything but fluffy homemade mashed potatoes. Of course, there are many other side dishes you can try, but mashed potatoes are the perfect complement to this beef and gravy.
HOW TO MAKE FRENCH ONION BEEF BRISKET IN THE OVEN
Before starting to cook the brisket, you will need to prepare the French onion sauce first. Count on the sauce taking about 30-40 minutes to prepare. You can also make the onion sauce a day before that way the brisket will take 10 minutes to prep and pop in the oven.
Depending on the size of the brisket, count on cook time is between 4-8 hours. Beef brisket takes about 1 hour per pound in the oven plus 45-60 minutes cooked uncovered at the end.
Make sure to have a roasting pan that is big enough to comfortably fit the brisket in it, not too small and not too bit. (If the roasting pan is too big, the sauce will leak out, spread in the pan too thinly, and may start to burn.)
Try to use a whole beef brisket, with the fat cap on top. Fat cap is what will help you keep the brisket tender. So if the butcher asks you if you want to cut the brisket, get the part with the fat cap on top.
How to make French Onion Sauce:
Slice all onions thinly and set it aside.
Use a large cooking pan to prepare the sauce. Preheat the pan over medium heat and add butter. Add onions, salt, and sugar and mix very well until onions are evenly seasoned. Let onions cook until all softened, mixing from time to time.
Pour in white wine and let it cook for 2-3 minutes. Mix beef stock, tomato sauce, white wine vinegar, pressed garlic, thyme, salt, and paprika in a mixing bowl and pour it into the pan with onions. Stir carefully and let it simmer for 5-7 minutes. Take off heat.
NOTE: This sauce is enough to cook 6-8 lb brisket. If cooking a small brisket, you can half the sauce recipe.
How to cook French Onion Beef Brisket :
Preheat the oven to 300°.
Use two long sheets of aluminum foil to place them in the bottom of a roasting pan side by side but overlapping. Depending on the size of the brisket, you may need to add another sheet of aluminum foil on top. (Note: some sauce will leak out while the brisket is cooking and that’s okay.)
Spread 1/3 of the sauce and onion in the bottom of the pan, on the foil. Place brisket on top of the onions, fat cap up. Spread remaining French Onion sauce over the brisket and close the foil around the brisket to create a pocket. If the brisket is large, you may need to cover with another sheet of foil on top and tuck it under.
Place in the oven and cook for an hour per lb. Open the foil and cook for another 45-60 minutes uncovered. Take the roasting pan out of the oven and take the brisket out of the pan and onto a cutting board. Loosely tent with a sheet of foil and let the brisket rest for about 15 minutes before slicing. Use a sharp knife to slice across the grain.
How to make French Onion Gravy:
While the brisket is resting, you can easily prepare the sauce.
Pour all onions and sauce out of the roasting pan and into a saucepot. Mix cornstarch with some cold beef stock and stir it into the sauce. Bring the sauce to simmer over medium heat and cook it until thickened, stirring often.
Take it off the heat and spoon it over sliced brisket and potatoes when serving.
HOW TO REHEAT BEEF BRISKET
This brisket can quickly be reheated in the microwave under the plastic microwave plate lid.
For the best results though, I recommend taking a little extra time and reheating it in the oven. Preheat the oven to 325° and place some slices of brisket in foil. Loosely wrap the foil around the slices of brisket to create a pocket and place it on the baking sheet. Reheat for 10-15 minutes, just until hot.
SOME MORE RECIPES TO TRY:
Pepper Crusted Beef Tenderloin
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French Onion Baked Beef Brisket
Ingredients
- 6 lbs beef brisket
- 3 lbs yellow onions
- 1/4 cup butter
- 2 tbsp white granulated sugar
- salt
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 2 cups beef stock
- 8 oz tomato sauce
- 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 2 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tbsp smoked paprika
- 4 garlic cloves pressed
- salt
For Gravy:
- 3 tbsp cornstarch
- 2 tbsp cold beef stock
- 1 1/2 quart French Onion sauce from above (including the onions)
Instructions
French Onion Sauce:
- Slice all onions thinly and set it aside.
- Preheat a large cooking pan oven medium heat. Melt butter and add onions, salt, and sugar. Mix very well until onions are evenly seasoned. Let onions cook until all softened, mixing from time to time.
- Pour in white wine and let it cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Mix beef stock, tomato sauce, white wine vinegar, pressed garlic, thyme, salt, and paprika in a mixing bowl and pour it into the pan with onions.
- Stir carefully and let it simmer for 5-7 minutes. Take off heat.
Brisket:
- Preheat the oven to 300°.
- Use two long sheets of aluminum foil to place them in the bottom of a roasting pan side by side but overlapping. Make sure the roasting pan fits the brisket nicely, not too bit and not too small.
- Spread 1/3 of the sauce and onion in the bottom of the pan, on the foil. Place brisket on top of the onions, fat cap up.
- Spread remaining French Onion sauce over the brisket and close the foil around the brisket to create a pocket. If the brisket is large, you may need to cover with another sheet of foil on top and tuck it under.
- Place in the oven and cook for about 6 hours.
- Open the foil and cook for another 45-60 minutes uncovered.
- Take the roasting pan out of the oven and take the brisket out of the pan and onto a cutting board. Loosely tent with a sheet of foil and let the brisket rest for about 15 minutes before slicing.
- Use a sharp knife to slice across the grain when ready.
Gravy:
- Pour all onions and sauce out of the roasting pan and into a sauce pot.
- Mix cornstarch with some cold beef stock and stir it into the sauce.
- Bring the sauce to simmer over medium heat and cook it until thickened, stirring often.
- Take it off heat and spoon it over sliced brisket and potatoes when serving.
Notes
Nutrition
William Richie says
Hi Lyuba. A friend of mine directed me to your recipe. One of the ingredients is salt, but you didn’t list how much to use when sauteing onions in the pan. I’d like to know how much to add.
Another thing I don’t have on hand is dry white wine. So, I looked up what would be a good dry white wine to use. One website notes that many chefs turn to Black Box Pinot Grigio as a favorite to use in cooking. The smallest Black Box container I’m seeing on the internet and available at Target stores is a 500ml box. But the recipe only calls for 1/2 cup (about 118 ml). Moreover, as yet another website noted, after opening a bottle of white wine such as Pinot Grigio, it is good for about 48 hours and then it begins to oxidize.
So, I was thinking of getting and using the 4 pack/187ml Pinot Grigio by Sutter Home. Each bottle contains 187ml of medium dry white wine. That means I would use less than 1 bottle to get the amount needed for the recipe, and the other three bottles I could use on other cooking occasions.
Have you ever tried either Sutter Home or Black Box Pinot Grigio as dry white cooking wines, and if so, were you satisfied with the results? Or did you use something other than those two brands?
Thanks for reading my post,
William
lyuba says
Hi William!
Salt is such an tough ingredient to give a measurement for because everyone tolerates and prefers different amounts of salt. So I always recommend to salt to taste. You can pinch some salt and sprinkle over the onions. As far as in the sauce, I would say between 1/2 and 1 teaspoon. Again, that depends on how salty you like it. Remember to always taste as you go! So one you start to simmer the sauce in the pan, give it a little taste (be careful, it’s hot) and see if there is enough salt. If not, add a little more, stir, and taste again.
When it comes to wine in cooking, the main thing to remember is never to use sweet wines. I usually go with a Pinot Grigio or Chardonnay. If you do not plan to drink the leftover wine afterwards, you can get single serving wines! Many stores now carry single serving wines or those in a smaller portions. You can definitely use that Sutter Home 4-pack and you can even use the whole bottle because it’s just a little over 6 oz. (vs 4 in 1/2 cup.) It won’t be a significant enough effect on the sauce especially if you cook it down for an extra 30 seconds to a minute.
If you have to get a standard bottle and will not be drinking the wine right away, I try to get the bottle with a twist cap vs a cork, that way I can just close it and put it in the refrigerator. Most light white wines will last 5-7 days in the refrigerator when closed air-tight. (But again, you can always go with the smaller serving bottles.)
I very rarely use exact same wine when I cook. I always pick out a bottle that I’d like to drink with dinner or another time. So I’ve used different Pinot Grigio, Chardonnays, Chablis, and other dry, not sweet wines. The only important factor here is that the wine is not sweet. (In a simple wine sauce or a sauce where wine is the main flavor, wine itself would be more important than here. In this recipe, the wine will not be as noticeable.)
I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions.
William Jean Richie says
Hi Lyuba!
Thank you for responding to my inquire. As you know by now, I ended up getting the 4pk/187ml Home Sutter Pinot Grigio.
The brisket came out great. I followed your recipe to a T. And I think what really made the sauce good was the smoked paprika.
The brisket, too, came out very tender. I cooked mine, a 3.9-pound brisket, for 3 hours covered, and then one hour uncovered (foil open), with a finish temperature of 209F when I inserted a digital thermometer. I looked up the internal temperatures for briskets, and one website noted that the temperature needs to be between 185-205F for the meat to come out tender.
I thought everything had plenty of salt. I only added a little salt to the onions while I was sautéing them. Other than that, everything had enough salt.
Thanks again for sharing your recipe and thoughts.
LyubaB says
I am so glad you liked the recipe, William! Thanks for taking the time to let me know how it went!
Jeanne Vavruska says
This was absolutely great. I had a large brisket so we have lots for the freezer for other meals. I followed the recipe exactly and it was wonderful.
LyubaB says
So glad you liked it, Jeanne!
Tracey Turner says
If I have a roaster with a lid do I still have to close up the tin foil?
LyubaB says
If your lid is air-tight you don’t need to but if you think it may leak a little you can put a sheet of aluminum foil over it.
Sunny says
I love this recipe it’s my go to for brisket. I did a little bit different. I didn’t have any wine so I just did more beef stock and instead of white wine vinegar I did balsamic vinegar it gives it a more in depth flavor more bold… Turns out awesome. Try it and let me know what you think.
LyubaB says
Sounds good! I will try it the next time I make this recipe. 😉
Peter K says
The time listed in the article is about 1 hour per pound. But when I adjust the recipe for the larger brisket size I have, the cooking time in the recipe card does not change. Should I assume a 10 pound brisket takes 10 hours to cook? Or does the time not really scale up like that?
Thanks
Patricia Rothenberger says
Excellent!! Nice flavor. Cooked on crockpot and the only thing I wish I had don was to brown off th meat either on the grill or broiler after cooking it. Will definitely make this again.
LyubaB says
I am so glad you liked it, Patricia! And yes, next time you should finish it in the broiler to give it those crispy edges that are so tasty! 😉
darlene m perry says
I have an electric roasting pan does this make a difference in cooking the beef brisket? I dont have a roasting pan big enough to fit the roast in for the oven. It is 12 lbs. I have never made one before so large. I usually add whole tomatoes , red onions, smashed garlic, carrots ,rosemary,celery stalks, red wine, parsley and by leaf . brown the roast in olive oil and then coat it with olive oil. someone gave me this recipe then I just cooked it in the oven covered tightly with foil and baste and so often. i dont know about the roasting oven if it will cook differently? I guess about 9 hours? so confused and you help or give suggestions? thank you .. I am cooking for a large family for Fathers Day.
LyubaB says
Hi Dalene,
I am sorry but I didn’t see your question until now if you ever need immediate help you please message me on facebook because it goes directly to my phone. I have no experience cooking in an electric roaster so I can’t tell you for sure how it would work out. You can get a big throw away aluminum pan for around $10 at the store so you don’t have to buy and store a big roasting pan. I don’t know how long exactly it will take but around 10-12 hours as it usually takes about an hour per pound.
Lauren says
I have a lot of gravy leftover, BEFORE I cooked the brisket. Do you have any suggestions of what I can use it with, or if it freezes well?
Thank you, Lauren
Shelby says
Thank you for the recipe! I’d like to make this for Christmas dinner. Is it necessary to use a roasting pan? Can I put it in a dutch oven with the lid on?
LyubaB says
Hi, If it will fit then you can but I wouldn’t cut it you could get a throw away aluminum pan if not.
John G. Pincince says
Aluminum Foil has quite a high Carbon Footprint. Why not just use a good quality enameled pan with a cover. It works well for me. I’m going to use your recipe, in part, tomorrow and use the kind of pan I mentioned. I’ll let you know how it turns out. If you don’t hear form me, feel free to email me.
ldpedersen1000@gmail.com says
I was thinking the same thing. I cooked the brisket and a very expensive piece of meat shrank down to an amazing small piece of meat!!!!I can see why a good pan would be preferred, the juices would not deep out like this did in the tinfoil wap. The onion part of the recipe was delicious and fun to make and then to add more deliciousness, I made homemade mashed potatoes and baking powder biscuits,. Yummy ness all around.
K says
Can I get the measurements for all of the ingredients for the onion sauce
Thanks
K
LyubaB says
Hi, K! All the measurements are listed with the ingredients on the recipe card above. Please let me know if you don’t see it!