Best Ever Beef Brisket in the Pressure Cooker
Let me start this post off by saying the pressure cooker is the greatest kitchen invention ever – EVER. I took this brisket down to 90 minutes and it’s fall apart tender, melt in your mouth juicy, and the most addictive, amazing brisket I have ever had. I wish you had smell-o-vision right now because my house smells so wonderful. I just feel bad for my dogs who have been under my feet the whole time, hoping I will spill some of this goodness onto the floor.
I originally wrote this recipe in 2014, and it has long since become the most popular one on my blog. There were a few aspects of it that needed work though, so I fine tuned it this weekend and it is now PERFECTION. Brisket has always been one of my ultimate comfort foods – like many others I’m sure, and you will love my version.
Many people have been asking me which type of pressure cooker I recommend. I know the instapot is super trendy right now, but I have yet to try it. I recommend the Kuhn Rikon Duromatic Pressure Cooker, which is what I own. This brand of cookware has always been very reliable and I loved all of their products, including this pressure cooker!
I also have to mention that this recipe yields the most incredible gravy and carrots in the world. I usually have about 2 cups of gravy left in the pot, so I freeze some and make a ravioli sauce with the rest.
And finally…. my first cooking video to go along with my most popular recipe! Most people I’ve met haven’t cooked with pressure cookers before, so I hope this video helps!
Best Ever Beef Brisket in the Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
Ingredients:
- 3.5 lb. brisket
- 1 onion coarsely chopped
- 1/2 tsp. Onion powder
- 1/2 tsp. Garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp. celery salt
- 1 tsp. yellow mustard powder
- 1 tsp. dried thyme or italian seasoning
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 packet onion soup mix
- 1 tbsp. brown sugar
- 1 cup BBQ Sauce I like Sweet Baby Rays
- 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
- 2 cups beef stock
- 10 medium carrots chopped
Instructions
- First place the brisket into the pressure cooker fat side up. Then, place all ingredients except the carrots into the pressure cooker and cover. Seal the pressure cooker, turn heat to MEDIUM NOT HIGH, and cook on medium pressure for 90 minutes. I get a lot of comments about there not being enough liquid and that the brisket burnt - this is because it CANNOT BE PUT TO HIGH! If you are worried about your heat settings, add another 1/2 cup of liquid to the pot. When you turn off the heat be sure to let the pressure come down naturally, this takes about ten to fifteen minutes. If you have a quick release setting, use this to release the steam faster. Next, place the carrots in, and re-heat the pressure cooker. Cook on medium-high for another 10 minutes. Then, let the pressure cooker cool down again, completely.
- Let the meat rest for about 20 minutes before carving. Carve the brisket, trim off the fat, top with gravy and carrots, and serve!
This was probably the best roast beast meal I’ve ever had. A tisket, a brisket, you must fixit it’s delicious!
This looks easy and fast, love it !!!
Thanks Lisa!!! It is… the pressure cooker is the coolest gadget ever, and it tastes just as great if not better than the oven cooking method!
I have had a pressure cooker for a long time but alas i have usually only done veg.
I have just tried your brisket and i can’t believe I have discovered after all this time how to make soft meat in the pc! In the past I tried but obviously didn’t cook for long enough but thought I had overcooked. I am so pleased so thank you so much, am going to try more of your recipes and see what else I can do. Thanks again.
Thank you for the comment – I am so glad you liked the recipe!!!
Best brisket I have ever tasted!!!
Looks soooo tender. How come you didn’t invite me over?
Love,
Mom
Oh if you knew the depths of my love for this meat…..excuse me while I drool in private now.
Looks AMAZING!
My MIL will LOVE this! Thanks for sharing this, she loves using her pressure cooker!
This looks incredible. I found gluten free worchestire sauce recently so I am looking forward to trying this recipe out.
Its looks very delicious. I still not try but I loved to make this recipe also I wish to buy a new pressure cooker to make this recipe.
Thanks
Worcestershire Sauce (pronounced Woostershr!)
Just call it Wuster sauce!
Worcestershire sauce (pronounced woostershr) !
Can you double this recipe? I just made this for dinner and it was a huge hit even with our picky 11 year old who said he didn’t like brisket but then asked for another helping!
That is so wonderful, thank you for sharing!!! You can absolutely double this recipe! I often do and then freeze some :). I am so glad you and the little one enjoyed!!!
I need 4 qt recipes . I have a small pressure cooker. thanks
I followed this recipe pretty exactly, but the beef came out dry and tough 🙁 any suggestions? Thanks
I am sorry to hear that!! double the amount of stock so 1/2 cup total, let me know how that comes out! Mine hasn’t ever been dry with these measurements but then again, everyones pressure cookers are different and so is the meat. Thanks!
You say “double the amount of stock so 1/2 cup total”, but the recipe calls for 1 1/4 cup beef stock. Please clarify.
Let me revise the recipe, I apologize for the confusion!
Can I substitute or omit the wine? I don’t cook with or drink alcohol.
Yes absolutely omit the wine. I would add a touch more stock instead.
I did not see any wine listed in the above ingredients.. did you revise this recipe? Does it need wine?
If so how much and red I assume ?
I did revise the recipe without the wine! If you want to add it, go ahead and add it before you seal the pressure cooker – about 1/4 to 1/2 cup!
This was very good. Although my wife complained that I should have doubled the carrots, even though I still added one or two more than the recipe called for.
I put the sauce/gravy in a small pot and let it simmer probably 20 minutes or so, stirring a lot. It never thickened to the consistency of what’s in the image above but it’s thick enough and packed with flavor.
What other spices could be added to this? I usually come up short on “flavor” because I worry about picking the wrong spice or the wrong amount. The meat was perfectly tender, I just wonder, aside from the gravy, what else could be done to punch up the flavor some.
And why just carrots? What’s their purpose, aside from being a veggie?
Thanks!
Glad you liked it! You can totally add any veggie you want to this – I just like the carrots! As far as other spices to add, maybe some lipton onion soup mix would be nice, or demi-glace – those would pack a ton of flavor!
Made this last night. Best brisket ever! My boys would of eaten another one if I made more. This is a keeper. If I double up, should I cook longer? By how much?
Dee
Aww so glad you liked it!!!! If you double up you won’t need to cook it longer in the pressure cooker, cooking time should remain the same. Thank you!!!
My pressure cooker has low and high cooking settings, not medium. What setting should I be using.
I would use low and set the time a touch longer! You don’t want to cook too high – the meat may get tough.
Don’t try it with a London Broil….Not enough fat, it turns into leather.
Yum… but Worcestershire Sauce!!!!! Worcestershire! Prononounced “Wustershur”
This was the first recipe I tried with my new pressure cooker I got for Christmas. I was so excited! Unfortunately, 45 minutes yielded a profoundly tough piece of meat, to the point of being inedible. We dumped it all *back* into the pressure cooker, set it for another 45 minutes, and left for Christmas Day services at church. By the time we got back it was much, much tenderer and easier to eat. If I make this again I will definitely set it for 90 minutes.
The dryness may also be due to the size of pressure cooker. What size pressure cooker did you use?
I agree whole-heartedly. I have used a presto pressure cooker model 40 all my life that my grandmother gave me after she used it all her life. Beat way to do ‘taters or any kind of veggy in steam in a pie pan so nutrients are noy lost in water. I have 5 /10 / and 15 weights for a mirro-matic I do brisket in 30 munites with the 15 weight Got for it!
Hi, if i don’t want to add the carrots then do i still need to cook the meat an additional 20 mins or the first 60 mins cooking time is enough?
yes!
I revised the cooking time to a total of 120 minutes. Please cook it that long with or without the carrots!
Hi. Looking to try this tonight. I’m new to the pressure cooker world. Do I follow this recipe with a frozen or thawed brisket? Thanks
I would use thawed! Let me know – it’s amazing!!!
I just made this per the recipe. I thought it was amazing. My family enjoyed it and that is not always easy. Thank you for sharing.
Merry Christmas to you and yours
So happy to hear this!!!! Thank you for your feedback, I’m glad everyone loved it! It’s def. one of my favorite recipes!
Hi I was wondering about cooking the middle section of the brisket with this method. I bought a whole brisket and cut it into 3 pieces and I have the middle piece thawing out now. Do you think this would work for this cut. Thank you very much.
Hi Beth! I think this method would work great. If it is a thicker cut, I would just adjust cooking time and add an extra 10-15 minutes.
Thank you so much for your quick reply.
Yes ma’am!! I can’t wait to hear how it comes out! 🙂
Thank you for the recipe I was finally able to make a brisket that wasn’t dry. We will be making this all the time.
Thank you so much for your feedback – I’m so glad you enjoyed it!!
Great recipe for taste. I just wished I had used more stock/bbq sauce as after I opened the pressure cookers after 90 min. the bottom of the pot was all burned. 🙁 (I could luckily save most of the meat (which is very tender/juicy), but no sauce. 🙁 The quantity of fluid is really important with pressure cookers. 🙁
I have an instant pot, and it doesn’t have variable temp controls (low,medium,high). The manual says working temp is 235 -244 degrees F. Working pressure 10.2 psi. What adjustments would I make? Thanks
My teenager made this for us and it was truly delectable! Not a lot of directions so rather than just dumping everything in the pressure cooker, she rubbed the meat down with a little olive oil and then after mixing all dry ingredients together bubbles it Ll over the meat before outing it into the liquid and dumping last of the dry around. We do not have a medium temp on our pressure cooker so we did low for two hours instead.
Thanks so much for the feedback!! I’m so glad to hear you liked it!
Thank you, Brisket was a big hit with my family and dinner guests. It’s a keeper!
I’m so glad!!!
Hi, I can’t wait to try this recipe, but I’m not clear on the carrots. Do I cook the meat for 90 minutes then add the carrots and cook for another 30 minutes? I also want to add potatoes.
Thanks.
Leslie
Hi! Yes cook the brisket for 90 minutes, let the pressure come down, add the carrots, cook another 10 minutes!