3-Ingredient Oven Baked Corned Beef Brisket
This corned beef brisket recipe uses a simple oven method to deliver tender slices and a caramelized finish with just three ingredients. All you need is tangy and flavorful Dijon mustard, brown sugar for the flavor balance, and corned beef. Start cooking it tightly covered to keep it moist and tender and finish under the broiler to caramelize the topping.
Since I first published this corned beef brisket recipe, it’s become a go-to reader favorite and here’s exactly what to look for as it cooks:
- Tenderness target: Baked until a fork slides in with little resistance and slices bend without crumbling.
- Salt control: A quick pre-boil helps dial back the briny bite so the flavor tastes balanced, not overly salty.
- Glaze: Dijon and brown sugar melts into a glossy, sweet-tangy coating as it bakes.
- Broiler finish: golden broil finish is perfect for the top. Look for a deep golden-brown, lightly crisp top and caramelized at the edges, not burnt.
- Ensures a juicy results when slicing: remembering to rest before slicing, so the brisket stays moist and cuts cleanly.
Table of Contents
Ingredients Tips and Substitutions
- 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.
Success Tips for Tender Corned Beef Brisket
Before you start, these simple tips help you bake a tender corned beef brisket with the right doneness, the right salt balance, and a perfectly browned glaze:
- Quick salt-control step (optional but helpful): For a less briny result, briefly boil the brisket, then discard the water and pat the meat dry before adding the topping.
- Brown sugar coverage: spread the brown sugar evenly so it melts into a smooth glaze. Thin or patchy spots can brown unevenly.
- Bake time rule and doneness: Plan roughly about 60 minutes per pound covered, then check for tenderness. Your goal is a fork sliding in with little resistance.
- Rest for juicy slices: Rest the brisket 10-15 minutes before slicing so it stays moist and cuts cleanly.
- Broiler finish without burning: Broil on low and keep the pan a safe distance from the element. You want deep golden-brown and caramelized, not scorched.
- Add veggies (optional): Add potatoes and/or cabbage during the final stretch (last 45-60 minutes) of baking so they cook through without turning mushy.
How To Make Corned Beef Brisket In The Oven – Visual Guide
- DO take the extra step to boil the corned beef before cooking, don’t skip this step.
- Discard the seasoning packet, you won’t be using it since. (I skip it because it’s packaged with raw meat so can’t save for later and mustard/sugar is enough flavor for this method.)
- Keep the brisker in the pot just until water starts to boil. Then, turn the heat off and take the brisket out.
- Use a generous layer of Dijon mustard and then brown sugar all over the top and sides.
- Close the aluminum foil, covering the brisket loosely, leaving a little space between the brisket and the foil. You are creating a “pocket.”
- Bake covered until the brisket is fork-tender (for the time estimate, use the per-pound guide in the recipe card), then start checking for tenderness near the end.
- Once cooked, open the foil and caramelize the top under the broiler. If available, use the low broiler setting and set the oven rack about 8 inches away from the broiler.
- Let the corned beef brisket rest on the cutting board for about 10-15 minutes before slicing it.
Storing and Reheating Instructions
- 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 and Ideas How To Use Corned Beef
- Potatoes are always a great side for corned beef. Try sides like mashed potatoes, Colcannon, fried cabbage, and roasted potatoes.
- You can use leftovers to make sandwiches like the Reuben sandwich, corned beef sliders, Reuben sliders, and more.
- Some other great recipes for leftover baked corned beef are Reuben dip, corned beef hash, and Reuben egg rolls.
Recipe FAQs
Do I really need to boil the corned beef first?
No, since this is an optional step. Boiling briefly helps reduce excess salt and gives you a more balanced flavor, but you can skip it if you like a stronger, brinier bite.
How do I know when corned beef brisket is done?
It’s done when it’s fork-tender a fork slides in with little resistance and the meat feels soft rather than springy or rubbery.
My corned beef is still tough, what went wrong?
It just needs more time. Keep it tightly covered and continue baking, checking tenderness every 15-20 minutes until it softens.
What is target internal temperature for tender cooked corned beef?
Optimal internal temperature you’re looking for is 195°F-205°F. It will be more and more tender closer to 205°F but it will be more at the fall-apart stage.
How do I slice corned beef brisket so it’s tender?
Let it rest, then slice against the grain (look for the lines in the meat and cut across them) for the most tender slices.
DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE? PLEASE leave a 🌟 star rating! Let me know how you liked it by leaving the 📝 comment below or share and tag me on social media @willcookforsmiles. DON’T FORGET to subscribe to my newsletter!
3-Ingredient Oven Baked Corned Beef Brisket Recipe
This corned beef brisket recipe uses a simple oven method to deliver tender slices and a caramelized finish with just three ingredients. All you need is tangy and flavorful Dijon mustard, brown sugar for the flavor balance, and corned beef. Start cooking it tightly covered to keep it moist and tender and finish under the broiler to caramelize the topping.
Print
Pin
Video
Rate
Servings: 6
Calories: 327kcal
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
Calories: 327kcal | Carbohydrates: 6g | Protein: 23g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 11g | Trans Fat: 0.002g | Cholesterol: 82mg | Sodium: 1924mg | Potassium: 468mg | Fiber: 0.3g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 5IU | Vitamin C: 41mg | Calcium: 20mg | Iron: 3mg
Tried this recipe?Mention @willcookforsmiles or tag #willcookforsmiles!
Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles in February, 2017.
More Beef Brisket Recipes To Try
Would you like to save this recipe?
We'll email this post recipe to you, so you can come back to it later!
Categories:
Beef Recipes, Dinner Recipes, Gluten Free Recipes, Most Popular Recipes, St. Patrick's Day Recipes,All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe.
Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.
Oh, goodness! this recipe was so delicious! Corned beef briskets were on sale at my grocery store because of St. Patrick’s Day, so I bought 2. I thought I would use both for our celebration with the obligatory Corned Beef and Cabbage meal, but decided against it and just used one. What to do with the second brisket? I could have stuck it in the freezer for a future meal, but then I wondered, ‘Just what else can I make with it?’ I did a search for recipes… The bulk of them, you know, are for Corned Beef and Cabbage. Then, I finally found your recipe! It sounded so easy and the images are so lovely that I made it tonight and it turned out perfectly!
I used a 3 lb brisket, adding an hour to the cooking time. Served it with steamed cauliflower tossed with garlic herb butter and baked potato. It was so yum, and my family and I were in culinary heaven. Thank you!
Hi, Pamela! So glad you liked it! 🙂
Made this for St. Patrick’s Day this year and we loved it. I reserved the water from boiling the meat and boiled potatoes and carrots, along with the spice packet in a tied off coffee filter. Then I placed them in the oven with the meat, along with some sauerkraut after taking it out of the foil to let it brown. Made sure to get juices from inside foil drizzled on veggies. The only issue I had was some of the juices escaped and burned during the 3 hour meat cooking time — the meat was perfect though. I just switched pans when placing the veggies in so they didn’t get a burnt flavor.
Hi, Lisa!
The same issue happened to me with the juices escaping and burning to the pan. I was devastated until I saw that the brisket was unharmed. For next time, I’ve thought about lining the pan with additional aluminum foil to make cleanup easier.
So glad it turned out well 🙂
Absolutely outstanding!! I used a 3 lb “tip cut” on sale at Safeway for $1.69 per lb. It had no fat cap at all, but I followed your instructions, (baked it for 3 hrs.) and it turned out so well! Only thing I added was a little more brown sugar before broiling. thank you, thank you!!
So glad you liked it!
The best corned beef recipe ever!! My husband is not a fan of corned beef and was apprehensive when I told him I was going to try your recipe this year. Well he could not wait to open the foil wrapper he devoured the first 3 slices before I could even have one taste. Outstanding !!! Will recommend to my family and friends.
Wow! Thank you, Christina! So glad you both liked it! 🙂
I made this today and I was impressed. I do not like corned beef, either to salty or too tough. This was the best I have ever eaten. I used yellow mustard instead I Dijon. Will definitely make this again.
Hi, Patricia! So glad you liked it! 🙂
What rack level did you use for the oven cooked cornbeef
Hi Georgia, I put it on the middle rack.
Incredible! Followed the directions, mine was 2.5 lbs, and was the best Corned Beef ever!!!
Hi, Melissa! So glad you liked it!
Which cut of corn beef is best.. flat or point I am always confused on which one to purchase
Hi, Deby! I prefer a point cut it is juicier.
MIC DROP!!!!! It is everything that the reviews and comments say wonderful wonderful! I took what little leftovers remained and made pea soup. The corned beef was so good it enhanced the pea soup recipe to o. Thank you thank you I’m no longer afraid to make corned beef make corn beef.
Haha! Thank you, Terry! I am so happy you liked it!! 🙂
Hi Lyuba,
Just finished making this as per your recipe and wow it is superb! I am an Englishman who liives in Cape Town with my South African wife and child and I’ll tell you what, we are taking this along tomorrow on Christmas day to family and I reckon it will be very popular. Easy recipe and tastes divine. Thank you for this it really has saved my bacon as im not that confident cooking joints.
Thank you so much for the kind words, Peter!
The most uncomplicated, delicious corned beef recipe EVER! Thanks.
Thank you, Yvonne! I love hearing that you liked it so much!!! 🙂
Outstanding flavor. I first cooked this a couple of weeks before St Pat’s and it was a huge hit. I have fixed it 7 times now and #8 is in the oven (twice on camping trips.) Several friends have copied it now. I serve it with my Hurry Colcannon (Cole saw cabbage cooked with bacon until softened, then stirred into instant potatoes made with milk and butter- ready in 10 minutes). It’s been rave reviews every time!
slaw. Cole slaw.
Awe, that is awesome! Thanks for letting me know how much you like it!
Outstanding – thank you so much for the boiling tip! I had half of a roast in the freezer, left over from March and the salt was our only complaint. I hadn’t seen that tip until your post (to be fair, for the first half of the roast, I just followed the instructions on the package). Mustard made a delicious difference as well. My husband is T1 diabetic so we used a brown sugar substitute which worked just as well. p.s. I -never- leave reviews. . .had to make a point to let you know what a difference you made to our dinner. 🙂 I was keeping that roast in the freezer way too long until your post gave me courage to try again.
JG, sounds like it would be worth every minute! Let me know how you like it.
I was intrigued by your finishing idea for the corned beef. However, I make mine from scratch. That means 5 days in the brine. This will be the first time I finish it the way one would do a brisket all the time, slow in the oven. This will be a 10lb whole brisket, 5 days in the brine, then coated with Dijon mustard and brown sugar as you interestingly have documented. I’ll do the first 4 hours at 375 and 3+ hours more at 325 and a final broil of the fat side at the end. I’ll let it rest a good 1/2 or more before slicing as thin as possible for serving on a good rye bread.
Should be quite nice. I allowed mine to sit over night after removing from the brine, washing it, drying it, and then applying the mustard/sugar coating, wrapped and ready to go in foil.
This sounds delicious and correct 🙂 why would you buy a corned beef with the spice packets and discard the spice packet? Why not buy the whole brisket to bake this way? I don’t know just seems that you can get the brisket cheaper:-)
I I just made this recipe but I need to know if it’s supposed to be pink inside when cut??? Please help! It is so tender I can cut it with a fork and the internal temperature is 160*. All of the things such as temperature and tenderness is great except I am concerned it being pink inside! I don’t want to make my family sick please help.
Hi April! Well, corned is actually reddish-pinkish color. Because it’s cured first, it is not brown like typical cooked beef. As long as internal temperature shows that it’s cooked, you are good to go 🙂
I used to cook corned beef in the pressure cooker but no more!! Best yet. Now corned beef hash for dinner with what little is left.
Thank you so much, Karen!
I still make corned beef in my Instant Pot when I want it quick for Reuben sandwiches, but otherwise, I agree that oven is yummier!
Help! My corned beef is still in the oven but I just peeled through the window of my oven and it’s like ALL my brown sugar seeped through the foil and burned in my pan! Ugh! Did I just not seal the foil tight enough? Are we suppose to make like a little foil pouch? This is my first time making this and I’m worried I’ve ruined it.
Hi Katherine! I’m so sorry that I didn’t see it sooner. You can always message me on my blog’s FB page and those messages go straight to my phone!
If there were seams under the meat, then yes, the juices will seep through. You would preferably have seamless piece of foil underneath the meat and seal it up above. You can also cover the pan with a sheet of foil so that the clean up is easier after, just in case some juices seep out.
I hope everything worked out well for you!
I have used this recipe for corned beef about three times now. I have tried many others in the past. For whatever reason they weren’t even close to turning out this delicious. The meat is so tender. My family & I thank you for sharing your recipe with us.
I am SO happy to heat that, Stephanie! Thank you so much for coming to tell me 🙂
Been making something very similar for years. But we add just enough Vernon’s Ginger Soda to it to make a thin paste, and I’ve only used yellow mustard. And a lot more brown sugar. Just pour I over the brisket, seal it up tight and cook 45-60 min per pound @350.
Thank you for sharing your recipe, Annette!