8 Best Wood for Smoking Brisket- Our Top Picks for Amazing Results

To get a smoky, sweet, and iconic flavor from your expansive cut of meat it is important to use the right kind of wood for smoking. Besides, being the expansive and popular cut of meat, brisket considered as one of the best cuts of meat that is remarkably well to smoking. Certainly, the best wood for smoking brisket takes your food to the next level. Many people overlook this thing, but it is an important factor to consider. Because every wood type adds a different flavor and aroma to your brisket. Some give better results than others, depending on your ingredients.

The brisket is a pectoral muscle that comes from the cow’s chest area. Its soft and tender texture makes it ideal for absorbing moisture and a smoky aroma. At the same time, it can be hard and take a while to prepare a beef brisket with perfection. The right type of wood is an important variable that helps you for mastering smoked brisket. You need to look for wood that can produce heat and smoke for a long time. Hardwood works best for cooking this heavier beef cut and to get your desired delicious flavor.

But how do you choose the best one to get the right results from so many options out there?  In this article, we will discuss our top picks that help you to get the optimal flavor out of your beef brisket. You can also learn the secret of wood to make your BBQ party memorable. With this said, let’s scroll down to take a look at some of the best wood for smoking brisket.

Different Types of Wood for Smoking Brisket

We get different smoky flavors from different types of wood. Generally, the wood for smoking beef brisket falls into two categories. Those that offer strong smoky flavor. And those that offer a milder flavor of smokiness. The question is which one of them is the best type of wood for smoking brisket? It totally depends on your desired flavor. You can also mix and match them to get the best wood flavor for brisket. But it is important to know the flavor profiles of each type of best wood for smoking brisket before you decide on any.

Woods with Medium to Stroger and Savory Flavors

Do you want to get a stronger and savory flavor? Then, some of the best woods to use for brisket are highlighted below:

• Oak
• Hickory
• Mesquite

Woods with Mild and Sweeter Flavors

Are you craving sweeter and milder flavors? Then, use any one of the listed different wood types that are the best wood for smoking brisket.

• Maple
• Pecan
• Apple
• Cherry
• Olive
• Peach or Guava woods

8 Best Wood for Smoking Brisket

There are dozens of wood types available in the market that you can use to smoke your brisket with a satisfying taste bud. A raw brisket takes hours of slow cooking at low temperatures to give you a delicious and traditional BBQ flavor. Additionally, the right kind of wood enhances the best smoke flavor for brisket. Selecting the best wood for smoking brisket will determine your cooked beef cut is soft tender and flavorful or a complete mess.

If you choose the right and best wood for smoking brisket then you get a soft, tender, and flavorful final product, otherwise possibly just a mess. The result can also depend on the cooking time, meat quality, temperature you set, and the type of smoker.  We come up with top picks for best wood for smoking brisket. All of them are most popular, flavorful, easy to use, and easily available in the market. This is not a complete list. Certainly, many other types of good wood for smoking brisket are available in the market you can use to achieve delicious results. You can also play with any combination of woods you want to find your desired taste.

 

1. Oak

Oak is known as a premium choice for kitchen cabinets and furniture. But it is also one of the best wood for smoking brisket because of many reasons. First of all, it is very consistent and easy to manage. Moreover, oak stands in middle on the scale of strong to light smokiness. It provides a medium smoky flavor that matches wonderfully with the beef brisket that is not too overpowering.

Furthermore, this versatile hardwood can burn for a long time. So, it is perfect to smoke a brisket for a day long. Also, it is capable to reach a high temperature, so it lets you smoke your brisket low and slow as well as quick and hot.  Besides, the medium-intensity smoke flavor makes it friendly to most plates. Often, oak adds a deep coloring to the outer skin of your beef brisket.

Oak is a great choice for beginners because it is one of the easiest wood to use on any type of smoker. The other main reason is you can blend the oak’s flavor with other woods. No matter, you blend it with lighter woods like cherry or with stronger ones like mesquite or hickory, oak will add a complex and mouth-watering layer of fully rounded flavor to your brisket. Overall, oak wood for smoking brisket is a great choice to achieve a subtle flavor profile. You can use either red or white oak for smoking your brisket, lamb, vegetables, and other proteins.

2. Hickory

Hickory is MVP (most valuable player) when it comes to smoking. It is inexpensive and available almost everywhere. So, it is an excellent choice and the best wood for smoking brisket if you do not find anything else. Moreover, it is one of the world’s best woods for smoking brisket. By using hickory wood, you get a complex, strong, and savory flavor profile that interacts very well with beefy flavors. Besides, the signature smoky aroma of this wood infuses a nutty, and bacon-like flavor in your meat. This makes it ideal for smoking brisket, larger rib cut, and all red meat.

Furthermore, it is not as strong as mesquite, but it can and does overpowers your beef cut. This hardwood produces a lot of smoke. So, you need to be very careful while using hickory and do not overdo it. Because too much use of this wood can cause your brisket to taste bitter. You can also blunt it with a milder wood like apple to end up with a more subtle flavor.  It is smoky but provides a more powerful flavor than oak and therefore prefers by many people. But the smoke it emits is not as clean as oak.

Overall, hickory wood for smoking brisket is a great choice. And, if you want a traditional flavor then put this wood on the top of your list. Moreover, the blend of hickory and oak to smoke your beef brisket hot and quick (within 2 to 3 hours) is a great way to go.

3. Mesquite

Mesquite is the most powerful type of smoky wood which is commonly used for smoking brisket. It has a more intense flavor profile than other types of wood listed in this article. Mesquite adds a strong, characteristic, and hearty aroma to your meat. This hardwood is the choice of people who love the strongest smoky flavor. Moreover, the flavor and aroma will be familiar for Texas barbecue lovers. For grilling dark meat, this oily hardwood is a great choice. Moreover, it is the favorite choice of smokers and eaters alike because it gives off a strong, natural, and unique flavor. A true BBQ lover tells you a brisket is smoked using mesquite wood by just eating a bite.

One drawback of this hardwood is that it burns very quickly. So, you need a good amount of mesquite wood to smoke a large brisket. Additionally, it can overpower and spoil the taste of your brisket like hickory if you used it improperly. So, be careful and do not use too much mesquite wood to maintain the brisket’s true flavor. Also, avoid using this wood for a delicate piece of meat because it overpowers your entire dish and leads to a bitter and harsh flavor.

Generally, this wood is the best option to go for, if you want to smoke an authentic Texas-style brisket. if you want the mesquite flavor with a softer edge. Then the best idea is to blend a mild type of wood with this mesquite wood for smoking brisket. You get the delicious flavor with fairly less intensity.

4. Maple

Maple is another wood choice for smoking brisket that brings mild smokiness and sweet flavor to your dishes. People mostly use this hardwood as a primary fuel for seafood, chicken, turkey, and vegetables. This all-rounder wood goes well with brisket and as well with other types of meat. The milder taste of this wood is hard to overdo so you do not need to worry about over-smoking of brisket.

Like oak, it is a long-burning wood and also a great wood to blend with. If you are a newbie to smoking, then maple is one of the best wood for smoking brisket you can start with. Moreover, you should go for maple if you want to enjoy the purest form of brisket which does not have much smoky flavor.

Furthermore, maple for smoking brisket is not a top choice because it infuses the overall sweet flavor. Also, it is not strong enough if you prefer a smoky flavor. But you can get a great combination of maple and brisket by blending it with other types of wood. Also, you can get a great taste and robust flavor which is hard to match when you combine it with mesquite (stronger wood).

5. Pecan

Pecan wood provides a mild, sweet, rich, and nutty flavor that works brilliantly with barbecue brisket. This lighter wood is not everyone’s choice for smoking brisket. but if you give it a try, it perhaps convinces you. This wood has a unique nutty flavor that goes very well with the rich taste of beef. In fact, it is the best wood for smoking brisket if you want a sweeter side. Additionally, you cannot get the delicious sweetness and nuttiness it adds to your brisket from any other wood type.

Like maple and oak, it is a perfect wood choice for people who are new to smoking. Moreover, alike maple, this milder wood type is very hard to over-smoke and you have to work at it to make your brisket taste bitter. you can use pecan wood for smoking brisket, roasts, and ribs.

Furthermore, pecan wood combines very well with many stronger wood types. if you do not want an overly sweet brisket and want to have a balanced flavor. you can certainly mix pecan with more traditional smoking woods like oak and hickory to end up with a more complex and interesting combination of flavors. It can take your brisket to the next level.

6. Apple

Applewood is one of the best woods for smoking brisket that delivers sweet and lightly fruity flavor into your brisket. It produces mild smoke like other fruitwoods. This fruity wood usually uses for smoking delicate meats like turkey and chicken. However, if you want a minimum smokiness and beef’s natural flavor then you can use applewood for smoking brisket. It gives you an entirely different flavor experience and a slight layer of fruitiness than the flavor of traditional smoked brisket.

Furthermore, applewood emits more dense and thick smoke which takes time to infuse into the meat. Despite heavy smoke, it is not strong like pecan. Thus, you need to smoke your meat for several hours with this fruitwood. Just like maple, it combines well with other stronger wood types. This means you can use it as both a primary and secondary fuel to smoke your brisket.

Though applewood is a great choice as a secondary fuel in your smoking. you can mix it with hickory, oak, or maple to add different flavor layers into your brisket. It works best with hickory. This fruitwood reduces the intense smoke flavor of hickory and adds a little fruity sweetness to your cut of meat.

7.

If you love the subtle flavor and light smokiness, then cherry wood is a tasty and best wood for smoking brisket. It gives off a touch of sweetness and fruitiness into your smoked brisket. This fruitwood has a lot of flavors that go very well with beef as well with lighter meats like fish, ham, and turkey.

 

Moreover, it can be used as a primary fuel for delicate meats. For hearty brisket, you may want a stronger flavor profile. Like applewood, cherry wood is a great blending candidate. you can mix it with strong wood types for example hickory, or oak, or even mesquite. It pairs well with hickory and produces amazing flavors with an improved smokiness.

Furthermore, the cherry wood adds a dark red color to your brisket’s surface. It gives a beautiful and even more delicious look to your brisket. So, you can use cherry wood for smoking brisket to get a reddish hue and subtle flavor. You should avoid blending it with the most stronger wood type i.e., mesquite.  Because cherry flavor can completely overpower by mesquite’s strong flavor.

8.

Olive wood is another wood choice that is not widely available. it provides mild smokiness and interesting flavor if you find it. You can get amazing results by using olive wood for smoking brisket. It does not come into mind when people choose the best wood for smoking brisket. But it is worth mentioning.

 

Furthermore, when it comes to flavor, it is pretty similar to mesquite wood. But it has a lighter flavor profile than mesquite which has a robust flavor profile. You can use it alone or combine it with other wood types to get a variety of flavors. it is a mild alternative to the mesquite because of its fairly similar flavor profile. Moreover, you can combine a little olive wood with mesquite to get a pure flavor with a bit low intensity.

Best Wood for Smoking Brisket- Different Sizes of Wood Fuel

Selecting the best wood flavor for smoking brisket is the very first step. It is also very important to choose the right size and style of wood for your grill or smoker. Otherwise, you may end up with under or over-smoke of your brisket.

Hardwoods are available in different sizes in the markets. The size of wood you need determines by the type of grill or smoker you have and the size of the brisket you are planning to smoke. The rule of thumb is to use bigger woods for large-sized meats. The most common wood sizes are chunks and chips. But logs are used sometimes too.

Common Wood Sizes

Chunks

Chunks are usually a few inches long pieces of wood about the size of a fist. They are known as the Goldilocks of wood size when it comes to smoking. Because they work great in many applications. You can use chunks in a wide variety of smokers like for smaller offset smokers, water, ceramic, charcoal, gas smokers, and for gas and charcoal grill too.

Moreover, they are easily available in many flavors. They take a while to ignite but burn for a long time. These are a great choice if you want to smoke a large brisket for a day long. There is no need to soak them before barbecuing. Chunks produce smoke very quickly and a small amount is enough for a full smoke. Thus, they are the most common choice of many people and home cooks. Also, the chunks that come from Weber are the best source of smoking.

Chips

Chips are also sometimes called wood scraps or shavings. They work best with gas, portable and electric smokers. you can also use them with small charcoal grills that do not have much space for chunks. Chips are also easily available in all sorts of flavors. you can buy high-quality wood chips for smoking beef brisket from Western Premium. One flaw with chips is that they come in very small sizes and burn very quickly. But they are still useful for many smoking jobs. Also, they are super easy to use, handle and burn.

Moreover, you do not need to soak them before use. You can wrap them in perforated tin foil to slow down their burn time. But it is not a good choice to use chips for smoking a large size brisket. Because a large number of chips will be used to get the job done. So, use wood chips for smoking brisket with relatively small size.

Logs

If you want the pure wood-only fire to smoke your beef brisket, then large split logs are a perfect choice. They work very well with commercial and offset smokers. You can use them for smoke as well as the main heat source. They provide a great volume of smoke, so you do not need any other fuel to smoke a large-sized brisket if full logs are your wood choice.

The downside is flavor wood logs are not easily available like chips and chunks. Obviously, they are also not fit in most home gas and electric smokers. Also, it is very difficult to ignite them. They are a costly option of fuel too. Despite these problems, logs are an excellent way to go for brisket because of their long burn time and a large amount of smoke.

Other Smoking Wood Sizes

Sawdust

A coarse wooden powder, sawdust is used well in electric, handheld, and stovetop smokers. You get instant smoke from sawdust. But it also burns away very quickly. Therefore, you can not use sawdust as a heat source. If you want to make use of sawdust, make sure that it is not made from treated wood. Additionally, go for species-specific dust.

Pellets

Pellets are made from compressed sawdust. Wood pellets come in bags that look like chicken feed in size and shape. Pellet grills and smokers have become very popular these days. And if you have a pellet grill then you need to use wood pellets as smoking fuel. But you can use pellets for other uses too. you can find many smoke generators and smoke boxes that are sold to use in normal gas grills. Wood Pellets are used as a smoke source in these smoke boxes and generators.

Moreover, pellets produce smoke quickly and available in a variety of wood types. So, you can easily find the best flavor pellets for brisket. One more thing, never soak your wood pellets because this will turn them into dust.

Disks

Disks are compressed sawdust formed like a flat disk shape. you can use them in some electric smokers. They are hard to find. Moreover, wooden disks can produce a lot of smoke in a short time. Like wood pellets, soaking makes them disintegrate into dust.

Best Wood for Smoking Brisket- Extra Tips

Cooking a soft, tender, and great-tasting brisket is like the stuff of legends. Do not worry! Here we mention a list of tips you can follow to decide on the best wood for smoking beef brisket leading to delicious flavor every time.

Avoid Green Wood

Do not use wood that has been cut-outs recently and has not dried out properly. Additionally, never use evergreen woods for smoking brisket. because these woods (such as pine, fir, Cyprus) do not add flavor to your meat.

Avoid Soft Wood

Avoid using softwoods for smoking a beef brisket. Softwood like Timber can not work well with BBQ. Instead, use it for your tables and chairs.

Soak the Wood

If you will use the best wood chips for smoking a beef brisket. Then you should soak them in water for 12 to 24 hours and drain them before use. In this way, you get more smoke and steam inside your smoker instead of flames. In Contrast, if you will pick wood logs then there is no need for soaking. Because they have enough moisture to produce a well amount of smoke and steam.

Avoid Paint and Stain

Do not use wood that has been painted, stained, or treated as it will have all kinds of harmful chemicals.

Avoid Old Wood

As a rule of thumb, it is best to avoid using old wood for your BBQ event. Because the old wood may contain fungus or mold that imparts an awry taste to your brisket.

Play with Different Woods

As mentioned earlier, different wood types provide different flavors and aromas. Do experiment with different wood types and combine them for smoking brisket. So, you may come up with a unique and satisfying flavor profile.

Temperature

Try to maintain a steady temperature to smoke your brisket perfectly.

Keep Bluish Smoke

Try to keep a clean, bluish flame. If your smoker emits white smoke, then open the air vents. Thus, the fire gets more oxygen, and it can burn more smoothly.

Avoid Excessive Smoking

Smoke plays an important role in the taste of brisket. Therefore, you should control smoke wisely. Because over smoking leads to a bitter-tasting brisket.

So, which is the Best Wood for Smoking Brisket?

The best wood for smoking brisket depends on the flavor profile you want, the type of smoker you use, and the size and quality of brisket you are going to smoke.

Oak and Hickory are the most popular choices amongst beginners for smoking brisket. you can start with any one of them. If you are a Texas BBQ lover then Mesquite is the best wood for smoking Texas brisket. you can also mix and match different wood types to get your preferred flavor. Here we mention our top picks you can use for smoking your expansive cut of meat to get an authentic and delicious flavor.

Our Top 3 Wood for Smoking Brisket

• Diamond Pick-Best Oak: Western Premium BBQ Products Post Oak BBQ Cooking Chunks
• Gold Pick-Best Hickory: Bear Mountain All-Natural Hardwood Hickory BBQ Smoker Pellets
• Silver Pick-Best Mesquite: Weber 17150 Mesquite Wood Chunks

Best Wood for Smoking Brisket- Final Thoughts

Smoking a brisket that melts in your mouth requires a lot of time practice and patience. To get outstanding results, you need to pair your beef cut with the best wood for smoking brisket. After experimenting with different combinations of wood types, you can discover your desired flavor profile.

Moreover, it is important to choose your wood wisely. Hickory and Oak are good choices to start with. Both provide a strong and dense flavor profile. Afterward, you can mix and match other sweet and fruity woods like cherry and apple to get a balanced combination that works best for you. Besides, always buy high-quality wood from a trusted source to achieve excellent results.

Overall, we hope this article is helpful for you to select the best wood for smoking brisket. Go ahead and experiment to figure out your desired flavor. Let us know what is the best wood for smoking brisket in your opinion?