Smoked brisket is a delicious and flavorful cut of beef, taken from around the breast or lower chest of the cow, that can please many palettes. After marinating or seasoning the brisket to the grillmaster's preferences, the brisket is placed within the smoker for a period of time between 5 and 8 hours, depending on the thickness of the particular cut.
One of the best things about brisket is there are usually leftovers that lend themselves well to particular recipes; smoked pizza, the feature dish of this particular article just happens to be one such example of re-purposing leftovers from a smoked brisket.
A Step-By-Step Breakdown to Making Smoked Beef Brisket Pizza.
Because pizza is one of those dishes that is relatively free for experimentation, you will find four unique takes on smoked beef brisket pizza.
Method #1: "Made-From-Scratch BBQ Beef Pizza"
This version goes the extra step of making the pizza dough yourself and actually smoking the pie to completion. Note that this recipe yields enough for two foot-wide pies.
Ingredients:
- Water, warm, 1.5 cups
- Yeast, dry active, 2 packets.
- Sugar, 2 tbsp.
- Oil, olive, 2 tbsp.
- Salt, 1 tsp.
- Flour, 4 cups.
- Cornmeal, as necessary.
- Your favorite BBQ sauce, 2 cups.
- Cheese, mozzarella, shredded, 3 cups.
- Leftover brisket, 1 pound.
- Onion, red, chopped, half.
- Tomatoes, chopped, two.
- Jalapeños, chopped, two.
- Your favorite dry rub.
- Cilantro, minced, 1/4 cup.
- Ranch dressing.
- Begin by pouring your water into a bowl, then gently stirring in the yeast. Allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes, just until it begins foaming. Stir in the sugar, oil, salt and then the flour until you have a proper doughy ball.
- Brush a second large bowl with olive oil and use this bowl to store the dough. Cover the filled bowl with cling wrap and allow it to sit until the dough has reached double its initial size; this will take roughly an hour.
- Once the dough has reached sufficient size, deposit it onto a lightly floured platform. Knead it four or five times, then leave it to rest 15 minutes.
- Halve the dough with a blade and gently stretch each wad of dough by putting it over your knuckles and massaging it into a 12" circle, roughly 1/4" inches thick. Transfer the pies to either a pizza peel or the bottom of a sheet pan that has been liberally powdered with cornmeal.
- Evenly spread 1.5 cups of BBQ sauce over each disc of dough.
- Add half a cup of cheese to each pie.
- Chop up the brisket and spread it atop the cheese, top each pie with a mixture of red onion, tomato, jalapeño and a sprinkling of prime rib rub.
- Once you are ready to finish the brisket pizza, set your grill to its smoke setting, keeping the lid open until the fire gets going. Set the temperature to 450°F and preheat the smoker, with its lid closed, for anywhere between 10 and 15 minutes.
- Transfer the pizzas to the grill with either your peel or sheet pan and slide them directly onto your grill's grate.
- Cook the pies for somewhere between 15 and 25 minutes, making sure to rotate them every five minutes. Once the pies are done, take them away from the smoker and allow them to rest for 5 minutes before you break out cutlery.
- Finish the pies by adding the cilantro and a drizzle of ranch dressing.
Smoked Beef Pizza Recipe
One of the best things about brisket is there are usually leftovers that lend themselves well to particular recipes; smoked pizza, the feature dish of this particular article just happens to be one such example of re-purposing leftovers from a smoked brisket.
Prep Time30 mins
Cook Time1 hr
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Beef Pizza
Servings: 4
Calories: 350kcal
- Water, warm, 1.5 cups
- Yeast, dry active, 2 packets
- Sugar, 2 tbsp.
- Oil, olive, 2 tbsp
- Salt, 1 tsp
- Flour, 4 cups
- Cornmeal, as necessary
- Your favorite BBQ sauce, 2 cups
- Cheese, mozzarella, shredded, 3 cups
- Leftover brisket, 1 pound
- Onion, red, chopped, half
- Tomatoes, chopped, two
- Jalapeños, chopped, two
- Your favorite dry rub
- Cilantro, minced, 1/4 cup
- Ranch dressing
Begin by pouring your water into a bowl, then gently stirring in the yeast.
Allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes, just until it begins foaming.
Stir in the sugar, oil, salt and then the flour until you have a proper doughy ball.
Brush a second large bowl with olive oil and use this bowl to store the dough.
Cover the filled bowl with cling wrap and allow it to sit until the dough has reached double its initial size; this will take roughly an hour.
Once the dough has reached sufficient size, deposit it onto a lightly floured platform.
Knead it four or five times, then leave it to rest 15 minutes.
Halve the dough with a blade and gently stretch each wad of dough by putting it over your knuckles and massaging it into a 12" circle, roughly 1/4" inches thick.
Transfer the pies to either a pizza peel or the bottom of a sheet pan that has been liberally powdered with cornmeal.
Evenly spread 1.5 cups of BBQ sauce over each disc of dough.
Add half a cup of cheese to each pie.
Chop up the brisket and spread it atop the cheese, top each pie with a mixture of red onion, tomato, jalapeño and a sprinkling of prime rib rub.
Once you are ready to finish the brisket pizza, set your grill to its smoke setting, keeping the lid open until the fire gets going.
Set the temperature to 450°F and preheat the smoker, with its lid closed, for anywhere between 10 and 15 minutes.
Transfer the pizzas to the grill with either your peel or sheet pan and slide them directly onto your grill's grate.
Cook the pies for somewhere between 15 and 25 minutes, making sure to rotate them every five minutes.
Once the pies are done, take them away from the smoker and allow them to rest for 5 minutes before you break out cutlery.
Finish the pies by adding the cilantro and a drizzle of ranch dressing.
Serving: 137g | Calories: 350kcal
Method #2: "Slacker's Smoked Beef Brisket Pizza"
This is a simple yet great recipe for when you want pizza and have some brisket but don't have access to a grill.
Ingredients:
- One frozen thin crust cheese pizza.
- Leftover brisket, 2 to 3 cups.
- Your favorite BBQ sauce, 3/4 to 1 cup.
- Smoked gouda, shredded, 2 to 2.5 cups.
- Onion, red, thinly sliced, 1/3 cup.
- Preheat the oven to 450°F.
- Apply the BBQ sauce to the frozen pizza then add the brisket and red onion. Finish by covering it with your shredded smoked gouda.
- Bake 8 to 12 minutes, just long enough for the crust to hit a golden brown.
Method #3: "Marinara BBQ Brisket Pizza"
This recipe features a more robust array of ingredients, including smoked cheddar, and directly combines a BBQ sauce with the usual marinara used in most pizzas.
Ingredients:
- Pizza dough, either from the store or made from scratch, (as covered in Recipe #1).
- Cornmeal, 1 tbsp
- Onion, red, sliced, half.
- Butter, 1 tbsp, and/or extra virgin olive oil
- Your preferred BBQ sauce, 1/2 cup.
- Tomato sauce, 1/2 cup.
- Leftover brisket, 1 cup (or more, to preference).
- Onion, green, finely diced, one.
- Tomoatoes, Roma, two.
- Mozzarella, shredded, 1/2 cup.
- Cheddar, smoked, shredded, 1/2 cup.
- Cilantro, chopped, 1 handful.
- Maldon, also known as "finishing salt," 1/2 tsp.
- Preheat your oven to 450°F and placed your pizza stone in the center of the top rack.
- Place a skillet on one eye of your stove, set to medium heat, add the butter and/or olive oil and cook the red onion slices, stirring every so often, until they become caramelized.
- In a separate bowl, mix the tomato and BBQ sauces together.
- Stretch and knead the pizza dough until its as wide as you like, roughly two inches less than the diameter of your pizza stone.
- Place the dough on the pizza pan or a board treated with cornmeal; cornmeal keeps the pizza from sticking to the stone. Alternately, slip a sheet of parchment paper between the pan and the dough. Roll out the dough until its as wide as you like.
- Layer the future pizza with your BBQ-tomato sauce, both sets of onions, brisket, tomatoes and cheese.
- Bake for roughly 15 minutes, just when the sides look crispy and the cheese has satisfactorily melted.
- Once the pie is done, garnish with cilantro and the optional finishing salt.
Method #4: "Basic Meat and Cheese Brisket Pizza."
Sometimes you just want a basic pizza with nothing but meat, cheese and some sauce. This recipe is to satisfy that anti-vegetable sentiment.
Ingredients:
- Brisket, chopped, 1/2 pound.
- Muenster cheese, thickly-sliced 1/2 pound.
- Mozzarella, shredded, 2 cups.
- BBQ sauce, 1 cup.
- Parmesan cheese, 1/4 cup.
- Pizza dough, 1 pound.
- Garlic powder, 1/4 tsp.
- Parsley flakes, 1 tsp.
- Pastry flour, 1/3 cup.
- Spread the pastry flour over a clean, dry counter top. Add the dough to the flour and shape it until it can fill a 15"x10" baking sheet. If the sheet is non-stick, treat the bottom with a little olive oil.
- Spread the BBQ sauce evenly over the dough, except for the edge.
- Sprinkle the garlic powder and Parmesan over the sauce and then lay down your muenster slices.
- Spread all but a handful of brisket over the entire pie. Set the handful aside for the moment.
- Add mozzarella evenly over the pie, followed by the remaining brisket.
- Top with parsley flakes.
- Bake at 400°F for anywhere between 15 and 18 minutes, just long enough for the crust to turn golden brown and the cheese to properly melt.
- Give it a few minutes to cool, then slice it and serve it.
Drink Devices and Side Solutions.
Pizza may not be high-class food, but it can always be improved with side dishes and drinks. Here are some suggestions to take your pizza to the next level.
- Breadsticks. These often go well with pizza. Just drizzle with garlic butter and consider setting aside some BBQ sauce for dipping them.
- Baked beans. This is another cookout staple that works well with brisket pizza. Try spooning some onto a slice.
- Lemonade. An ice-cold tall glass of lemonade is just as fine for cookouts as it is with BBQ pizza.
- Soda.
In Conclusion.
While there are many great toppings to put on a pizza, I hope you now recognize the viability of brisket among that list of options. The four recipes in this article are varied enough that, even if none of them directly grabs your interest, surely one will have inspired you to create something unique. Feel free to show some creativity and put your brisket leftovers to work.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you grill pizza on a smoker?
Cooking pizza is easy on a smoker or a grill: All you need is a pizza stone. Some pizza stones are not rated for direct high heat, so you may want to set up an indirect heat fire in a grill like the Big Green Egg. From there, simply heat the coals to high heat — we like 450 degrees Fahrenheit — and preheat the pizza stone for about 15 minutes. When it’s all nice and hot, add the pizza and get ready to enjoy.
How do you store leftover smoked brisket?
This recipe is a great way to use up leftover smoked brisket, but it has to be stored properly to make sure it’s both safe and delicious. After you finish smoking your brisket, we recommend keeping it whole. You can store leftover sliced brisket without creating a safety concern, but the meat will be juicier and more full-flavored if it’s stored whole. Let the brisket cool down in the refrigerator before wrapping it tightly in plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Before reheating, open the foil, slice the brisket for the pizza, and let the heat of the pizza oven reheat the slices.
How long is leftover brisket good?
Leftover smoked brisket will stay good in the refrigerator for three to four days. It’s best to eat the brisket within a few days for best taste and flavor, as the air in the refrigerator can dry out your brisket. If you want to store brisket for longer periods of time, cooked brisket is good in the freezer for up to three months.
Do you have to make dough to create smoked beef pizza?
If you don’t have time to make pizza dough from scratch, never fear! This recipe for smoked beef pizza tastes just as good with store-bought pizza dough. We do have a recipe included above, though, if you want to give the from-scratch method a try!
Can you cook frozen pizza on a barbecue?
If you want to make grilled pizza but you are really running short on time, we have a killer shortcut method. Pick up your favorite frozen cheese pizza at the store. Add on any toppings of your choice — including leftover smoked brisket. Place the frozen pizza on the pre-heated pizza stone, and it will create a crispy crusted pizza in about 15 minutes.
