Sometimes known as “poor man’s brisket”, chuck roast is a great alternative for making smoked chopped or pulled beef sandwiches.
It’s not that chuck roast is cheaper than brisket, it’s a matter of final weight and size. See, a whole packer brisket is usually going to run about 15 pounds. Whereas a decent sized chuck roast comes in around 3 pounds. So if you’re looking for that unmistakable flavor of rich, barky, salty and smokey barbecue beef sandwiches- the smaller chuck roast will still comfortably feed four without the need to commit to an enormous (and costly) piece of meat.
Not to mention that unlike the double digit cook times of a colossal brisket, a chuck roast can be smoked to pull apart perfection in just six hours. And then only thing better than great Texas style barbecue, is getting to eat it sooner.
Recipe notes:
- I use my Hardcore Carnivore Black seasoning for any smoked beef dishes. It’s phenomenal in the smoker and helps give the meat a serious bark/crust.
- Adding a little extra coarse black pepper gives the beef a classic Central Texas BBQ flavor.
- I used coffee and beef broth for my liquids, but you can get creative here, as long as you’re adding about 4 cups total. Try adding soy sauce or cola, or keep things simple by only using stock.
Texas BBQ Smoked Pulled Chuck Roast
- Total Time: 6 hours 5 minutes
- Yield: serves 4-6 1x
Ingredients
- 3lb chuck roast (see note 1)
- 2 tablespoons Hardcore Carnivore Black seasoning
- 1 tablespoon coarse black pepper
- half onion, roughly chopped
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 cups beef broth
- 2 cups brewed coffee (see note 2)
- Optional: buns, pickles & BBQ sauce
Instructions
- Preheat a smoker to 275f.
- Coat the chuck roast in the seasoning and pepper on both sides, and edges. Place into the smoker and cook for 3 hours.
- Place the chopped onion, garlic cloves, beef broth and coffee into a foil pan. Add the chuck roast, then cover the pan with foil and return to the smoker. Cook a further 3 hours until the meat is fork tender and easily pulling apart.
- Lift the chuck roast out onto a board, then shred using two forks. Add a few spoonfuls of the pan juice onto the shredded meat to keep it nice and moist.
- If assembling into sandwiches, toss the meat in some BBQ sauce, then stack high onto a bun with some pickles.
Notes
note 1: always buy the best grade of meat you can afford. Prime grade meat has the most marbling, which equates to both flavor and juiciness.
note 2: You can substitute the coffee for other liquids (see recommendations in the paragraphs above) or just use 4 cups broth total.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 6 hours
- Category: Main
- Method: BBQ
- Cuisine: American
