Smoked Corned Beef Burnt Ends

Last Updated on April 8, 2024 by Carne Diem

Protein:

Origin: Irish, BBQ fusion

Method: Grill or Smoker

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These tender, smoked burnt ends are made with corned beef and topped with a Guinness barbeque sauce, for the perfect Irish American appetizer. The smoked corned beef brisket burnt ends are easy to make and make a great St. Patrick's Day snack.

Every year we look forward to making our homemade beer brined corned beef and homemade pastrami. This year we decided to try something a little different and do some Smoked Corned Beef Burnt Ends. Being from Kansas City, burnt ends are a staple here, and each year around St. Patrick's Day several of the local BBQ joints around town will also make these wonderful morsels of smoked corned beef. Here we show you the simple process of making burnt ends out of corned beef at home on your smoker.

Making the Smoked Corned Beef Burnt Ends

Gather your ingredients

To make the Smoked Corned Beef Burnt Ends you will need the following ingredients:

• A 3-4 pound Corned Beef Brisket, Flat or Point
• Yellow Mustard
• 2 Cups Beef Broth

For the BBQ Seasoning Rub

• 2 teaspoons Kosher Salt
• 1 packet Seasoning spice from the Corned Beef, about 2 tablespoons
• 2 teaspoon Medium Coarseness Black Pepper
• 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
• ½ teaspoon Mustard Powder
• ½ teaspoon Smoked Paprika

For the BBQ Sauce

• ½ Cup Guinness Beer, at room temp
• ½ Cup Au Jus from the cooked corned beef
• 1 Cup BBQ Sauce

Selecting your corned beef brisket: Brisket Flat or Point?

For this recipe we chose to use a corned beef brisket flat. Largely, however, it is a matter of preference, and both will work. For traditional burnt ends, you are more likely to find a brisket point used. The point is going to contain more fat than the leaner flat section of the brisket. As such, a point is much less likely to dry out during smoking.

So why did we choose to use a flat in this recipe?

Our reasoning was two-fold. First, we have had better luck finding higher quality corned beef flats vs some of the extremely cheap cuts of corned beef points that we have experienced. Second, the corning process does a pretty good job of preventing some of the drying out issues that you can typically run into when smoking a brisket flat. Ultimately, both will work and we definitely will be making this recipe again using a brisket point from our homemade corned beef where we know the quality is there.

Soak your corned beef

The first step in making burnt ends from corned beef is to soak the corned beef overnight in water. Corned beef tends to be very salty from the curing process, especially cuts that are packaged in a brining solution. Traditionally, when you boil a corned beef, much of the saltiness is diluted. When you smoke a corned beef, however, the saltiness is amplified so you want to get a lot of that salt off, especially since we will be adding more salt in our rub.

Remove the corned beef brisket from its package and place it in a container. Cover with cold water and soak overnight in the refrigerator. Be sure to reserve the seasoning packet. Some people like to change out the water about half-way through the soak, and if you are really trying to decrease the salt this is a perfectly acceptable method.

Prepare the corned beef seasoning

To make the seasoning for the corned beef burnt ends, combine the salt, black pepper, garlic powder, mustard powder and paprika in a small bowl. If you chose to ignore our advice about soaking the corned beef first, you will definitely want to cut back on the salt in the rub. Next, mix in the seasoning packet from the corned beef and stir well to combine.

Season your corned beef brisket

When you are ready to cook, remove the corned beef from the water and pat dry.

Next rub the surface of the brisket down with a layer of yellow mustard. The mustard helps to act like a binder and the vinegar in the mustard helps to tenderize the meat. Don't worry if you don't like mustard, as the flavor is not noticeable after smoking.

After applying the mustard, apply the seasoning rub to both sides of the corned beef. Depending on the size of your corned beef and the size of the seasoning packet you may not need to use all of the seasoning. Gently press the seasoning onto the surface of the meat.

Optional dry brine

At this point we like to dry brine the corned beef overnight by wrapping in up in plastic wrap and placing it back in the refrigerator. This gives the vinegar in the mustard time to help tenderize the meat a bit and helps enhance the meats flavor. We totally understand if you do not want to wait another 24 hours to start cooking your corned beef, but we feel it is worth the extra wait.

Smoking your Corned Beef Burnt Ends

Heat your smoker to 250 degrees. Place the seasoned corned beef on a wire rack above a foil pan. Place about 2 cups of beef broth in the foil pan.

Why are you using a foil pan?

We use an aluminum pan below the meat to help catch any drippings from the corned beef brisket, that we will then use in our sauce. We add a little beef broth or beef stock to the pan to help keep the drippings from evaporating right away or scorching in the bottom of the pan. Using a wire rack above the pan helps allow the smoke to flow over all surfaces of the meat.

For this corned beef burnt end recipe we used our Yoder pellet smoker but any smoker will do just fine.

How long do I smoke the corned beef brisket for?

The time and temp question is one of the most common in all of BBQ. As such, I will tell you what I tell anyone asking this question. Avoid any BBQ recipes that give you a set time to cook large pieces of meat. There are way too many variables to give an exact time. Invest in a quality meat thermometer to guide your cook, and then learn to judge doneness based on tenderness (more on that in a bit). As a guide, you should plan for about 1-1.5 hours per pound when cooking at 250 degrees, but again that is an estimate and times can vary greatly (this 4 pounder took 9 hours for example).

Smoke the corned beef until the bark appears set, typically about 180-185 degrees internal temp. With a traditional brisket cook, the bark is set when you can gently rub your finger across the surface of the meat and the bark does not come off. Due to the large pieces of seasoning from the pickling spices in this recipe, however, some of the rub may still come off so it is a little bit more of an eying it technique.

Wrap the smoked corned beef

At this point, remove the corned beef from the wire rack and place it into the foil pan. Cover with foil and return to the smoker. Cook to about 200 degrees F internal temperature. Wrapping the brisket will help speed the cooking process along a little bit and help prevent the flat from drying out. It also allows us to gather more of those beef drippings for our sauce. On the negative side, wrapping will cause the bark to soften some.

Cube the corned beef for burnt ends

Remove the corned beef to a cutting board and cut it into about 1-inch cubes. Increase the temperature of your smoker to 300 degrees and allow it to come up to temperature while you are doing this.

Prepare the Guinness BBQ Sauce

For this recipe, we prepared a simple Guinness BBQ sauce that can be whipped up in about 2 minutes. In a small bowl, combine ½ of a cup Guinness stout with 1 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce for beef. Try to avoid overly sweet sauces as they do not really work well with beef in my opinion. Next, strain the liquid from the foil pan into a measuring cup. If desired, you can use a fat separator to remove some of the fat from your drippings. Add about ½ of a cup of the au jus to the sauce. Stir well to combine.  This homemade barbecue sauce is the perfect beer glaze for these corned beef burnt ends.

Sauce the Smoked Corned Beef Burnt Ends

Toss the cubed smoked corned beef in some of the sauce in a new foil pan. Use just enough to coat all of the pieces well. Reserve the rest of the sauce for serving.

Return the sauced corned beef to the smoker. Cook, uncovered, at 300 degrees for about 30 minutes or until the sauce is set.  At this point the burnt ends should be probe tender and ready to eat. 

Serve the smoked corned beef burnt ends warm with the reserved BBQ sauce.

Enjoy your Smoked Corned Beef Burnt Ends with a Guinness or a nice Irish Red Ale. Or give our Whipped Irish Coffee: Irish Dalgona a try.

For more Irish recipes for your St. Patrick's Day, check out our Irish Steak and Guinness Pie and our Pub Style Irish Nachos.

If you are in the mood for more BBQ fusion style foods be sure to try our Brisket Quesabirria Tacos. For a more traditional take on burnt ends try our easy Beef Short Rib Burnt Ends.

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