Smoked Pastrami from Beef Brisket

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Make your own smoked pastrami on the pellet grill or smoker with this easy step-by-step guide! From starting with a whole beef brisket, brining the brisket in a homemade pastrami brine, and making the pastrami rub, this post will teach you everything you need to know about smoking pastrami at home!

I’ve always been fascinated by how to make pastrami. But it wasn’t until we visited New York City and tried arguably the most famous homemade pastrami sandwich ever from Katz’s Delicatessen, that I decided to give it a try.

And spoiler alert – this smoked pastrami is one of the best things to come off of any of our grills or smokers! In fact, when we filmed the video for this awesome brisket pastrami on our pellet grilling YouTube channel recently, my wife asked me “Was it worth the 12 day process?”, and the answer was a resounding “YES”!

Yes, you will need to clear out a shelf on your fridge and dedicate that space to brining your brisket for over a week. And, yes, you will need to make a homemade pastrami rub – they don’t exactly sell bottled pastrami seasonings at the grocery store.

But one taste of this homemade juicy, tender, flavorful pastrami will make you a believer! It was so good, that I immediately wanted to rush out to the store and buy another brisket. And I’ll probably never purchase deli-sliced, store bought pastrami from the grocery store again.

Here’s everything you need to know to make your own pastrami on the grill:

Pastrami vs. Corned Beef – What’s the Difference?

You may be wondering what makes a pastrami reuben different than a regular corned beef reuben. The key difference between the two beef sandwiches is the way the beef brisket is cooked.

Corned beef is brined for several days and then boiled or steamed. Pastrami, on the other hand, is brined similarly to corned beef but then seasoned with a pastrami rub and smoked.

The addition of the dry rub and the smoke flavor from the grill makes pastrami more flavorful, in my opinion, though it is very similar to corned beef brisket. It’s safe to say, if you like corned beef, then you’ll also like pastrami.

How Does our Smoked Pastrami Stack Up?

We recently visited Katz’s Deli in New York City for one of their iconic pastrami sandwiches. Arguably one of the most famous pastrami restaurants in America, Katz’s sandwich is piled high with thick-sliced, tender smoked pastrami.

And after one bite, it’s easy to see why people line up around the block to buy a $28 pastrami sandwich.

Yes, it’s amazingly delicious!

But to be perfectly honest, our homemade smoked pastrami was a very close second. And even though we didn’t intend for this pastrami recipe to be a Katz’s copycat, our version is very similar in taste, texture, and appearance to the famous NYC delicatessen, as you can see in the photo above.

The most notable differences between the two are that they really pile on a TON of freshly sliced meat (as you can see!), and they trimmed off more of the fat from the brisket. But overall, I was over-the-moon excited about how our pastrami sandwich turned out!

Ingredients for Pastrami Brine

The first step in how to make pastrami is making the brine for your beef brisket. Here are the ingredients for the pastrami brine:

• Curing Salt – This is a very important ingredient, and it’s essential to buy the proper curing salt. Notice, this is NOT regular Himalayan pink salt. I found mine at Academy Sports, but you can also purchase it on Amazon. Look for pink curing salt #1, sometimes called Prague Powder #1 or Insta Cure #1.
• Kosher Salt
• Sugars – Both brown sugar and regular granulated white sugar.
• Whole Spices – Black peppercorns, coriander seeds, mustard seeds, cinnamon sticks, and bay leaves.
• Ground Spices – Ground clove, ground ginger, ground mace, and red chili flakes.
• Garlic Cloves – Whole peeled garlic cloves that have been smashed.

Pastrami Seasoning

After the beef brisket is brined, it’s time to slather it with the pastrami seasoning. We’ve got a separate post just for our pastrami rub. So head over there for the full recipe and ingredient list for this pastrami seasoning: Homemade Pastrami Rub.

How to Make Homemade Smoked Pastrami

Smoking pastrami involves three main steps over the course of several days:

1. The first step is to brine the beef brisket in a salt brine with pickling spices. The brining process can take between 7-14 days, during which time the brisket will be submerged in the brine under refrigeration.
2. The second step is to season the beef brisket with your pastrami seasoning and to let it dry out in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
3. The third step is to actually smoke the brined, seasoned brisket on the grill or smoker to make homemade pastrami.

Here’s a closer look at each of the three steps to make homemade pastrami on the smoker:

Making the Homemade Pastrami Brine

To start making the brine, add whole coriander seeds, mustard seeds, cinnamon stick, and black peppercorns to a skillet. Toast the whole spices over medium heat for about 3-5 minutes to open up the pores of the seeds and get the maximum amount of flavor in your brine.

At the same time, add about 1 quart of water to a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Then, add the kosher salt, sugars, garlic cloves, red pepper flakes, and the ground spices. Heat for about 5 minutes to dissolve the salt and sugar. *NOTE – Do not add the pink curing salt to the saucepan at this point.

After the whole seeds and peppercorns have toasted for about 5 minutes, transfer them to a Ziploc bag or add them to a piece of folded over parchment paper. Use the bottom of a heavy skillet or a meat mallet to give the spices a couple knocks and crack them open a bit.

Then, add the toasted cracked spices to the saucepan with the other brine ingredients and stir to combine well.

Remove the brine from the heat, and allow it to cool down a bit. Then, add the pink curing salt and stir well for the salt to dissolve.

*NOTE – Using the correct type and amount of pink curing salt is absolutely CRUCIAL! Look for Prague Powder #1, sometimes called Insta Cure #1 or Pink curing salt #1. You can also reference the handy curing salt calculator here for the correct amount of pink salt to use for your particular cut of meat.

Brining the Beef Brisket

While the brine is cooling, trim the excess fat off your beef brisket and make sure that you have plenty of room in your refrigerator for the large aluminum foil pan.

*TIP – Remember, your beef brisket will need to fit into the brining container that you’ll be using, and the meat will need to be submerged completely. Keep that in mind as you trim your brisket to the appropriate size. And be sure to save the brisket trimmings and fat to make your own smoked beef tallow or to grind up for brisket burgers!

When the brisket is trimmed and the brine has cooled slightly, add about 12-15 ice cubes to the saucepan with the brine to cool it down even more. Then, place the brisket fat side up in a deep, full-size aluminum foil pan. Pour the cooled brine and 3 additional quarts of cold water over the brisket. Stir well so that the brine and extra water are evenly mixed.

Your brisket should look similar to this:

*TIP – I strongly encourage you to place your foil pan on top of a large baking sheet as I have done in the photo above. The weight of the brisket and gallon of water could cause the foil pan to weaken and bend, and the tray makes it easier to move in and out of the refrigerator.

Cover the aluminum pan with plastic wrap. You may also need to add a plate and/or a heavy glass jar on top of the brisket (underneath the plastic wrap), so that the meat stays fully submerged in the brine.

Place the brisket in the refrigerator to brine for about 7-10 days. I brined my beef brisket for 9 full days, and each day I took it out of the refrigerator, flipped it over to the opposite side, re-covered it with plastic wrap, and put it back in the fridge. This helped to stir the brine, and it also ensured that I didn’t have any dry spots and the brisket brined evenly.

After the brining period is over, remove the brisket from the brine and run under cold water to rinse thoroughly. Then, you’re ready to move on to the next step!

Seasoning the Brisket for Pastrami

The next step is to make the seasoning or rub for your pastrami. I’ve got a full post with how to make the simple pastrami rub that we used – it was fantastic!

After your pastrami rub is made, transfer the rinsed brisket to a wire cooling rack set on top of a large baking sheet. Pat the brisket dry with paper towels.

Then, liberally season all sides of the brisket with the pastrami rub. Your seasoned brisket should look something like this:

Place the seasoned brisket in the refrigerator uncovered for 12-24 hours. This extra time allows the pastrami rub to really meld with the meat for maximum flavor.

Preparing the Grill or Smoker

You’ve brined the brisket with the homemade pastrami brine, you’ve made the pastrami rub, and you’ve seasoned the brisket… and now, about 8-12 days later, it’s finally time to fire up the grill or smoker!

Add your choice of wood pellets to the grill. I used a 3 to 1 ratio of B&B Championship Blend pellets to hickory wood chips.

*NOTE – Only the Lone Star Grillz Pellet Smoker is able to burn wood chips, and you must order the wood chips directly from Lone Star Grillz – Their wood chips are specially-sized to be used in their pellet grills. DO NOT attempt to add wood chips to your pellet hopper if you do not have a Lone Star Grillz pellet smoker with this capability.

I chose to smoke my pastrami brisket at 265°F, but if your pellet grill doesn’t have that temperature, just choose 250°F or 275°F. The exact temperature of the grill will not matter as much as the internal temperature of the brisket.

Smoking Pastrami on the Grill

When the grill is heated up, place the seasoned brisket on the grill grates. I chose to leave my brisket on the wire rack, as you can see in the photo below, because the seasoning had set and I didn’t want to disturb it. It’s also much easier to lift the brisket on and off the grill with the wire rack.

Insert a probe thermometer into the center of the brisket to monitor the internal temperature, and close the lid to smoke.

About 11-12 hours later, my brisket was about 178°F internal temp. It looked like this, with a fantastic dark brown bark:

Steaming the Pastrami in Aluminum Foil

Since pastrami is traditionally smoked and then steamed, the next step is to wrap the smoked brisket in aluminum foil to mimic the effect of steaming.

I typically prefer wrapping my smoked meats in butcher paper when they hit the “stall”, so that the meat can breathe a bit instead of steaming in aluminum foil and softening the bark. But with pastrami you want the brisket to steam, and you can create steam by adding moisture and wrapping the meat in foil.

Simply lay out a few sheets of heavy duty aluminum foil, place the smoked pastrami brisket on the foil, and pour a bit of beef stock around the brisket. Then, wrap the brisket tightly with the aluminum foil. The moisture from the added beef stock will get trapped inside the foil, creating the steamed effect as the pastrami continues to cook.

Insert a probe thermometer to continue to monitor the internal temp of the smoked pastrami, and place the foil-wrapped meat back on the grill or smoker.

*NOTE – I wrapped my smoked brisket pastrami after about 11.5 hours of smoking at 250-265°F. The internal temperature of the meat was about 178°F at this time, and it had hit the stall.

At this point, I adjusted the temperature of my grill up to about 275-300°F. Since the pastrami is now wrapped in aluminum foil, you won’t get much additional smoke flavor.

Place the smoked pastrami back on the grill and continue to cook until the internal temperature reaches about 200-205°F. For me, it took about 2.5 hours for the brisket to reach that temperature range and finish cooking.

Then, remove the smoked pastrami from the grill to rest.

Resting and Serving the Smoked Pastrami

As with most meats, it’s important that you let this smoked pastrami rest so that the juices can calm down and redistribute in the meat.

I’m a fan of a “long rest”, if your timeline allows. To rest my smoked meats for a long period of time, I set my countertop toaster oven to about 155-160°F, and place the meat in the oven for about 5-6 hours. *You can see my favorite toaster oven and other recommended pellet grill accessories here!

If you don’t have an oven with this low-heat capability, then just let your pastrami brisket rest on the countertop wrapped in the aluminum foil, until the internal temp has dropped to 180°F.

Then, slice your homemade smoked pastrami into slices that are about 1/4″ thick.

How to Serve Smoked Pastrami

So now that you’ve taken about 10-12 days to make this awesome smoked pastrami, what do you do with it?

Here are a few suggestions for how to use your delicious homemade pastrami:

• Classic Pastrami Sandwiches – We served our fresh pastrami warm with our favorite sweet and spicy sandwich mustard on rye bread. Pile the sliced pastrami high, add spicy mustard, and you’ve got a fantastic sandwich that’s similar to the pastrami sandwiches at Katz’s Delicatessen.

• Pastrami Reubens – Use the sliced pastrami just like you would corned beef to make some awesome Reuben sandwiches with sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, and thousand island dressing. With the homemade brisket pastrami, these were the BEST Reubens that we’ve ever had!

• Pastrami Hash – Refrigerate the leftover pastrami and then use it to make a breakfast hash. This smoked pastrami can be used similarly to corned beef, so mix it in with diced potatoes, onions, and your favorite vegetables for a pastrami hash. Top with fried eggs for a filling and delicious breakfast or lunch.

• Bubble and Squeak – This traditional English dish has a funny name, but it packs some serious flavor! Often made with leftover roasted vegetables or leftover corned beef and cabbage, but you can definitely add in some chopped pastrami. Check out this Bubble and Squeak video on our griddle cooking YouTube channel, The Flat Top King, to see how we used our leftover pastrami for this dish!

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