How Much Brisket Per Person?

Find it here if you are confused about how much brisket per person you should serve during supper. Here is a simple breakdown provided about it to make your job easy.

Facts about brisket

Before you go ahead about the portion sizes, let’s walk through a few facts about brisket. Once you understand briskets, it shall be easier to estimate how much you serve your guests. The complete loaf of brisket is also called Packer’s cut. It normally weighs around 10-16 lbs. But often, you shall find it being sold in two different cuts. One is the flat cut with less fat content and is normally used for braising. And the other is the point cut which has a heavier fat content. This is perfect for being put in a grill or a smoker.

How much brisket per person?

As the general rule goes, you shall require somewhere around ¼ to ¾ lbs. of cooked brisket to feed per person. But while making this calculation, you must also remember an important factor. When you shall cook the meat, it shall shrink in its total volume by 40-50 %. So, if you are estimating ½ lbs. of brisket per person, it would be ideal for portioning 1 lb. of meat per person before you cook.

Of course, the second consideration for you to make shall be that you may not fall short of brisket, right? So, if you are thinking of smoking or slow cooking the brisket, you must look forward to keeping the time between 12-20 hours to cook.  If you happen to run out of the brisket in the middle of the cooking, you shall not be able to add more. But on the other hand, if you have a little extra and even if it becomes a leftover later, you can still enjoy eating it.

The portion size of cooked beef brisket

Here is a breakdown of the different portion sizes of brisket you should buy. These portions are based on ½ lbs., ¼ lbs., and ¾ lbs.

• ½ lbs. servings of brisket

This is the industry standard of serving and is a good average to fit kids and big eaters. It usually feeds one person for every 1lbs uncooked brisket. A brisket packer of 15 lbs. should feed ten people.

• ¼ lbs. servings of brisket

This size of meat is ideal when you need smaller portion sizes. This portion size of brisket feeds 0.5 lbs. of uncooked brisket to one person. A brisket packer of 15 lbs. can feed 30 people.

• ¾ lbs. servings of brisket

If the guests are big eaters, this is the perfect portion size you should go for. This can feed 1.5 lbs. of uncooked brisket to one person. So, the 15 lbs. packer for this shall feed 15 people comfortably.

Size of packer brisket	½ lbs. of serving	¼ lbs. of serving	¾ lbs. of serving
12 lbs.	24 persons	12 persons	8 persons
15 lbs.	30 persons	15 persons	10 persons
18 lbs.	36 persons	18 persons	12 persons

Understand your guest

It is also important to understand your guests’ appetite levels. If you are cooking the brisket for friends and family, then you certainly have an idea about their level of consumption. This shall also help you understand the different portion sizes each of your guests can consume. You can even make a different calculation for children as well, or in case there are vegetarians.

As you are portioning meat, make sure to consider making half in the portion size of brisket for the kids. You must also be attentive during cooking, so there is no cross-contamination when cooking meat and vegetables.

Other considerations to make

While estimating the different portion sizes of brisket, it is also important to consider the other items to accompany this menu. In case you are making a full meal, there shall be appetizers and salads to be served before you serve brisket. There shall be sauces as a side dish to accompany the brisket and desserts as well. Not to forget, there shall be alcohol too. So, take everything into consideration before you portion out the brisket.

Once you make all these estimations properly, you shall find it has become much easier for you to buy the portion size of the brisket. In addition to that, you shall also discover that everything has comfortably fit into your budget and the guests too have been fed properly in the end.