Should you Buy Brisket at Walmart in 2024?

Are you thinking of buying some brisket at Walmart, but you still fear whether it’ll come out wonderful? 

Chill out! 

With this handy guide, we’ll help you get the best brisket from Walmart so you can enjoy the juicy and tender brisket!

What Brisket Grades Can You Get at Walmart?

The grade is the most significant factor when buying a brisket at Walmart or any other grocery/meat store. Walmart doesn’t have much variety in briskets, but you can find two different grades of brisket. 

Walmart only sells choice-grade or select-grade briskets–you can’t get prime-grade brisket there. Although these select or choice grade brisktes can sometimes satisfy you, they’re nothing compared to prime-grade brisket or wagyu brisket, so keep that in mind when you buy brisket at Walmart; you’re going to waste money if you’ve already tasted prime-grade brisket.

Is Select-Grade Brisket at Walmart worth it?

Select-grade meat has the lowest amount of fat, resulting in firm meat–chewy and tough bites. If you buy it, you’ll need some pacific recipe and less rest time. Likewise, you’ll need to dip it in some brine to make it more moist and tender. You have to be super careful as Select-grade brisket can turn dry quickly.

So, select-grade brisket isn’t that good; if you compare Walmart to Costco, it’s the lowest grade of brisket. This is what you get at Walmart. But this is the way to go if you’re looking to buy cheap.

Is Choice-Grade Brisket at Walmart worth it?

Choice-grade brisket is cheap, but it can be good or bad depending on your choice, hence the name. This brisket has more marbling than the select-grade brisket, but it’s less than prime-grade.

Choice-grade briskets are super tender and flavorful, but they’re all different. You must choose the best considering their size, marbling, and thickness. Many pit masters pick choice-grade briskets for competitions because they’re pretty good. 

Even though it’s juicy, it won’t hurt to inject your brisket for the sake of moistness.

Again if you compare Walmart’s brisket with Costco’s, the latter will win. Indeed, Walmart brisket is cheaper in taste, but it goes right, “you get what you pay for.”

Cocto’s quality control system ensures that you get a superb tasty brisket no matter what grade it is.

What are the Beef Brisket Cuts at Walmart

You should know briskets cuts if you want to buy briskets at Walmart.

The flat cut of the brisket

It’s part of the brisket that’s at the end. It has a square edge, thinner and flatter than the other edge, hence the name. The flat cut comes from the deep pectoral muscle of the cow. That’s why it’s so preferred.

This cut makes up most of the brisket, and it’s the one that people like the most. It cooks pretty quickly, and cutting out the slices is easy. It’s thin and flat, allowing the center to reach the desired temperature sooner. 

Point cut of the brisket

It’s pretty easy to differentiate as it’s small, round, and a few inches thick. It overlaps with the flat of the brisket and has the superficial pectoral muscles. It has more fat than the flat, which makes it super juicy and moist. 

The deckle, primarily connective tissue, separates the flat cut from the point cut. You’ll need to trim it away to cook the brisket more evenly.

What’s the price of Walmart Brisket?

The best thing about Walmart brisket is the price. It’s super cheap. 

Even if you compare it to Costco, the brisket at Walmart costs about half as much. Although they have only select-grade and choice grades, this brisket will do wonders if you’re on a budget!

But we’ll never recommend you to go so tight on a budget, especially when you’re planning to smoke a brisket for your family dinners. 

You should only try Walamrt brisket if you’re making anything out of it, except slow cooking–slow cooking demands a handsome balance between proteins and fat in a meat cut.

What size of Walmart Brisket is the best?

When people go to Walmart to buy brisket, they assume that the bigger it is, the better. Yet, that’s not always the case. 

The weight has mostly fat contributing to it, and the fatter the meat, it doesn’t mean more quality. Remember, your brisket must have excellent marbling but not an overly thick fat cap.

Bigger briskets have a flat side that ends in narrow strips of meat, which isn’t necessarily good. When you need decent slides, the flat isn’t good; you must mostly trim them. 

Shorter briskets can be better, but the best way is to check the end of the piece to determine the thickness.

Thicker meat is also fantastic, and it’s juicier and tender. Thus, it would be best if you look for a brisket with a thicker flat. 

Also, avoid briskets weighing more than 18 pounds, as they’re too big for most smokers. Bigger briskets are also left rigid because it takes too much time to smoke them–mostly, they come from older animals and get you tougher bites.

Best Walmart Briskets Reviews

Now that you have some knowledge of briskets let’s look at what Walmart has to offer.

Walmart Choice Brisket

The best brisket you can get at Walmart is the choice brisket, the marbling is better than the select-grade brisket, and if you look hard enough, it can be as good as a prime brisket and for cheap! The choice brisket has much thick fat, so watch out for that!

How is the choice-grade brisket at Walmart?

Other than the fat, when you cook the choice-grade brisket, the first thing that you’ll notice is that it takes more time to cook compared to a lump of higher-quality meat. It has a nice and smooth grain and is full of flavor and tender, suitable for dry-heat cooking.

It doesn’t have much marbling, but it’s still pretty good. If you consider the size and thickness before buying your choice-grade beef brisket, you’ll be able to choose the one that has a great taste comparable to that of high-quality beef briskets.

How much does Walmart’s choice-grade brisket cost?

The choice brisket at Walmart costs about $13; that’s $5.97 per pound! Talk about cheap! If you compare the prices to any other store, they cost about $8 to $10 per pound, so it’s a steal at this price!

It’s worth it, considering the quality is not bad, and it’s juicy, tender, and flavorful for a fraction of the price!

How does choice-grade brisket fare nutritionally?

It’s as healthy as red meats, considering a 112g serving size; it has 300 calories. Out of those, 24g of fat and 19g of protein. It has 75 mg of sodium, not much compared to Grobbel’s beef brisket!

Walmart Select Grade Brisket

Initially, Walmart used only to sell select-grade brisket. It’s lower quality than the choice brisket, but it’s also pretty cheap, which was the focus of Walmart. Eventually, they introduced choice-grade beef, but the select grade is still the most sold brisket at Walmart.

How does select-grade brisket taste?

It’s the leanest meat available at Walmart and has the least amount of marbling and fat, making it vulnerable to getting dry while you cook it. Low fat makes it pretty firm, so if you want to grill your select-grade brisket, moisten it up!

How much does select-grade brisket cost at Walmart?

Most of the beef sold at Walmart is select-grade unless it’s mentioned that it’s a choice grade. The prices range from $4-$5 per pound according to the size and the quality. It’s pretty cheap and tastes good if you cook it properly.

It’s pretty hard to make it turn out good, so it’s better to go for a choice-grade brisket, especially if you’re cooking for a competition.

Nutritional information

It has less fat and calories than choice-grade beef brisket at Walmart. If we consider one serving size 112 pounds, it has about 105 calories. It has very little fat, only 3g and 18g of protein, which is a lot. 

It also doesn’t have a lot of sodium, about 66g. It can still rack up, so be careful.

Grobbel’s Fresh Corned Beef Brisket Flat

First up, we have the fresh corned beef brisket flat. Walmart sells this beef brisket as their gourmet cut. This cut of beef is super flavorful and perfect for a steak. This product is USDA inspected and high in quality.

What does Grobbel’s Beef Brisket taste like?

Grobbel’s fresh corned beef brisket from Walmart has a lot of flavor inside it. It’s perfect for traditional beef cabbage, Reuben sandwiches, and corned beef hash. Customers weren’t so happy with this brisket, though.

This beef brisket from Walmart has a lot of fat and shrinks when you cook it. It’s also pretty tough; even after cooking it for a long time, it’s still too chewy! Although a fat cap is expected in the flat of brisket, it has fat embedded inside it!

Is this beef brisket value for money?

Grobbel’s beef brisket, flat cut, costs around $16.68 and comes out to be $4.98 per pound. This price is pretty good as it’s a flat cut of the brisket, but it’s not super value for money as it’s too tough and has a lot of fat.

Nutrition

If we consider 112g to be the serving size, it’s pretty healthy, and it has about 200 calories, out of which it has 14g of fat. It has a lot of sodium, though, 950mg! That’s about 40% of the daily value, so be careful not to overeat!

FAQs

What should you look for when buying brisket at Walmart?

If you want the whole brisket at Walmart, then you’ll need to ask them to give you a packer brisket or a packet cut brisket; it’s the whole brisket and weighs around 12-15 pounds. If you want any of the cuts, you can go for the point or flat cut.

Should you buy choice-grade or select-grade brisket at Walmart?

Although choice-grade brisket is miles better than any select-grade brisket you can find, it still depends. The most significant factor is availability. Walmart has been selling select-grade brisket for a long time, so it’s available everywhere. 

That’s not the case for the choice grade, though, as you’ll have to look for it in the meat section; it all depends on your luck if you find it.

Conclusion

Walmart doesn’t have a lot of variety when it comes to briskets, but as they introduced choice-grade briskets recently, they have hit some popularity. After this guide, we hope you can decide on buying brisket from Walmart!