A fool-proof recipe for easy Smoked Tri Tip.
Tri Tip is an easy, quick, and affordable alternative to smoked brisket. Learn the secrets to perfectly smoking this lean and delicious cut of beef from a BBQ caterer. Bonus is this recipe comes with perfect wine pairings!
We’ve said it once, and we’ll say it again. We absolutely love Smoked Tri Tip around these parts!
It’s the #1 cut of beef we cook around here. This is mostly because it’s the #1 requested meat we cook at Ember and Vine catering events. And that is because it’s a much more affordable option to brisket, both in price and the time it takes to cook. Tri Tip averages around 60-90 minutes to cook, whereas brisket can take you 10+ hours. That’s a serious commitment! With Tri Tip there is little commitment to reap excellent rewards every time!
What is Tri Tip?
Tri Tip is beef, and comes from the backside of the cow. It is where separate areas of muscle meat come together and thus you have three points to the cut, thus “tri tip”. When you buy it, it should typically be trimmed and almost ready for grilling or smoking.
Marbling is key so you get the most flavor, so look for a good marble. We rarely use anything less than choice or its local farming equivalent. If you cut in half a select tri tip you quickly realize why you want to maximize the marbling in an otherwise lean cut of meat.
What Size Tri Tip to Smoke
You’ll find them range from around 1 ½ lbs to 3 lbs. We like them somewhere around the 2 lb range. It has incredible flavor when smoked and is pretty lean. Because it’s so lean it’s important to not overcook it. We see a lot of Tri-Tip recipes where folks will smoke it for several hours. In our experience we’ve found that is not necessary! Seriously, around 60-90 minutes on average. That’s it!
How long to Smoke Tri Tip
Like I said, 60-90 minutes set to an average cooking temperature of 225 is all you need to cook it to a medium rare (which is what we suggest), or just a little bit longer for medium. You want to cook it until the thickest part of the meat is registering around 127 with an instant-read digital thermometer. That’s the happy spot.
In case you want a different angle…
Once it reaches 127 (or somewhere right between 125-130) we pull it off, wrap it in foil, and let it rest 15 minutes. This is an important step! If it is done early we like to leave it in the cooler (with no ice!) for up to an hour. It acts like a warmer so when you slice, it is still warm, tender, and delicious. We like to cook just between rare and medium rare for the best flavor.
Tri Tip Temperature Cooking Chart
- Rare: 120-125 degrees F
- Medium Rare: 130-135 degrees F
- Medium: 135-145 degrees F
- Medium Well: 145-155 degrees F
- Well Done: 160 degrees F
You can marinade or use your favorite dry rub to season your Tri Tip if you wish, but we like to keep it simple and go with a liberal amount of salt and pepper. That’s it! This is exactly how we cook this for events, and we’ve always received high praise for this smoky deliciousness.
Recipe for Easy Smoked Tri Tip
A simple recipe for smoked Tri-Tip. Tri-Tip is an easy and affordable alternative to smoked brisket.
- 1 Tri-Tip Beef Roast, around 2 lbs, give or take
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon coarse ground pepper
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Preheat smoker to 225 degrees.
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Cover the tri-tip in olive oil. Combine the salt and pepper and sprinkle over tri-tip liberally. I mean it when I say "liberally". Don't be afraid to get a nice crust on there!
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Place tri-tip on smoker unwrapped for 60-90 minutes. Cook until internal temperature reaches 127 (or up to 130 degrees) for medium rare to medium and remove.
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Wrap tri-tip in foil and let rest for 15 minutes. Optional: place in a cooler (with NO ice) to keep warm for anywhere from 30-60 minutes. This will continue the cooking process another 5 degrees. Further I have found that it makes the cut extremely tender as the juices slowly redistribute into the meat.
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Cut across the grains in thin strips and serve with favorite sides, like smoked collard greens, or top with chimichurri sauce.
*Serve Tri Tip with these smoked collard greens or top with this chimichurri sauce.
Wine Pairing for Tri Tip
One of my favorite things about Tri-Tip is its versatility with wine! One of the reasons I think it’s so popular at our events is that it’s fan-friggin-tastic with a full-bodied style Pinot Noir (and we do most of our events in Oregon wine country, aka Pinot country). Most folks just associate Pinot with pork or salmon, but it can totally work with beef, especially this cut. Again, this is because it’s lean, and therefore doesn’t need some big tannic wine that will work with a fatty cut. It also takes on some great savory characteristics from the smoke and rub (or salt and pepper), which are to die for with the savoriness of Pinot. Juicy, lean, tender, and delicious. You can totally pair this with something bigger, like Syrah, Merlot, Malbec, Tempranillo, but don’t be afraid to try it with Pinot Noir (especially a bigger style Pinot).
More Tri Tip Recipes
- Red Wine Marinated Smoked Tri Tip (recipe and video)
- Smoked Tri Tip Sandwiches with Chimichurri Sauce
- Smoked Tri Tip Mac and Cheese
If you like this recipe we’d truly appreciate it if you would give this recipe a star review! And if you share any of your pics on Instagram use the hashtag #vindulge. We LOVE to see it when you cook our recipes.
Can I just move in next door and come over for dinner everyday? This smoked tri-tip looks AMAZING! I’ll have to check out those wines too, especially the Camlow. I’m in the mood for a BIG Pinot Noir right now!
This looks so good! I wouldn’t normally think to pair red meat with a Pinot Noir (I generally reach for a cab or merlot by habit), but this full bodied Pinot sounds like it could be perfect!
Why does this post makes me want to say hello yeah?!?
Looks absolutely mad, way too good. Cheers!
Mmmmm I love when you post food photos of meat, you have an incredible way of always making it look incredible!
Pinot Noir is my favorite, but because it’s such a delicate flavor I never know what to pair it with. I never even thought about tri-tip! Perfect suggestion.
How long before you smoke it do you season it? 1 hr, 30 mins, 10 hrs?
Daniel, we’ll prep and season about six hours before cook time, sometimes less if we run into a time crunch, but a few hours before works.
I made this tonight and it was delicious! Was a little skeptical about pulling the meat off the smoker at such a low temp, but the result was amazing!
Yeah!!!! You can always pull off at higher temps, but we just love how tender it comes out. Thanks for the feedback!!!
Couldn’t believe how great this was! We used dry rub overnight. Only took an hour to reach your recommended temp. Let sit in foil about 45 minutes. Delish and so tender! Thanks for enlightening this old boy smoker to a new quick smoking technique with Tri-Tip.
Made this just today in our old Philco refrigerator smoker with applewood chips & it was AMAZING!! Thank you!
That is awesome!!!! I love seeing those mods on appliances, take a photo and please share on our facebook site, I love that!!!!
Hey Mary, we love your smoked tri-tip recipe so much that we featured it as part of our 101 favorite smoker recipes. And the wine pairings are a huge bonus! You can check it out here – https://bbqonmain.com/101-smoker-recipes/
Thanks so much for sharing!
Mary-
Thank you for this recipe. Its insanely good. Cant believe how easy it was to prepare. You really deserve boatloads of credit for this. The only thing different I did was lace some slivers of garlic into the meat, and I like it more medium so I pulled it from the smoker at about 140 degrees.
Otherwise, Good on you!
– 341mxk
Awesome!!! Thanks so much for the feedback 🙂 I’m totally trying ours with that garlic suggestion next time (I’m a huge garlic lover!). Cheers 🙂
My California boy cannot wait to try this on his new smoker. He definitely can’t find a restaurant here in TX that serves Santa Maria style tri-tip. What kind of wood do you recommend using?
oh….a controversial topic for a Texan, we are big fans of local wood making great local flavor. So depending on the part of Texas, mesquite or post oak may work. We are here in the Pacific Northwest and will typically go oak or apple given it’s easy to get here. But we shy away from mesquite to avoid it tasting too smoky. But it’s all about your preference.
I made this for the family and they loved it. Didn’t pair it with a wine but we are doing the keto diet and this works well.
That’s awesome! We love to hear this 🙂
Cheers!
Does this recipe work with an electric smoker? I’m trying it currently and it just doesn’t the same red outer crusty look to it. What am I doing wrong?
I also put it in and the temp was at 127 degrees within a half hour. Still leaving it in cause we have kids and don’t want it too rare.
Please help, what am I doing wrong??
I don’t think you are doing anything wrong, the color will be a number of things, pellet type, etc.
Did you get a smoke flavor you like? And did you find a smoke ring?
You could always turn the temperature of the smoker down lower if it’s cooking too quickly, to get more smoke flavor.
And always check the temperature of the meat at the thickest part of the meat to make sure that is cooked to the temperature you want it. The thinner parts on the ends will likely be cooked more thoroughly, and likely the ones you would probably feed to the kiddos (though I love some of those crusty and juicy end pieces too!).
Does smoking two roasts at once increase cook time?
Wes, no, not with Tri Tip. They are small enough to not pull in too much of the ambient heat.
I prefer too sear a chunk of tri tip at high heat for 3 minutes per side Directly over red oak wood on a Santa Maria grill 1st then raise the grate too finish at 135 pull off and wrap in foil,let rest 10 minutes.using the tri tip juices inside Too pour over meat.my rub, fresh garlic and fresh grind black pepper that’s all for rub.,simply awesome flavor and juicy and tender.with a nice crust on the outside and medium rare in the middle.
Love this!!!! Life goal for me is to get a Santa Maria style grill myself. Love them and the way they can be controlled for heat element. I can smell the sear from here!!!
Added a drip pan with a tiny bit of water and let it smoke at 250 for 80 ish minutes. Jesus christ all mighty was it good. I didnt use salt and pepper used a wet rub it was awesome but the tinfoil trick and temp pull out times are on point!
I’m gonna try this tomorrow, do you “smoke” it the whole 60-90 mins or just partially ? Thanks
Bob we smoke the whole time. So if you are using a pellet smoker, you can use “smoke” setting, or 225. For a wood and charcoal cooker, we go for 225 until it comes up to our desired temperature. Be sure to start checking the temperature around the 45 – 60 minute mark to see how fast it is cooking.
Absolutely fantastic!! Tri tip is one of my favorite cut of beef and I cook it 2-3 times a month. This has become my go to recipe – so easy and incredibly flavorful. Thanks for sharing this gem of a recipe!
Awesome!!! Thanks so much for the feedback! We’ll keep ’em coming!
That was by far one of my best smoked tri-tip so far thank you.