BBQ, Beef Recipe
Delicious Smoked Tri-Tip Recipe
Mar
March 6, 2022
If you still haven’t had a Texas Tri-Tip steak, it’s time to join the party! This cut has extraordinary flavor, excellent marbling, and a price point that can’t be beaten. In fact, after you learn how to cook Tri-Tip, it could become your new favorite cut of beef.
Today, we’ll teach you how to trim Tri-Tip, how to slice Tri-Tip, and of course, how to cook Tri-Tip. Just remember, you can successfully prepare this versatile cut in many ways, so try them all! You’ll love it grilled, roasted, pan-seared, and even smoked. There’s really no wrong way to do it.
If you are having trouble finding Tri-Tip at your local store or butcher, we recommend our very own Premium Quality Texas Beef Tri-Tip. It’s grass-fed, grain-finished, and always hormone and steroid free. We’ll ship it right to your door!
How to Trim Tri-Tip
Before you do anything else, make sure to trim your Tri-Tip. Ensuring your meat is cleaned correctly makes a big difference in your finished product. Depending on where you buy your beef, some cuts will already be free from silver skin and hard chunks of fat, but taking a few extra minutes to double-check this is the first step in cooking Tri-Tip.
When trimming Tri-Tip, a quick rule of thumb: it’s best to use a sharp knife and remove anything that you don’t want to eat. This will guarantee that every bite is tender and you don’t get stuck gnawing on a hard piece of fat.
Smoked Tri-Tip Recipe
When people ask us the best way to cook Tri-Tip, we say SMOKE IT!
Smoking Tri-Tip is a delicious way to prepare this cut. But don’t imagine our recipe being anything like a barbecue brisket. This is more of a smoked steak with a fun twist in the end: Instead of smoking and slicing, we also do a reverse sear on the beef to create a crispy, charred crust. Combine that with some tasty seasoning like our very own Can’t Beat Our Meat Spice Rub, and you can’t go wrong.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- 2 Premium Quality Texas Beef Tri-Tip Steaks (about 3lbs – 5lbs)
- 1/2 cup of yellow mustard or olive oil
- 1/2 cup of Texas Beef Company’s Can’t Beat Our Meat Spice Rub (or your favorite rub)
How to Smoke Tri-Tip
Now, fire up your smoker and you’re ready to go:
- Preheat your smoker to 200 F. Use any wood you want. We’ve tried pecan, oak, peach, mesquite. They all taste a little different, but they’re all delicious.
- Trim your Tri Tip as described above. Make sure to remove any silverskin or pieces of hard fat.
- Use a paper towel to pat your steaks dry and then rub them with a thin layer of mustard or oil (whichever you chose). Make sure to apply a nice, even coat. You don’t want to drench your meat. Just add enough to make the surface a bit tacky so the seasonings will stick.
- Generously apply your spice rub. Make sure to cover every surface of the beef. Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty. Get all the nooks and crannies.
- Place your Tri-Tip on your smoker and cook it until the internal temperature reaches ten degrees below your desired steak temperature. Here on the ranch, we pull our Tri-Tips when they hit 125 F. In the last step we raise the temperature an additional ten degrees for medium-rare.
- When you reach your desired temperature, remove your beef and heat a heavy skillet on your stove. Make sure you heat it until it’s VERY hot, like smoking hot. This step needs to happen fast.
- Add some cooking oil to the skillet and sear your Tir-Tip for 30 seconds on each side to produce a nice crispy crust.
- Lastly, remove your steaks from the skillet and rest them on a cutting board for five minutes before slicing.
Pro-tip: The muscle fibers or grain of a Tri-Tip run in two different directions and the key to soft, melt in your mouth steak is always to slice against the grain. So take your time and cut each section perpendicular to the fibers. Do it right, and we promise Tri-Tip will be one of your favorite cuts too!
Check us out! We offer grass-fed, grain-finished, sustainably raised bulk beef and Premium Quality custom beef boxes. Each one is chock-full of all your favorite cuts. We also have tons of Texas Beef Company merchandise. Show the world that you Eat Better Beef!
