This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our affiliate policy.
Even though I grew up in the Midwest, I’ve been living in California for over a decade. Tri tip is widely available here, and I’ve had plenty of time to get super familiar with this delicious cut of beef. Layer that experience on top of my classical culinary education, and I can promise you: You’re in good hands with this recipe.
Tri tip cooks up tender and juicy when properly prepared. The secret is to use a marinade to infuse this thick cut of steak with flavor. I like to use a combination of garlic and herbs, preferably sturdy, strong herbs like rosemary and thyme.
I also score the fat cap (a thick layer of fat on one side of the steak) to allow the marinade to penetrate and infuse the steak with even more flavor. Be sure to bring your steak to room temperature before grilling and let it rest before slicing. These tips ensure a flavorful, juicy tri tip every single time.
Table of Contents
Tri Tip Recipe Ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
- Tri-Tip: The tri-tip is a small, boneless, triangular cut from the sirloin. It usually weighs about 1 1/2-2 pounds. It resembles a thick, slightly lopsided boomerang that is laced throughout with just the right amount of marbled fat. Even though it’s a lean cut, the marbling contributes to its flavor and tenderness.
How to Perfectly Grill A Tri Tip
- In the bottom of a zipper-top plastic bag, add oil, garlic, rosemary, thyme, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1 ½ teaspoons pepper. Pat the tri-tip dry with paper towels and score the fat layer with a sharp knife (cut through the fat but not meat).
- Add steak to the bag with paste and turn to coat. Marinate at least 1 hour or up to 2 hours. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes before grilling.
- Preheat grill over high heat for 10 minutes. Clean and oil grate. Grill tri-tip over direct heat, turning occasionally, about 3 to 4 minutes per side, until browned and charred.
- Move tri-tip to indirect heat and continue cooking to desired doneness temperature, about 20 to 30 minutes longer: 120 degrees for rare, 130 degrees for medium rare, 140 degrees for medium, 150 degrees for medium well, and 160 degrees for well done.
- Transfer tri-tip to a cutting board and let rest for 10 to 15 minutes. Slice thinly against the grain and serve.
Tips For Grilling Beef Tri Tip
- If your roast has a fat cap, score it with a knife (cutting through the fat but not the meat). Make a marinade with big, bold flavors like garlic, sturdy herbs, and plenty of salt, and rub the tri tip all over. Those cuts will let the flavors infuse your steak with flavor, especially if you let it sit (and you should!).
- Like all steaks, tri tip is best grilled when it’s had a chance to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes. Give your grill plenty of time to heat up, too. Sear your steak over direct heat for a few minutes on each side, then transfer to indirect heat and cook to your desired doneness temperature (120 degrees for rare, 130 degrees for medium rare, 140 degrees for medium, 150 degrees for medium well, and 160 degrees for well done).
- All steaks should rest for 10 to 15 minutes after grilling, and tri tip is no exception. Finally, be sure to slice your meat against the grain. This method will ensure the juiciest, most tender slices of tri tip every single time.
Tri Tip Steak Temp Chart
All temperatures listed are when the steak is tested with an internal thermometer at the thickest part. The internal temperature will continue to rise another 5 degrees or so after coming off the grill, a concept known as “carryover cooking.”
Rare: 120 degrees
Medium rare: 130 degrees
Medium: 140 degrees
Medium well: 150 degrees
Well done: 160 degrees
What to Serve With Beef Tri Tip
- Serve Beef Tri Tip with any of your favorite steak sides such as baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, and twice-baked potatoes and any roasted veggie (think roasted broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, asparagus, or green beans). Balsamic mushrooms and onions are another classic choice.
- For a full steakhouse experience start your meal with loaded baked potato soup or a crisp wedge salad with blue cheese dressing.
- If you want to enjoy Tri Tip like a true Californian, try the classic Santa Maria Barbecue side dishes: pinquito beans, a green salad, garlic bread, and salsa.
How to Store Leftover Tri Tip
Cool tri tip and store covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Leftover tri tip is excellent on steak sandwiches, reheat in a skillet with eggs for breakfast, added to a salad, or stir-fried in a skillet with veggies and teriyaki sauce.
Tri Tip Steak Recipe FAQs
Like most celebrities, the famous tri-tip has many nicknames: triangle tip, triangle steak, triangle roast, bottom sirloin steak, just to name a few. In the West, it’s often called Santa Maria steak, because this meaty, delicious roast plays a starring role in California regional food, especially Santa Maria barbecue. Out East, however, it’s known as a Newport steak. No matter what its name, it’s a fabulous cut that’s worth searching out.
If you’ve never had it, it’s California cuisine at its best! First, the tri-tip is covered with a dry rub and cooked over a fire made of red oak wood. Then it’s served up in juicy, medium rare slices with pinquito beans, a green salad, garlic bread, and salsa. At last, crusty bread is used to soak up the drippings.
While all of these cuts are delicious, they have their differences. A tri-tip is part of the sirloin, near the bottom by the hip. However, a brisket is a giant cut, ranging in size from 12-20 pounds, from the breast area. Most people know it and love it, but it’s an enormous cut with a looser grain and much more marbling. In contrast, flank steak comes from the lower abdomen. Although it’s very lean it isn’t as tender as tri-tip, so it benefits from marinating and shouldn’t be overcooked.
While resting it not only brings up the temperature, it also allows the juices to be absorbed back into the meat so they don’t spill out onto the cutting board.
When carving, the trick is to carve the tri-tip against the grain, which can change directions in this cut. To solve this, I recommend slicing the roast in two at the place where the fibers change direction, then carve each piece separately.
More ways with steak
Beef Recipes
Grilled New York Strip Steak
Mexican Recipes
Carne Asada
Main Dishes
Surf and Turf
Main Dishes
Chimichurri Steak
Join Us
Tri Tip Steak Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup oil
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 3 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary
- 3 tablespoons minced fresh thyme
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 1/2 pounds tri-tip roast (see note 1)
Instructions
- In the bottom of a zipper-top plastic bag, add oil, garlic, rosemary, thyme, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1 ½ teaspoons pepper.
- Pat the tri-tip dry with paper towels and score the fat layer with a sharp knife (cut through the fat but not meat).
- Add steak to the bag with paste and turn to coat. Marinate at least 1 hour or up to 2 hours. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes before grilling.
- Preheat grill over high heat for 10 minutes. Clean and oil grate. Grill tri-tip over direct heat, turning occasionally, about 3 to 4 minutes per side, until browned and charred.
- Move tri-tip to indirect heat and continue cooking to desired doneness temperature, about 20 to 30 minutes longer: 120 to 125 degrees F for rare, 130 to 135 degrees F for medium rare, 140 to 145 degrees F for medium, 150 degrees F for medium well, and 160 degrees F for well done.
- Transfer tri-tip to a cutting board and let rest for 10 to 15 minutes. Slice thinly against the grain.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Tri-Tip: The tri-tip is a small, boneless, triangular cut from the sirloin. It usually weighs about 1 1/2-2 pounds. It resembles a thick, slightly lopsided boomerang that is laced throughout with just the right amount of marbled fat. Even though it’s a lean cut, the marbling contributes to its flavor and tenderness.
- Yield: This Grilled Tri-Tip recipe makes enough to generously feed 6 adults with five to seven slices of smoked beef.
- Storage: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Freezer: Pack sliced, cooled tri-tip into freezer-safe bags. Label, date, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
Nutrition
Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.
This recipe was spot on! The marinade and cooking instructions made this one of my favorites!
I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Jim! Thank you! – Meggan
This dish turns out great! I just made it for the 2nd time last night for company and everyone loved it.I followed the recipe exactly. It was tender, juicy and delicious.
I’m so glad it was a hit, John! Take care! – Meggan
I’ve used your recipe for this exclusively since I was introduced to tritip.
The only difference is I use a blackening seasoning rub.
Ingrained in my head is 425 for 25 minutes.
Thank you and Happy New Year!
By the way I also use your Cowboy Caviar recipe to serve with it.
I do alter that recipe as well.
I don’t use sugar or vinegar in it.
I substitute lime juice and Rotel tomatoes and no corn but diced poblanos peppers
Super easy and tastes really good! These are the kinds of recipes I get along with…between working, parenting, going to school, and trying to keep up with all the household chores. This is definitely a keeper recipe.
Thanks Emily, I’m so glad you liked it! Definitely a regular recipe for me too. – Meggan
you might check out sous vide for tri tip preparation.
Hi Russell! I’ve used a sous vide for filet and smaller cuts of meat as well as eggs, but not for tri-tip! Do you have any tips? I would love to try this out. Thanks! – Meggan
Super yum!
Recipe sounds delicious -Can this recipe be used on a gas grill without oak or hickory chips?
Hi Harriet, yes! Definitely. I know, charcoal is kind of a pain and I don’t have the chips on hand all the time either. Just use the marinade and cook it like you normally would grill Tri Tip. If you need more info just let me know! Thanks! -Meggan
I use the hickory or Mesquite For beef the cherry or Apple for pork the light smoke flavor gives it a phoenominal flavor soak a small handful of chips in water then put your chips in a open top foil packer when your charcoal or gas grill is hot enough you can poke a few holes of the foil on the bottom and put them directly over a flame then start your grilling
Easy easy 🙂
SO Delicious!!!
The reason it is called a California secret is the cut was origioned by a butcher in Santa Maria. And our relatives introduced us to it 38 years ago! At that time it was not available in my home town! The “secret” didn’t stay secret for long as more and more in-landers kept asking for it after vacay at the coast. Welcome to the wonderful world of red meat!
Just want to let you know that the tri tip is not a California secret.. i’m From Idaho and have been enjoying tri tip roast and steak for at least 25 years! Love it!
Well I feel silly now! But that’s great, thank you for letting me know. 😀 -Meggan
Being A So. CAL gal I love tri-tip. Thanks for recipe. I too like to grill mine but another option is a reverse sear in cast iron skillet. YUMMY both ways.