Reverse Seared Smoked Tri-Tip Recipe - Blessed on the Bayou (2024)

FAQs

How long do you smoke a tri tip for reverse sear? ›

It takes around 1.5-2 hours to reverse sear tri tip. Once the meat is seasoned, slow smoke it until it is within 5-10 degrees of your final target temperature.

The reverse searing method is particularly well-suited for tri-tip steak, a flavorful cut known for its marbling and tenderness.

By searing at the end you get the benefit of the flavors introduced by searing and the meat will stay juicy inside. For tri-tip I like to smoke low until an internal temp of about 125. Then pull and foil loosely until the temp has peaked and then dropped back down to the 125 level.

Smoke: Place your roast on a 225° smoker and close the lid. I like it best when cooked to 130-135°, which will give you a nice cooked interior that's still a little pink. If you cook tri tip past this point and into medium and medium-well, you'll sacrifice tenderness. Sear: This process is called a reverse sear.

The ideal smoking temperature for tri tip is 225°F.

If you smoke the tri tip at a higher temperature, it will cook quicker, and won't be as tender, or have as much smoke flavor.

Disadvantages of the Reverse Sear Method

Thin steaks often cook so quickly, regardless of what method you use, that trying a reverse sear might actually lead to an overcooked steak. Another disadvantage is that this method can take a little more time to sear steak.

Start with a neutral oil with a high smoke point so you can really get it hot to sear your steak: canola, vegetable, grapeseed will all do fine. Once you've got a nice crust, lower the heat, and add butter and other flavorings like hardy herbs or whole crushed cloves of garlic.

Reverse sear only works on thick cut meat. This is an important point – the piece of meat needs to be at least 1.5 inches thick for the reverse sear method to work. It will not work on minute steaks or any thinner cuts of meat. You will just end up overcooking the meat.

Muscle fibers tense and toughen up at high temperatures, which causes the meat to be tough and chewy. Not to mention the added smokey flavor. You could cook a tri-tip low and slow the whole way, but you can't beat finishing with a quick sear over high heat to develop a flavorful crust.

Should I wrap a smoked tri tip? ›

If it gets to 160°F before the two hours have run their course, don't worry, it will stall out and hold its temp somewhere in that range. Once the bark is set, it's time to wrap. Using pink butcher paper, wrap your tri-tips and put them back in the smoker, and increase the smoker's temperature to 275°F (135°C).

Place tri-tip on smoker unwrapped for 60-90 minutes. Cook until internal temperature reaches 125 – 130 degrees F for rare and remove. Wrap tri-tip in foil and let rest for 15 minutes. When slicing any cut of beef, it's important to slice against or perpendicular to the grains.

How Long to Smoke Tri Tip. Plan up to 2 hours for smoking tri tip, plus an additional 5-6 minutes for searing and 15 minutes of rest time for a medium-rare steak. The times will vary slightly based on the doneness you're trying to achieve in the center of your meat.

Tri tip is a steak-like cut with very little connective tissue, and that means it should be cooked to the same doneness as a steak would be: 130°–135°F (54–57°C) for medium-rare or 135°–145°F (57–63°C) for medium. The temperature to cook the tri tip at is kind of up to you.

At 225 degrees Fahrenheit, a 2-pound tri tip takes an hour for rare, to an hour and a half for medium-rare. A 3-pound tri tip requires about 90 minutes for rare, and 2 hours for medium-rare.

How long does it take to reverse sear a steak? The short answer is 62 to 64 minutes. It takes approximately 1 hour to smoke steaks. Once the internal temperature reaches doneness temperature, then it's just 1 to 2 minutes per side to sear them.

Let the tri-tip cook for about 3 hours at 250°F (121°C) or until the thickest part measures 160°F (71°C) as read by an accurate meat thermometer.

How Long to Smoke a Tri Tip at 250°F: Cook the meat for 30 minutes per pound at 250°F. For your average tri tip, this means about an hour and a half.

Place on the grill grate and smoke at 180℉ for 3 hours. Remove tri-tip and increase the grill temperature to 275℉. Double wrap the tri-tip in foil, return to grill and let cook for 45 to 90 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 130℉ to 135℉.