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How to BBQ Tri Tip

Want to know How to grill Tri-Tip?  When grilled right, tri-tip is a beautiful, succulent juicy piece of meat.

Tri tip is a triangle shaped piece of meat from the bottom of the sirloin. We will show you simply how to grill this cut of meat resulting in a delicious, succulent roast every time.

How to BBQ Tri Tip: Keep it Simple

Tri tip is marbled superbly with fat. When grilled properly, trip tip is a juicy, delicious piece of meat. However, most grillers do not know how to grill tri tip without ruining it. They do things like trimming every bit of fat off of it,  stuffing it with garlic, overdoing it with some random spice combination and constantly tinkering with it on the grill. The secret is to do less to this piece of meat, not more. Do less and your guest will think you are a great cook. But before putting the meat on the grill, you have to make sure you have a great piece of meat.

How to BBQ Tri Tip: Picking Out and Preparing Your Tri Tip

Tri tip comes in trimmed and untrimmed versions. Untrimmed comes with a layer of fat on one side. As you would expect, the untrimmed is cheaper. Get the untrimmed and you can do any trimming you want to do at home. Look for nice even marbling. The rule of thumb is that no marbling should be wider than your finger. Without trimming, you will have a lot of fat and many flare ups on the grill. Go ahead and trim off the layer of fat, but not all of it.

  • You should leave about 15%-20% of the fat layer on the tri tip.
  • Use a bit of meat tenderizer. Don’t overdo it; too much tenderizer can turn your meat into mush.
  • Coat it with your favorite dry rub for beef. Out favorite is Grizzly Joe’s “Trail Dust”. Don’t overdo the rub. You still want to taste tri tip, not just seasoning. It is not necessary to oil tri tip before adding the rub; the meat already fatty enough. The natural juices will pull the flavor from the spices into the meat.
  • It is important that the meat is room temperature when you grill it. Let it set for 2-4 hours before grilling.

How to BBQ Tri-TipHow to BBQ Tri Tip: Grilling Your Tri Tip

Get part of the grill good and hot, about 400 degrees, and have a section that is closer to medium. Put the meat with fat side up over the medium part of the grill but close enough to hotter part that it gets indirect heat. Do not let it drip and flare up, you want a nice indirect heat. Do not stab or poke the meat. This is very important because poking and stabbing lets the juices run out. Do not touch the meat, just let it cook.

The meat is flipped once and only once. After about 15 minutes on the first side flip the roast. Let it cook about 5 minutes on the second side and then start checking it by pressing on the center of the roast. If it feels mushy it is still raw in the middle. Keep checking it and as soon as it is firm take it off grill. It should be medium-rare.

Meat will continue to cook for about ten minutes when taken off the grill. When you let the meat rest, the roast will contract and it draws the juices back to center of the roast, making it more juicy and tasty. Cut it against the grain into ½-inch thick steaks and enjoy.

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