Grilled Tri Tip
On July 19, 2022 (Updated October 24, 2023)
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This Grilled Tri Tip is the perfect entree for a weekday dinner with your family. It cooks up quickly and results in juicy, tender meat bursting with a rich, beef flavor.
Grilled Tri Tip
Tri tip is a beef roast that comes from the bottom portion of the sirloin. It’s known for its characteristic triangle shape and awesome beefy flavor. An untrimmed tri tip can weigh nearly 5 pounds (as it has a large fat cap and layer of skin), but most purchased tri tips will weigh 2-3 pounds. Tri tips were originally called “the triangular part” of the loin butt, but the name “tri tip” emerged in the 1960’s and has stuck ever since.
Tri tip is amazingly delicious and can be grilled or smoked. I like to go low and slow when I smoke my tri tip (check out my recipe for Smoked Tri Tip here!). Grilling tri tip using two-zone grilling results in that perfect, juicy interior, and a gorgeous crust on the exterior.
Tri Tip on the Grill
Tri tip roast is a lean cut of meat that is big on flavor. When we refer to tri tip roast, we’re talking about the entire cut of meat above the ball tip and adjacent to the flap on the bottom part of the sirloin. The tri tip roast can be cooked whole and then sliced and served. The roast can also be cut into 1″ tri tip steaks that can be grilled individually.
Today we’re talking all about tri tip roast and how you can season and grill it into a delicious dinner for you and your family.
Ingredients for Grilled Tri Tip
You don’t need many ingredients to make this delicious grilled tri tip. Start with an awesome salt and pepper seasoning and add a red wine and garlic mop. Here’s the full list of ingredients for this recipe.
- 2-3 pound tri tip roast (fat cap removed)
- 2 Tablespoons Hey Grill Hey Beef Rub
If you don’t have any Beef Rub on hand (but believe me when I say you need this dry rub. It’s great on beef, chicken, vegetables, and more!), you can season the tri tip with 2 teaspoons each of kosher salt, coarse black pepper, and garlic powder.
To make the mopping liquid combine the following in a bowl:
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup red wine
- 2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 4 cloves crushed garlic
That’s it! Just 6 simple ingredients are all you need to make this awesome grilled tri tip!
How to Grill Tri Tip
Grilling tri tip is pretty easy and straightforward, but these steps below will help you grill the best tri tip of your life. Here’s how to grill tri tip roast.
- Preheat your grill. Fire up your charcoal grill or gas grill to 350 degrees F for two-zone grilling.
- Season the tri tip. Season the tri tip roast on all sides with Beef Rub or make your own dry rub with equal parts kosher salt, course black pepper, and garlic powder.
- Make the mopping liquid. Prior to grilling your tri tip, combine all the ingredients for your mopping liquid in a bowl and set aside.
- Grill over indirect heat. Place the seasoned roast directly on the grill grates over the indirect heat. Grill the tri tip and flip it every 6-7 minutes. Mop liberally with mopping liquid and a sauce mop after each time you flip the meat. Continue to grill until your roast is within 10 degrees of your final target temperature (see the next section for a list of temperatures).
- Sear the roast. Move the grilled tri tip over to the direct heat and grill for 2-3 minutes per side or until internal temperature reaches your desired final doneness. I recommend cooking this grilled tri tip to medium rare. It’ll be juicy and full of flavor without drying out.
- Rest and serve. Allow your meat to rest for 10-15 minutes on a cutting board. Slice against the grain and serve to your hungry friends and family.
How Long to Grill Tri Tip
It will take about 30-50 minutes to grill tri tip. The time it takes to cook the beef will vary depending on how done you like your meat as well as the consistency of the temperature on your grill.
Rather than removing the meat from the grill after a certain amount of time, gauge the doneness by internal temperature. Invest in a reliable instant-read thermometer and use the following temperatures to know when your grilled tri tip is done.
Grilled Tri Tip Temp
Move the tri tip to the direct heat when it reaches the following temperature:
- 115 degrees F for rare
- 125 degrees F for medium rare
- 135 degrees F for medium
- 145 degrees F for medium well
- 150 degrees F for well done
Pull the tri tip from the grill when it reaches a final temperature of the following:
- 125 degrees F for rare
- 135 degrees F for medium rare
- 145 degrees F for medium
- 155 degrees F for medium well
- 160 degrees F for well done
More Tri Tip Recipes
Do you love tri tip on the grill as much as I do? If so, check out these other delicious tri tip recipes from Hey Grill Hey below!
Grilled Tri Tip Recipe
This recipe was created for you, backyard griller! Here at Hey Grill Hey, we’re in the business of helping you make better BBQ, feed the people you love, and become a backyard BBQ hero. You can find more of my smoking and grilling recipes here on my website (browse the Homepage for inspiration) on Instagram, YouTube, or our Facebook Page.
This post was originally published in June 2019. We recently updated it with more information and helpful tips. The recipe remains the same.
Grilled Tri Tip
Ingredients
- 1 2-3 pound tri tip roast fat cap removed
- 2 Tablespoons Hey Grill Hey Beef Rub or equal parts salt, pepper, and garlic powder
Mopping Liquid
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup red wine
- 2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 4 cloves garlic crushed
Instructions
- Preheat. Preheat grill to medium (350 degrees F) for two-zone grilling.
- Season. Season the tri tip on all sides with Beef Rub.
- Make the mopping liquid. Combine all ingredients for the mopping liquid in a small bowl and set aside.
- Grill. Place the seasoned tri tip roast directly on the grill grates over indirect heat. Close the lid and grill for 30-40 minutes, flipping every 6-7 minutes. Mop liberally with mopping liquid after each time you flip the roast. Continue to grill the tri tip until the internal temperature reads 125 degrees F (for medium rare).
- Sear. When the roast reaches an internal temperature of 120 degrees F, move it over to direct heat and grill for 2-3 minutes per side or until the internal temperature reaches your desired doneness (See notes below for each temperature).
- Rest, slice, and serve. Remove the tri tip from the grill. Rest the meat for 10 minutes then slice against the grain and serve.
Notes
- 115 degrees F for rare
- 125 degrees F for medium rare
- 135 degrees F for medium
- 145 degrees F for medium well
- 150 degrees F for well done
- 125 degrees F for rare
- 135 degrees F for medium rare
- 145 degrees F for medium
- 155 degrees F for medium well
- 160 degrees F for well done
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I’ve cooked this recipe many times now and it has become a family favorite. I just made it again today in fact! I’ve experimented a lot with the rub and mopping liquid. My family has come to love a version of the mopping liquid where I replace the red wine and red wine vinegar with bourbon and apple cider vinegar and I also add fresh minced tarragon.
Just finishing my 4th BBQ with this great recipe and cooking instructions. You Da man. This is easy and the seating at the end instead of the beginning made great sense after mopping the meat with your rinse. Fantastic! Thank you!
Tried this for the first time this evening and it was completely awesome. Simple ingredients with simple instructions and the end result was delicious. Another home run for Susie.