Tri Tip Cooked Like a Brisket
On February 24, 2020 (Updated May 11, 2024)
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Tri Tip Cooked Like a Brisket is a unique and flavorful way to prepare tri tip. While unconventional, it’s a fun technique to try at least once. Oh, and the results are pretty darn delicious too!
Can You Cook Tri Tip Like a Brisket?
Believe it or not, you can cook tri tip just like you would a brisket. I’ve gotta give kudos to the Facebook group Camp Chef Smoker Smokers who presented this idea. It sounded so unique and intriguing, I just had to try it out for myself!
The key to being able to smoke a tri tip like a brisket (low and slow so you get fall-apart meat goodness) is to begin with a Prime cut tri tip. You need enough fat in your steak because tri tip is leaner than a brisket. Without enough fat in your tri tip, it can dry out on the smoker and your final results will be less than ideal.
If you happen to come across a tri tip with a fat cap on top, this is the holy grail of tri tips to smoke like a brisket. Be sure to purchase that one, and prepare yourself for what will likely be the best tri tip-brisket marriage ever.
But won’t a tri tip dry out if it’s on the smoker for this long?
As long as you have enough fat in your tri tip and you wrap it well during the smoking process, your tri tip-brisket should turn out juicy and delicious!
Cooking a Tri Tip Brisket Style
Cooking a tri tip brisket-style feels extremely similar to smoking a brisket. We just need to make a few changes to account for the different type of meat used. If you’re unsure of trying this out, don’t be! My youngest declared this the best brisket steak he’d ever had. It has the flavor profile of a steak with the tenderness and smokiness of a brisket. What more could you want?!
The added bonus of cooking a tri tip brisket-style? You can start this steak on the smoker in the morning, and it’ll be done by dinner! It’s basically the perfect solution when you want a brisket-like bite of beef, but you don’t have the time to dedicate to smoking a whole brisket.
To begin your tri tip-brisket journey, begin with a yellow mustard slather over the entire tri tip. This acts as a binder and will help produce a beautiful bark.
Next up, grab some of my handy-dandy Signature Beef Seasoning from Patio Provisions and season liberally over all sides of the tri tip. If you don’t have any Beef Seasoning nearby, seasoning this with my Brisket Rub will also do the trick.
How to Cook Tri Tip Like a Brisket
Once you have your tri tip seasoned, you’re ready to get this guy on the smoker. Follow the instructions below, and then scroll down to my tip section to make sure your steak comes off the smoker juicy and delicious.
- Preheat and smoke. With your smoker preheated to 225 degrees F, place the seasoned tri tip directly on the grill grates and smoke for 4-5 hours or until the internal temperature of the steak reaches 165 degrees F.
- Wrap. Remove the tri tip from the smoker and wrap tightly in peach butcher paper.
- Finish smoking. Place the wrapped tri tip back on the smoker and continue to smoke for another 3-4 hours until the temperature of your steak reaches 200 degrees F. (Make sure to stop right at 200 degrees, so it’ll still have some structural integrity. We don’t want it to completely shred apart since it has less fat than a brisket).
Tips for Cooking Tri Tip Like a Brisket
Here are some tips to help you make the best tri tip/brisket combo of your life:
- Keep smoker temps low. This helps to prevent the brisket from drying out on the edges.
- Wrap in butcher paper! Use a good peach butcher paper to retain moisture without softening the bark. Heavy duty aluminum foil can be used if you don’t have butcher paper, but be sure to wrap it super tightly so any liquid doesn’t have room to pool and steam the meat.
- Cook to temperature. Use an instant read meat thermometer to monitor the internal temperature of your tri tip, and pull the meat off right at 200 degrees F.
- Don’t forget to rest the meat! Allow the meat to rest for 30-45 minutes before serving.
- Slice against the grain. Tri tip changes direction of the grain, so you may need to start slicing one way and then rotate the meat to follow the grain.
More Tri Tip Recipes
If you’re looking for a simple recipe for tri tip, you’ve gotta try one of these recipes. I can’t really choose a favorite, so I suggest trying all three and letting your taste buds decide!
Grilled Tri Tip
Smoked Tri Tip
Smoky Joe Coffee Rubbed Tri Tip
Tri Tip Cooked Like a Brisket Recipe
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Tri Tip Cooked Like a Brisket
Video
Ingredients
- 1 2-3 pound tri tip
- 2 Tablespoons yellow mustard
- 1 Tablespoon Signature Beef Seasoning
Instructions
- Fire up the smoker. Preheat your smoker to 225 degrees F.
- Prep the tri tip. Slather the tri tip in yellow mustard and season on all sides with the Beef Seasoning or you can make my brisket seasoning (link in recipe notes below).
- Smoke the tri tip. Place the tri tip directly on the grill grates and smoke until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F (this will take approximately 4-5 hours).
- Wrap and smoke. Remove the tri tip from the smoker and wrap it in peach butcher paper. Place the wrapped tri tip back on the smoker and continue to smoke until the internal temperature reaches 200 degrees F (this should take about 3-4 hours with the whole smoking process taking 8-9 hours).
- Rest and serve. Remove the tri tip from the smoker and allow it to rest still wrapped in the butcher paper for 30-45 minutes. Slice and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Thanks for posting this recipe for trisket turned out great 10 hours total cook time with 30 min rest sliced and gobbled down. It went so fast we didn’t get to make the sides… Nor did we want any thanks again love all the recipes i have used if yours
I followed your directions for this tritip, and the results were exactly as you show here. It took about 9 hours to reach 200F. What a tasty cook. I’m cooking my second briskety tritip now. Next weekend, I have a group coming over. I plan to smoke 4 babyback slabs and one or two tritips. They both take about the same amount of time as the bbs have quite a bit of loin meat on them.Having smoked a few years with a Green Mountain Daniel Boone, I got my Camp Chef 36″ Woodwind. No longer am I sitting outside next to the grill and constantly changing its temperature. IThe Woodwind is an outstanding grill that holds temp to within 5 degrees, and it has a pretty good app that allows temp and smoke control via Bluetooth or WiFi. IF they’d only add a database describing each cook.
I’ve done this twice now and it always turns out great. That said, I have a Traeger and it’s always taken at least 18hrs for me to get to 200*. Not sure why it takes so long. I even have to bump the smoker to 250* to get it there. That’s with wrapping it, too. It’s ruined a couple days for my family where we ended up eating something else because it was not to temperature until late at night. I’ve learned that I just need to plan on the same amount of time as brisket.
Make sure you put probes around the meat every time you use your smoker. Just because it says it’s cooking at 225 you probably are at 180.It’s happened to me a time or three
I have a oven thermometer shelf type I use also.but my smoker is pretty dead on.still don’t hurt
Can I put more than tri tip in to smoke and does the time stat the same
Absolutely!
The tri tip like a brisket came out great! I smoked mine on an Oklahoma Joe and finished it on a gas Weber to control the ending temps.
Great Idea, I will definitely do it again!
Hey Grill,
I have done tri-tip this way one time before (I usually do to a medium-rare).
The first time I did this recipe it turned out amazing. It was a little…tough…is that the word? But vendor and juicy. My kids didn’t know it wasn’t one of my brisket flats. Lol.
The only thing I do a tine bit different is I spritz with a little beef broth and put a couple of tabs of butter on it when I wrap(so spritz my paper/foil place the steak on it then place two or three tabs of butter on the top).
The bark doesn’t have such a bite (I am killing the dad jokes today), but the flavor is amazing.
Keep up the good work. I will be sniffing the air when I pass through your beck of the woods on my way to work
This has become a favorite at our house. We’ve only had our pellet grill for about 3 weeks and this weekend will be the 3rd time I’m making a tri tip brisket.
I’m going to try this soon but do you really think it will take 4-5 hours to reach 165 degrees? I tried your smoked Tri Tip recipe and hit 150 in just a little over an hour at 225. My Tri Tip was about 2.5 lbs.
Right now on a hot day… 4.5 hours and it’s showing 160 degrees.
I really think the temp and times are often misinterpreted and/or conveyed due to different smokers and different types of thermometers. The best thing to follow is the internal temp of the meat of course. But for me, If I were to keep my Weber Smokey mountain at 225 according to the lid, my cook typically goes much faster because the temp at the grates when I measure with a probe thermometer is actually up to 50 degrees hotter sometimes. Other times the temps are much close to each other. Point being depending on how you are measuring, you may be cooking at hotter temps than you think due to thermometer placement.
Took my 2.7 lb tri tip 2 hours to hit 165 (85 degree day) at 225, and about an hour to hit 203 after wrapping. So it looks like I may have the same smoker as you, Jim, and your previous experience smoking tri tip should hold up. I also tested the integrated thermometer in the grill with a Thermopro external probe, and they both agreed that the temperature was 225 in my grill. Luckily I have an oven where I could rest it at 140 degrees until my guests actually arrived. I used aluminum foil for my wrap (and slapped on butter that I mixed with fresh oregano and rosemary), as I was afraid of it drying out too much. It certainly came out juicy that way. Yes, I guess I ‘ruined’ the bark, but I’m not very fussy about that, and I ended up making reubens out of it. Those were spectacular. But it looked like a brisket, smelled like a brisket and tasted reasonably close to a brisket. So as advertised, I would say, and I’ll make it again for a (much) faster cook for smaller gatherings.
This is the only way I cook a tri-tip. I usually cook it unwrapped instead of wrapping at 160 and I get a little bit better bark. I have tried it both ways wrapped and unwrapped and the family prefers the unwrapped version.
As a member of the Camp Chef Smoker Smokers let me just say we are honored and we love you!
Thank you so much!!!
Fixed this today it so tender and full of flavor! Worth the 9 hour cook time.