Cooking tri tip in the oven for the first time? I have some secrets to share with you! Learn the best way, exactly how to cook tri tip in oven (no grill needed!) for a tasty steak dinner.
What is tri tip beef?
Tri tip is a cut of beef that has a really nice marbling, meaning it has streaks of fat running through the meat and is sometimes sold with a fat cap on either or both sides.
Other names for tri tip include “triangle roast” because of its triangle shape and the “Newport steak”.
What part of the cow is trip tip from?
Tri tip is found at the bottom point of the sirloin.
How is tri tip prepared?
In addition to oven-roasting tri tips, which you’ll learn to do on this page, this cut of meat can be cooked deliciously on the grill or as a sous vide recipe.
In addition to charcoal and gas grilling it, if you’re into outdoor cooking, you make a Traeger smoked tri tip, too.
But this recipe will teach you how to get perferoastct tri tip baked in the oven and exactly how to cut tri tip the right way.
Why this is the best tri tip recipe…
- Easy weeknight meal.
- Super simple seasoning.
- It’s so tender and juicy.
- It’s the best way to cook tri tip
- Great alternative to grilled tri tip.
- Serves a crowd.
Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make a tri tip steak in ovens.
- Tri tip steak (about 2 LBs, but you can use this recipe to cook bigger tri tip steaks, too)
- BBQ rub (store bought with salt, or add 1 tsp salt)
- Olive oil
Note: in the video recipe demo, I use pre-seasoned tri tip from Costco that already came with BBQ rub on it.
(The fat side was still in tact, which I’ll teach you how to work with in this tri tip recipe.)
If you’re making your own from scratch, you need to use a store bought bbq rub. Look for a dry rub with salt, or add 1 tsp of salt to it to make this recipe.
My garlic and herb compound butter is perfect to serve on top of this steak.
It’s also delicious on my new recipe for t bone steak in oven.
How to make tri tip in the oven
The recipe below will show you how to make delicious oven-baked tri tips every time. Once you give it a try, let me know what you think in the comment section below.
Quick look at the recipe
- Season tri tip.
- Sear it in a large cast iron skillet.
- Oven bake it for 12 minutes per pound.
- Rest and serve.
Detailed instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Season tri tip steak for oven baking by rubbing the BBQ dry rub all over the steak. If required, trim any silver skin if not already done by your butcher.
- Heat a large cast iron skillet (or other oven safe pan as desired) to medium-high heat on the stove. Add olive oil, and once olive oil gets hot and begins to smoke, add the tri tip to the pan (fat side down, if the fat cap is still on the steak). Sear for 3 minutes, without moving. Take a peek to make sure the bottom is completely browned and seared, then use tongs to sear the edges for about 20 seconds each, until lightly browned (against the pan for 20 seconds each side. Place the uncooked flat side of the tri tip down on the pan. Turn off the burner.
- Transfer skillet seared beef to the oven to bake at 425°F for about 12 minutes per pound. This helps warm the roast throughout with indirect heat. Exact time of how long to cook tri tip in the oven will vary based on your desired steak temperature. For best results, use a thermometer that has a probe that reads the temperature of the steak while it cooks in the oven so you know exactly when the inside temperature reaches your desired level of doneness. See the steak cooking chart below for the temperature the tri tip steak is done at. The steak in this recipe tutorial was cooked to 140°F which is more of a medium temp VS. medium rare.
- Once done roasting tri tip in the oven, transfer it to a cutting board to rest for 10 minutes. Add a compound butter (see recipe on Sip Bite Go) if desired. You can cover it with foil if you want to keep it warm, but I don’t personally find that necessary.
- Slice thin and serve with your favorite steak sauce or in tri tip steak sandwiches. (see the bottom of this post for tips on slicing it against the grain).
Tri tip temperature chart
How to know when tri-tip is done?
If you have a meat thermometer, you can check easily if the meat is cooked to your preferred level of done-ness.
Here’s a tri tip temp chart to help you out…
- Rare tri tip (125-130°F) is still red inside.
- Medium rare tri tip (130-140°F) is red to pink inside.
- Medium tri tip (140-150°F) is mostly pink.
- Medium well (150-160°F) has just a slight bit of pink inside.
- Well cooked (160°F) has no red or pink inside.
For another impressive main dish, see how to smoke a turkey…
FAQs for making tri tip in the oven
A rule of thumb is to figure ½ pound of meat per person. A tri-tip roast is typically 2 ½ to 4 pounds, and can feed five to eight people.
Cutting into juicy steak roast is the best part of preparing this steak. If you’re wondering how to cut tri tip steak, don’t worry, it’s pretty easy and you don’t need to use a meat slicer. But you do need to find the center point, where the two grains meat (they run in different directions) and you’ll want to slice your tri tip into thin slices, perpendicular to the grain of the meat. This will bring out the tenderness of the meat. Keep your knife angled slightly as you slice. Learn more about how to cut tri tip.
Tri-tip is delicious with sous vide fingerling potatoes, crock pot sweet potatoes, or sous vide sweet corn.
Tri-tip is one of the most versatile cuts of meat. You can marinate it with a mixture of wet ingredients like oil, soy sauce, and lime juice for acidity. Or you can use simple dry ingredients like garlic salt, BBQ seasoning or just salt and black pepper if you are in a pinch.
Use an internal read thermometer and insert it into the thickest part of the tri-tip. Use my internal temperature chart below to find your desired doneness. Please note to rest your tri-tip at room temperature once done. The internal temperature will rise a few degrees, so pull the tri-tip out of the oven a few degrees early.
New recipes and foodie guides….
- Tri tip (it’s so good!)
- Homemade pizza
- Smoked wings
- Traeger pizza
- Pan grilled chicken
- Bacon wrapped hot dogs
- Potato side dishes
- Pasta side dishes
- Baked brisket
- Sous vide frozen steak
- Cooked chicken temp guide
- Jalapeno ranch sauce
- Sous vide pork chops
- Coulotte steak
- GUIDE: How to make hamburger patties
- GUIDE: Aerogarden
- Best restaurants in Portland
Grill and smoker recipes…
- Grilled chicken wings
- Smoked pizza
- Smoked chicken
- Smoked tri tip
- Traeger pulled pork
- Smoked turkey breast
- Smoked chicken wings
- Smoked ham
- Flank steak marinade
- Skirt steak marinade
- Smoked mac and cheese
- Smoked chicken breast
- Grilled broccoli
Meat thermometer recommendations
Every home chef needs a reliable meat thermometer to cook food perfectly.
On Sip Bite Go, you’ll often see me using:
- Meater thermometer – a fancy wireless thermometer that connects to a phone app – gifted to me from a Traeger partnership.
- ThermoPro digital thermometer – which has a wire that connects the thermometer to a display box outside the oven/grill.
It’s like being psychic! The great thing about either of the thermometers above is that I don’t have to take the food out of the oven to know the temperature.
How to use ‘em… What I do is stick the digital thermometer in steak, pork, chicken, whatever… Then put the food in the oven, on the smoker, or grill.
While the meat cooks, it reads the temperature so I know exactly what temp meat is as it’s cooking. Without having to take it out and check. It’s really difficult to overcook food when you know exactly what temp it is inside!
Why I wrote this recipe
My husband and I are huge fans of sous vide tri tip steak and most recently, smoked tri tip. It comes out so perfectly when cooked using the sous vide cooking method of cooking food underwater for a long period of time.
When I first thought about cooking tri tip in the oven I thought it was strange.
It was important to me to get a nice bark around the outside, so that’s why I decided to sear tri tip in a cast iron skillet before putting it in the oven.
Tri tip will be roasted in the oven from that point onwards. For the butter, I love making my own homemade condiments like jalapeno ranch dressing, and peppercorn sauce.
But after trying this oven baked tri tip method for myself and figuring out the best way to do it, I’m hooked!
After experimenting with different tri tip internal temperatures and cooking times for tri tip in the oven, I landed on my favorite – this recipe.
My favorite way to cook it is medium-rare or medium, so it’s a little pink in the middle and really tender. Often, I’ll make steak sandwiches out of it by slicing it super thin and adding it to hoagie rolls toasted in the air fryer.
You can also serve it with a potato side dish and some caramelized onions on top, for a delicious steak dinner that feeds quite a few people.
New tri tip roast video
Check out this bonus video of prepping a tri tip steak dinner in our new kitchen…
This meal is great for a holiday meal and alternative, modern Thanksgiving menu option, too.
Are you a foodie, too?
Hey home chefs, hope that answers all your questions about the best way to cook tri tip in the oven.
You also should check out my recipes for tasty smoked brisket flat, crispy oven baked chicken thighs, smoked chicken wings, and Traeger smoked turkey breast or whole smoked turkey.
To get my latest and greatest recipes before they’re shared on the site, connect with me on Instagram @sipbitego.
And for more deliciousness, subscribe to the Sip Bite Go channel and see the Sip Bite Go recipe collection.
How To Cook Tri Tip In Oven Perfectly | Sip Bite Go
Ingredients
- 2 lb tri tip steak
- 2 tbsp bbq rub store bought with salt, or add 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Season tri tip steak for oven baking by rubbing the BBQ dry rub all over the steak.
- Heat a large cast iron skillet (or other oven safe pan as desired) to medium-high heat on the stove. Add olive oil, and once olive oil gets hot and begins to smoke, add the tri tip to the pan (fat side down, if the fat cap is still on the tri tip steak). Sear for 3 minutes, without moving. Take a peek to make sure the bottom is completely browned and seared, then use tongs to sear the edges of the tri tip for about 20 seconds each, until lightly browned (against the pan for 20 seconds each side. Place the uncooked flat side of the tri tip down on the pan. Turn off the burner.
- Transfer skillet seared tri tip to the oven to bake at 425°F for about 12 minutes per pound. Exact time of how long to cook tri tip in the oven will vary based on your desired steak temperature. For best results, use a thermometer that has a probe that reads the temperature of the steak while it cooks in the oven so you know exactly when the inside temperature reaches your desired level of doneness. See the steak cooking chart below for the temperature the tri tip steak is done at. The steak in this recipe tutorial was cooked to 140°F.
- Once done roasting tri tip in the oven, transfer it to a cutting board to rest for 10 minutes. Add a compound butter (see recipe on Sip Bite Go) if desired. You can cover it with foil if you want to keep it warm, but I don’t personally find that necessary.
- Slice thin and serve with your favorite steak sauce or in tri tip steak sandwiches. Note on slicing tri tip: it has two grains, so you have to first find the center point, where the two directions of grains meet in the middle of the meat (they run in different directions). Slice the tri tip in half. Then slice each half against the grain into thin slices.
Video
Notes
Tri tip temperature chart
- Rare tri tip (125-130°F) is still red inside.
- Medium rare tri tip (130-140°F) is red to pink inside.
- Medium tri tip (140-150°F) is mostly pink.
- Medium well tri tip (150-160°F) has just a slight bit of pink inside.
- Well cooked tri tip (160°F) has no red or pink inside.
Steve says
This is the best way I’ve found to cook tri-tip. Thinking about putting the roast on a smoker at lower temp rather than the oven, but the initial sear then flip on the cast iron is definitely the way to go.
Marvin Malone says
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Alex Chauvette says
How do I time the meat in the oven if I am cooking TWO 2lb tri tips? Still 12 min x 4 (lbs)?
Jenna Passaro says
Yes, same time and temp you don’t need more of either. Just use a BIG pan or two pans so they have space to get hot!
Brian Reed says
All I have to say is yummy.
Elizabeth Nash says
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Luz Stout says
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Rene Cooley says
very informative article
Julie Pratt says
Great information shared.. really enjoyed eating this
Cady Wolfe says
Great information shared.. really enjoyed reading this post thank you author for sharing this post .. appreciated
Felix says
Very well presented. Every step was awesome and thanks for sharing the tips. Keep sharing and keep motivating others.
Kim says
I ran out of propane for the grill and this was a life saver! Cooked perfectly ! Thanks!!!!
Jenna Passaro says
So happy it came through for you! I’ve definitely been there with an empty propane tank before! Best!
Jean says
I followed this recipe and ended up with really yummy tri-tip cooked medium rare!! Highly recommend this recipe and method! 🙂
Beck & Bulow says
I went through many, many, Instant Pot recipes for a pot roast. I was looking for a good ‘ole fashioned’ one like what my parents were used to making in the slow-cooker. She’s nailed the recipe and the instructions
J Gray says
Very Helpful & detailed method. Thanks Much
Jenna Passaro says
You’re so welcome, cheers!
Beck & Bulow says
I was a little skeptical of the tarragon (it seems SO licoricey when you smell it on it’s own) but it really worked great in this dish. Thanks for a killer stuffing recipe.