Sous Vide Tri Tip Steak Recipe with Cilantro Sauce

Sous Vide Tri Tip Steak is a mouthwatering recipe easy enough to make for a quick weeknight dinner and grand enough to please a whole crowd. Covered in a delicious, creamy cilantro sauce, this grilled or cast-iron finished steak recipe has become my go to when I’m craving a savory, restaurant-quality meal.

It’s all about the sauce

Obviously the tri tip steak is the star of this dish. But holy smokes — do not skip out on creamy cilantro sauce! In this recipe, you’ll learn how to cook tri tip with the sous vide method then finish it on the grill, in the broiler, or in a cast iron pan on the stove. Now let’s go sous vide enough steak for a crowd!

Also see these recipes for smoked tri tip and perfectly roasted tri tip in the oven.

End up with leftover sauce?

• Toss it in this veggie-packed make ahead Mexican salad
• Serve with other proteins like sous vide NY strip, grilled chicken, sous vide chicken breast, sous vide shrimp
• Add to breakfast tacos
• Serve as a dip for grilled potato wedges

Ingredients for Sous Vide Tri Tip Steak

I ended up using about 3 pounds of tri-tip steak, but you can definitely make more if you’re cooking for a larger group. For the steak seasoning, I kept things pretty simple with garlic, crushed red pepper flakes, and of course salt and pepper.

But the SAUCE! Trust me — it is delicious.

Creamy and perfectly balanced, the garlic cilantro and lime sauce is made with garlic, olive oil, sour cream, cilantro, lime zest and juice, a pinch of salt, and just a little chipotle powder. I guarantee you won’t find a better pairing than this sous vide tri tip steak and homemade sauce.

How to make Sous Vide Tri Tip Steak

Step 1. Preheat sous vide machine to 130ºF. While the sous vide bath preheats, season tri-tip with garlic, crushed red pepper flakes, salt and pepper.

Step 2. Vacuum-seal tri-tip in a flat layer and drop the sealed bag in the sous vide bath at 130ºF for 2 hours.

Step 3. While the tri tip cooks in the water bath, make the cilantro sauce. Add garlic and olive oil to a pan on medium heat. Sauté for 30-60 seconds, stirring regularly until garlic is roasted. Pull from heat when it is translucent and before it turns brown.

Next, add sour cream, chopped cilantro, roasted garlic olive oil, lime zest, lime juice and spices to a small blender. Blend about 10-20 seconds until smoothly combined.

Chill in the fridge until ready to serve.

Want some more sauce ideas? Check out my free sauce recipe ebook!

Step 4. When tri tip is done cooking, set up an ice bath by adding ice and cold water to a large bowl. Remove tri-tip from the hot sous vide water and shock it in the ice bath for 5-10 minutes.

Step 5. Remove tri-tip from the bag and pat dry. Then choose a finishing method…

Finish Option 1. Sear finish sous vide tri tip in a cast iron skillet…

Heat a large cast iron skillet to medium-high and add olive oil. Sear one side of the tri tip about 30 to 60 seconds, turning regularly to brown each side. Remove from heat when a brown crust forms on each side, including the edges.

Finish Option 2. Grill sous vide tri tip…

Brush olive oil on the outside of the cooked sous vide tri tip. Heat grill to high heat, 500 degrees was the temperature for this recipe. Once the grill is hot, add sous vide tri tip and grill with the cover closed, until grill marks appear. Flip and repeat. You can quickly grill on each side again, to get criss-cross grill marks.

Step 6. Transfer finished sous vide tri tip to a cutting board and rest for at least 10 minutes before slicing. Serve with sauce.

FAQs

How long does it take to sous vide tri tip steak?

Your vacuum-sealed tri-tip steak should cook in a sous vide bath at 130 degrees F for 2 hours to reach a medium rare.

Does cooking steak with a sous vide make it tender?

Absolutely! Cooking the cut of beef for a longer period of time makes them more tender, plus the sous vide bath ensures the whole steak cooks evenly.

Should you sear the steak before cooking?

If you decide to marinate your steak overnight before cooking, searing the steak before vacuum sealing it can help to hold in the flavors. In this recipe, however, you will end up either searing to finish or grilling to finish — so if you do decide to sear before sous viding, don’t overdo it.

What if I want a different steak sauce?

While the garlic cilantro lime sauce is absolutely delicious, I definitely have options for you. My homemade creamy peppercorn sauce is also a favorite for steaks or other beef cuts like sous vide beef short ribs or sous vide prime rib.

You still deserve delicious dinners!

I know we’re all busy running around with the kids or dealing with our work-from-home lives or just generally living. But we also deserve our favorite restaurant-quality dinners, too! And those dinners don’t have to be expensive or time consuming. Find 15 minutes in your day to prep your steak then relax and unwind while the sous vide works its magic. This sous vide tri tip steak recipe is THAT easy, and absolutely worth it.

Final Tips

• For even more flavor, sous vide pre-marinated tri tip steaks- set up a steak marinade a few hours in advance.
• The sauce is great to make a couple hours ahead and chill. Make double or triple the sauce it’s delicious on everything.

I’m passionate about sous vide cooking, and maybe that’s why Sip Bite Go has become one of the most popular sous vide blogs on the web. This food hobby, turned blog, has recently become a sous vide cookbook.

Find new ways to enjoy your favorite food with sous vide cooking. Get inspired with my new book – The Home Chef’s Sous Vide Cookbook.

If you haven’t tried making a sous vide side dish yet, what are you waiting for?

One of my favs these days, besides sous vide asparagus, is to make these sous vide fingerling potatoes. The cooking time is short and the flavor is big… rosemary, butter, black pepper, and parmesan cheese make these highly addictive! Perfect as a side for sous vide whole chicken or sous vide beef short ribs.

Are you a foodie, too?

Find me on Instagram @sipbitego and see my latest sous vide recipe videos on the Sip Bite Go channel.

The Perfect Sous Vide Setup

Everyday I’m asked, “what do you need to sous vide food?”. Here’s my answer.

1. A sous vide machine.
   Option 1: “stick” models like the Joule, Anova, or Instant Pot Slim.
   Option 2: “multipot” models like the SousPreme or InstantPot Duo Evo Plus.
2. Sous vide container.
   If using a sous vide “stick” model, you need something to hold the water the food cooks in, like a bucket or stockpot.
3. Bags to cook sous vide food.
   Keep it simple and sous vide in ziplock gallon bags, or get fancy like me with a vacuum sealer setup.
4. Nice-to-have accessories for sous vide cooking.
   – Sous vide weights to hold down food that floats.
   – Mini mason jars for desserts and sous vide egg bites.
   – Cast iron skillet to sear sous vide steaks to finish them.
5. My sous vide cookbook with 100+ recipes.