Smoked Tri Tip on a Pellet Grill {Traeger, Pit Boss, Z Grills Recipe}

If you want to smoke a tri tip on your pellet grill then you are in luck because it is pretty easy!

A tri tip roast isn’t a huge cut of meat so it hits a great balance between cooking quickly but staying on the pit long enough to pick up some smoke flavor.

I go with a basic beef rub, smoke at 250F and do not bother with a Reverse Sear.

Prepare the Tri Tip for the Pellet Grill

The tri tip comes off the sirloin primal with a small fat cap.  The one that I was working with was already trimmed and had the fat cap removed.

If your tri tip still has the fat cap intact then whether you keep it on or not is a personal preference.  Leaving the fat cap on will make the tri tip similar to a picanha if that is your jam.

I painted the tri tip with a couple tablespoons of yellow mustard to serve as a binder for the dry rub. Using a binder is not essential but it is fun to do and makes me feel like I know what I am doing.

If you don’t want to use mustard then olive oil or Worcestershire sauce are also excellent binder choices.

I used the same dry rub for this tri tip that worked so well when I smoked an eye of round to make roast beef.  The rub gives great color and packs a little heat.

Dry Rub for Smoked Tri Tip

• 3 tbls salt
• 2 tbls chili powder
• 2 tbls smoked paprika
• 1 tbls turbinado sugar
• 1 tbls black pepper
• 1 tsp granulated garlic
• 1 tsp granulated onion
• 1/2 tsp chipotle powder

Apply the dry rub liberally to all sides of the beef and let it soak into the meat for about 30 minutes before it goes onto the smoker.

By the way, you would follow the same technique for smoking a Sirloin Tip Roast.

Set Your Pellet Grill to 250F

Turn on your pellet grill and set the temperature to 250F.

I was using hickory pellets for this cook but pecan, cherry or one of the Competition Blends from one of the major brands would work fine.  I think apple pellets would be too mild and I flat out do not like mesquite.

I was cooking on my Z Grills pellet grill and wanted some extra smoke flavor so I lit a six inch smoker tube filled with hickory pellets and put it on the grate beside the meat.  If you are smoking a tri tip on a Traeger then you might want to kick on the SuperSmoke mode.

Most of the tri tips you will find are going to be in the 2-3 pound weight range. It will take about an hour to smoke a tri tip at 250F which makes this is a pretty fast meal to fix on your smoker.  The fact that these cook so fast is one of the main reasons that I prefer to cook tri tips instead of brisket.

Smoke the Tri Tip on Your Pellet Grill to 135F

Use a digital thermometer to measure the internal temperature of the tri tip in the thickest part of the meat.  The tri tip is done when it reaches an internal temperature of 135F.  

Let the roast rest for 15 minutes before slicing and make sure you slice against the grain.

I got distracted when I was smoking this one and let it hit 140F which is why it wasn’t a perfect medium rare.  That’s okay, it was still absolutely delicious with some creamy horseradish sauce on a lettuce wrap!

Yeah…lettuce…I am watching my carbs these days!