Oven Tri-Tip Roast, Juicy and Flavorful

Name: Oven Tri-Tip Roast
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 130 min
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt ((not fine salt)); 1 teaspoon black pepper; 1 tablespoon garlic powder; 1 tablespoon onion powder; 1 tablespoon chili powder; 1 tablespoon smoked paprika; 1 teaspoon ground cumin; 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper; 2 whole tri-tips (about 2 pounds each); Oil spray

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Juicy, flavorful tri-tip roast is rubbed in spices, then cooked in the oven to medium-rare. It's an inexpensive cut that produces impressive results!

Sliced tri-tip served on a white plate with a serving fork.

There's something about roasting a large piece of meat, then carving it at the table. It certainly makes for festive holiday dinners - ribeye roast and tenderloin roast are big favorites.

However, they are also expensive. For everyday meals, I still like to cook a large roast, but I opt for cheaper cuts. Those are often tougher - not as tender as more expensive cute - but they are wonderfully flavorful. London broil is one example. Tri-tip roast is another.

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Ingredients
Instructions
Expert tip: cut across the grain
Frequently asked questions
Recommended sides
Storing leftovers
Related recipes
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Ingredients

The ingredients you'll need to make this recipe and their exact measurements are included in the recipe card below. Here's an overview of what you'll need:

Dry rub: You'll mix kosher salt, black pepper, and several spices to create a tasty dry rub that greatly enhances the flavor of the roast. The spices I like to use include garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, smoked paprika, cumin, and cayenne pepper.

Tri-tip: I get mine at Costco. It costs around $10 per lb. and you get two 2-lb. roasts in a tray, so a total of 4 lb. I love that you can cook both on the same pan and get lots of tasty leftovers to last you several days.

Oil spray: This is only needed if your meat has been completely trimmed by the butcher (as happens at Costco) and has no fat layer on top to keep the meat moist and juicy as it cooks.

Instructions

Tri-tip can be either grilled or roasted. I prefer oven-roasting. It's an easy hands-off cooking method that produces superior results. The trick is to cook the meat to medium-rare. This ensures a tender roast. If you cook it to medium or medium-well, it will be tough and chewy.

The first step is to mix salt, pepper, and spices. Next, you rub this dry rub all over the meat, massaging it in. Now place the meat on a greased wire rack fitted into a rimmed roasting pan and insert a meat thermometer into its thickest part.

A photo collage showing steps 1-4 for making a tri-tip roast.

First, you cook the meat briefly in a hot (500F) oven for 15 minutes. This is instead of sauteing it on the stove-top. It's much easier, and it achieves the same goal - browning the meat.

Now, turn the oven temperature down to 350F and keep cooking the meat until a meat thermometer indicates that it's reached 130-135 degrees F for medium-rare. Let the meat rest for 20 minutes before slicing it.

A photo collage showing steps 5-8 for cooking a tri-tip roast in the oven.

Expert tip: cut across the grain

Since it's a fairly tough, fibrous cut of meat, you want to cut this roast against the grain - slice it so that you break the meat fibers as you slice the meat. This makes chewing much easier.

The challenge is that in a tri-tip, you have two parts, and in each of them, the muscle fibers run in a different direction. So you want to identify that direction prior to cooking, then cut the roast into two parts, and slice each of them against the grain of that particular part. You can watch the video below to see how I do it.

Frequently asked questions

What is tri-tip?

It's a beef cut that comes from the sirloin. The sirloin is separated by butchers into top sirloin and bottom sirloin. The top sirloin can be made into steaks. I sometimes use it in stir-fry recipes such as this beef stir-fry. The bottom sirloin provides us with the tri-tip, also called "Santa Maria Steak."

Is Tri Tip tender or tough?

While it's a very flavorful cut, it's also fairly tough, with lots of muscle fibers running throughout the meat. That's why I recommend cutting it across the grain. It severs those tough fibers and makes chewing the meat much more pleasant.

Why do you let the meat rest before slicing it?

It's important to let the meat rest for at least 20 minutes after pulling it out of the oven. This allows the juices to redistribute and settle and will prevent them from escaping the meat as you cut it (although some juices will escape, and you can pour them back on top of the meat after slicing it if you wish).

Recommended sides

This tasty roast goes with any side dish that you would normally serve with other steaks or roasts. A few examples include sauteed mushrooms, steamed asparagus, microwave broccoli, and mashed cauliflower. It's also excellent with a simple side salad such as this arugula salad.

Storing leftovers

You can keep the leftovers in the fridge, in an airtight container, for up to 4 days. I reheat them very gently, in the microwave, covered, on 50% power. Sometimes I slice them into strips, leave them cold, and add them to a salad. They're not great for sandwiches, though - they're a bit too chewy for that.

Oven-roasted tri-tip, sliced, served on a white plate.

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