Oven Roasted Tri Tip

Published: Jun 13, 2022 by Diana Reis · This post may contain affiliate links

With minimal effort oven roasting gives you the most juicy, tender tri tip with a crisp outer crust.

sliced roasted trip tip on wood cutting board with parsley garnish

With minimal effort oven roasting gives you the most juicy, tender tri tip with a crisp outer crust.

Tri tip was one of my early catering specialties, and I have roasted, literally, thousands of pounds of this delicious cut of beef over the years. The key to a great tri tip is getting a beautiful, crisp crust on the outside and the perfect medium center. Oven roasting delivers every time.

I’ve included my special tri tip seasoning mix. It has a great smoky, southwest flavor with just a hint of spice. Feel free to use your own blend of seasonings or favorite store bought seasoning.

Contents hide

Why this Recipe is the Best

Ingredients

How to Cook it

Temperature to Cook Tri Tip

How to Cut Tri Tip the Right Way

FAQs

How to Serve

Relate Recipes

📖 Recipe

Tri Tip in the Oven

Tri Tip Seasoning

Why this Recipe is the Best

There is very little prep time for this oven roasted tri tip, which leaves your hands free to put side dishes together and have dinner on the table quickly.

High oven heat sears the outside of the roast and locks in the flavorful juices.

Resting out of the oven brings the tri tip to the final temperature taking away the danger of overcooking.

My cutting guide shows you the exact right way to cut your tri tip roast for super tender slices.

Ingredients

Tri Tip Roast- The tri tip cut is a triangular piece of beef cut from the bottom sirloin. The roasts are lean and range in size from 1.5-3 pounds. They are sometimes called Triangle Roasts, Bottom Sirloin Tip, or California Cut and are great for grilling or oven roasting.

Trimmed vs Untrimmed Tri Tip

The difference between trimmed and untrimmed tri tip is primarily whether the butcher leaves the fat cap on the roast. The fat cap consists of some good fat as well as some silver skin that is tough and will need to be removed before cooking.

Untrimmed tri tip is less expensive by the pound. You can roast the tri tip in the oven with the fat cap on. Be sure to remove any tough silver skin. The fat cap makes a lovely crust and will help self baste the roast as it cooks.

Trimmed tri tip is more expensive by the pound. The increased price accounts for the waste that has been trimmed away and the butcher’s time. There should still be a little bit of good fat left on the roast for flavor, but trimmed tri tip is oven ready.

How to Cook it

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 400° and set the baking rack in the middle.
Pat the tri tip dry using a paper towel.
Coat the roast with olive oil and your favorite seasoning mix and place on the baking sheet fat cap up.

Step 2

Next, cook the roast to 5 degrees below desired final temperature. For best results, use a meat thermometer and begin checking the temperature a few minutes before it should be done.
Then, remove it from the oven, cover with foil, and let rest for 10 minutes.
The roast will continue cooking and the temperature will rise by approximately 5 degrees as it sits. (see time and temperature chart below)

step two- rested trip tip on sheet pan — I cooked this two pound roast for exactly 32 minutes. I removed it from the oven when the thickest part was 130° and rested it for 10 minutes. The thick end was closer to medium-rare when cut, and the thin end was medium.

Temperature to Cook Tri Tip

Tri Tip Temperature Chart for Oven Roasted at 400°
Doneness	Temperature Out of Oven	Rested/Final Temp.	Timer per Pound
Rare	120°	125°	13 Minutes
Medium-Rare	130°	135°	15 Minutes
Medium	140°	145°	17 Minutes
Medium-Well	145°	155°	18 Minutes
Well	155°	165°	19 Minutes

Notice that as the center of the meat gets warmer, the internal temperature climbs faster and will continue to cook for longer outside of the oven.

How to Cut Tri Tip the Right Way

The most important thing to remember when slicing tri tip is to cut against the grain. This can be a little bit tricky because the triangular shaped roast will have grain running in two directions.

The first step is to identify the grain direction. You can do this by turning the roast over and looking at the bottom side where the grain is more defined.

how to slice tri tip guide with markings

Then, place your knife perpendicular to the grain and slice to the desired thickness. When I serve tri tip as the main dish, I cut ¼ inch slices. You can go thicker to have more steak-like pieces or thinner for tri tip sandwiches.

FAQs

Why cut tri tip against the grain?

In the picture below, I’ve cut a piece with the grain to compare it to a piece cut against the grain.
You’ll notice that the piece cut with the grain still has the long fibers still intact. The long fibers are stronger and harder to chew.

The piece cut against or perpendicular to the grain has short, easy to chew fibers. The knife easily cuts through meat doing the hard work for you.

How many people will a tri tip serve?

This will depend on how big the tri tip is and how big your appetite is. I recommend around ⅓ of a pound raw weight per person. A two pound roast will serve up to six people.