Marinated Grilled Tri Tip w/ Mustard Butter

In this recipe, Tri Tip is coated in a delicious marinade and then grilled to perfection over an open flame. The Grilled Tri Tip has wonderful beef flavor and slices up tender and juicy. When it comes time to serve you enhance the flavors with a homemade mustard butter. You are going to love this flavor combination and find yourself revisiting this recipe whenever you want to grill a delicious tri tip!

In this post we don’t stop with the recipe… we are sharing all the tips and tricks from trimming your tri tip to slicing it correctly for maximum tenderness. This is the ultimate guide to Grilled Tri Tip.

After you have tried and loved this Grilled Tri Tip recipe, we highly recommend giving this recipe for Braised Tri Tip with Red Wine Glaze a try too!

Ingredients

There are three sections of ingredients to gather to make your Marinated Grilled Tri Tip: the marinade ingredients, the tri tip, and the mustard butter. Everything is made with simple ingredients you either have on hand or can easily grab at the store.

Just three ingredients to make the Mustard Butter; Dijon mustard, softened butter and black pepper.

What Is Tri Tip

Tri Tip, originally called the California Cut, is a cut of beef from the bottom sirloin. It is called the tri tip because it literally has 3 tips, and looks like a triangle.

It is becoming increasingly popular because it is a lean cut of beef that is still super flavorful AND economical.

This cut is traditionally cooked on a grill or smoked. But, we have found that tri tip cooks up beautifully in a braising liquid too.

It has rich beef flavor similar to a chuck roast. It also has beautiful marbling throughout which lends to the buttery flavor.

Trimming A Tri Tip

Unless you purchased your tri tip already trimmed up, it will come with a decently sized fat cap on one side and possibly some silver skin. You will want to remove both of these before marinating and grilling.

With a really sharp knife start at one tip on the tri tip, grab the fat cap and start slicing underneath of it, being careful not to remove much meat with it. Keep peeling and slicing as you move across the tri tip.

That may reveal some silver skin underneath (see the second photo below). That is a little harder to remove. You will want to slip your knife tip between the silver skin and the meat, slide your knife so it removes the silver skin.

This is a great You Tube video showing how to remove the fat cap from a Tr Tip.

Simple Step by Step

1. Trim the Tri Tip

Trim the fat cap and silver skin from the tri tip. See the section above for more in depth details.

2. Mix the Marinade

In a small bowl mix together worcestershire sauce, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, smoked paprika, onion powder, brown sugar, kosher salt and black pepper.

3. Coat the Tri Tip & Wrap

Lay the trimmed tri tip on large sheets of plastic wrap. Slather the wet rub on all sides of the tri tip. Wrap it up completely in the plastic wrap.

Refrigerate for 8 hours up to 24 hours.





4. Make the Mustard Butter

Mix together the Dijon mustard, black pepper and softened butter. Pour onto a large sheet of plastic wrap. Form the butter mixture into a log by rolling in the plastic wrap.

Twist the ends to close the wrapping. Refrigerate until needed.





5. Grill the Tri Tip

Preheat the grill to high heat. Leave unwrapped tri tip at room temperature for 30 minutes while the grill heats up.

Grill the tri tip over direct heat for 5 minutes, each side, on a covered grill.



Now move the tri tip to the indirect heat side for about 5-10 minutes. You want to remove the tri tip when it reaches 135℉ at it’s thickest point. This is medium rare to medium. Use an instant read thermometer to check temp.

6. Cut and Serve

Remove the steak from the grill and top with two pats of the mustard butter. Let it sit at room temp for about 5 minutes.

Slice the tri tip into thin slices against the grain (noting that there are two grain patterns, see section below).

Serve with extra mustard butter slices on the side.

Slicing a Tri Tip For Serving

As always, it is crucial to cut beef against the grain. Doing so ensures the most tender chew on any cut.

Because of where the tri tip is cut from it has two different grains, you will want to take note of this before you grill.

Side Dishes for Grilled Tri Tip

You can treat your Grilled Tri Tip just like grilled steak, the same delicious side dishes apply. We love to serve this with a starter of The Perfect Side Salad. Then for side dishes; Steakhouse Mushrooms with Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans, or Crispy Cast Iron Potatoes and Baked Beans.

Or course grilled tri tip steak is always great with Baked Potatoes and Roasted Asparagus, just like you would get at a steak house!

In the summer corn on the cob is delicious, and deviled eggs are killer in the fall!

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