Oven-Roasted Tri Tip Recipe
Tri tip roasted in the oven at 425°F with a stovetop sear. No grill needed. Crispy crust, medium-rare center in under an hour.
Not everyone has a fire going, and tri tip does not require one. Oven-roasted, it still delivers a deep crust and an edge-to-edge pink center, which makes it the weeknight and bad-weather answer to the Santa Maria grill.
The method is simple: a hard sear in a hot pan, then a moderate oven to bring it up gently to temperature. Season it like the original, salt, pepper, and garlic, and you keep the Central Coast flavor even when the cooking moves indoors.
Sear first, then roast is the whole trick. A screaming-hot pan builds the crust while the meat is still cold in the middle, so by the time it moves to the oven you are only bringing the center up to temperature, not fighting to brown it. Pull it at 128 to 130 degrees for medium-rare and let carryover carry it the last few degrees while it rests.
Rest it a full 10 to 15 minutes before you cut. Tri tip has two grain directions that meet near the middle, so find where the grain switches direction, split the roast there, and slice each half thin against its own grain. A sharp knife and thin slices keep a lean cut tender.
Indoors has more than one setting. A slow cooker takes tri tip somewhere else entirely, closer to pot roast than steak, and if the weather turns back around, a gas grill gets you outside without waiting on charcoal.
Which cooker to use
Oven This is the recipe as written, and the skillet going straight from the burner into the oven is the whole design. Don’t move the roast to a sheet pan, because the hot cast iron keeps driving the crust from below while the oven works on the middle.
Charcoal grill The same sequence outdoors: sear in the skillet or straight over direct heat, then finish over indirect with the lid down. You trade the oven’s steady 425 F for a fire you have to manage, and you get the oak smoke this recipe otherwise does without.
Pellet smoker Sear in the skillet as written, then move the roast to the pellet grill instead of the oven for a little smoke on a cook that otherwise has none. Run it at the same 425 F, because taking it low and slow turns this into a different recipe.
Slow cooker A slow cooker takes tri tip past well done into shreddable, which is a different dish rather than a slower version of this one. If that’s what you’re after, the slow cooker tri tip recipe is written for it.
Ingredients
- 1 whole tri tip roast (2-3 lbs), untrimmed
- 2 tablespoons coarse kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon coarse black pepper
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil or other high-smoke-point oil
- Cast iron skillet (12-inch)
Instructions
- 1
Preheat the oven to 425°F. Season the tri tip generously with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Let it come to room temperature for 30 minutes.
Pat the surface completely dry with paper towels before seasoning. Dry surfaces sear. Wet surfaces steam.
- 2
Heat a 12-inch cast iron skillet over high heat until it just begins to smoke. Add avocado oil.
- 3
Sear the tri tip for 3-4 minutes per side until a deep brown crust forms. Don’t move it. Let the crust build.
Open a window or turn on the vent fan. A proper sear on cast iron produces serious smoke.
- 4
Transfer the skillet directly to the oven. Roast until the internal temperature reaches 128-130°F for medium-rare, about 15-25 minutes depending on thickness.
Use a probe thermometer. The difference between perfect and overcooked is about 5 degrees on a lean cut like tri tip.
- 5
Remove from the oven and rest on a cutting board for 10-15 minutes. Slice against the grain on both halves of the roast.
Nutrition Facts
Per serving
- Calories
- 335
- Protein
- 42 g
- Fat
- 17 g
- Sat. Fat
- 7 g
- Carbs
- 1 g
- Fiber
- 0 g
- Sodium
- 500 mg
- Cholesterol
- 105 mg
Values are estimates based on standard ingredients and serving sizes.
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