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If you are going to make a tri tip roast, THIS is the marinade and recipe to try! Tender and juicy all the way through, with the most amazingly flavorful crust, your taste buds will be left absolutely mesmerized.

What is Tri Tip?

Tri tip–also known as the “California cut”–is a triangle-shaped bottom sirloin cut. It’s part roast, part steak, and allll delicious. It is incredibly popular where I live in California and is often served with a side of bbq sauce AND salsa.

Before moving to CA, I had only had tri tip once or twice. It was good, but it wasn’t until I had it prepared the local way that I fell completely in love.

The rub (made into a marinade by adding olive oil later) is a marriage of copycats! I did my best to make copycat recipes of two of my local favorite spots to get tri tip, then combined them to get the perfect balance of sweetness, smokiness, and spice.

What you’ll need for this Tri Tip Steak Recipe

• Tri tip roast
• Garlic powder
• Dried parsley
• Kinder’s Santa Maria seasoning
• Lawry’s seasoning salt
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground pepper: black pepper is just fine here, but I prefer to use ground tri-color or rainbow peppercorn!
• Brown sugar
• 1/4 cup olive oil

Recommended Supplies:

• Food safe gloves (optional)
• Ziploc bag
• Heavy duty pan (I prefer cast iron)
• Oven
• Rimmed baking sheet
• Foil
• Oven safe cooling rack
• Meat thermometer

How to make Tri Tip Marinade

1. Mix all the spices together in a small bowl.

2. Massage onto both sides of the meat. I like to clean my sink and then put the meat into the sink directly (easy clean up!). I also prefer to use gloves, but you can definitely do this with clean, bare hands.

3. Next, place the tri tip into a ziploc bag. Add the olive oil, seal the bag, and massage the meat again!
4. Place in the fridge and marinate at least 8 hours. The longer, the better! It can marinate in the fridge up to 2 days!

How to Cook Tri Tip in the Oven

1. Remove the marinated meat from the fridge and let rest at room temperature for about 30 minutes before you cook it.
2. Preheat the oven to 400F.
3. Line a baking sheet with foil and an oven-safe cooling rack. 
4. Heat a heavy duty skillet over medium high heat (I like using my cast iron pan!). Add 2 tablespoons of avocado or olive oil. When heated, place the roast fat-side down in the pan. Sear for 3-4 minutes, or until a nice brown crust has developed. Flip, and sear the other side.

6. Place the seared roast on the cooling rack. Put in the oven and bake at 400F until meat has reached desired temperature. Rare: 130-135F. Medium Rare: 135-145. I find it typically takes 15 minutes per pound of meat; this roast was a little over three pounds and took 46 minutes to reach an internal temperature of 140F. 
7. Remove the tri tip from the oven, cover with foil, and let rest for 10-15 minutes.
8. Slice and serve!

Oven Roasted Tri Tip Tips

• Don’t cook your tri tip past 145F. Because it is such a lean cut of meat, it will be too dry when cooked past that temp!
• LET IT REST!!! That may be the most important part of the process. When you cut into meat right after it has finished cooking, all of the flavorful juices run out! So please, please, please let it rest! You do not want to miss out on ultra flavorful and tender meat!

Tri Tip Steak Recipe

• 2-3 pound tri tip roast
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 TB dried parsley
• 1.5 tsp Kinder’s Santa Maria seasoning
• 1 TB Lawry’s seasoning salt
• 1.5 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp ground pepper (black or tri/rainbow)
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 1/4 cup olive oil

1. Combine the garlic powder, dried parsely, Kinder’s, Lawry’s, kosher salt, ground pepper, and brown sugar in a small bowl.
2. If grilling the tri tip, trim off the fat cap. If roasting in the oven, leave it on.
3. Rub the spice mixture all over the roast.
4. Next, place the tri tip into a ziploc bag. Add the olive oil, seal the bag, and massage the meat again!
5. Place in the fridge and marinate at least 8 hours. The longer, the better! It can marinate in the fridge up to 2 days!
6. Remove the marinated meat from the fridge and let rest at room temperature for about 30 minutes before you cook it.
7. Preheat the oven to 400F.
8. Line a baking sheet with foil and an oven-safe cooling rack. 
9. Heat a heavy duty skilletvover medium high heat. Add 2 tablespoons of avocado or olive oil. When heated, place the roast fat-side down in the pan. Sear for 3-4 minutes, or until a nice brown crust has developed. Flip, and sear the other side.
10. Place the seared roast on the cooling rack. Put in the oven and bake at 400F until meat has reached desired temperature. Rare: 130-135F. Medium Rare: 135-145. I find it typically takes 15 minutes per pound of meat.
11. Remove the tri tip from the oven, cover with foil, and let rest for 10-15 minutes.
12. Slice and serve!

I hope you enjoy this tri tip! I would love to hear what you think of this recipe–let me know in the comments below. 🙂 Cheers!