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I grew up on tri-tip — here’s why sous vide is now my go-to method

Put down the grill tongs. Trust us.

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grilled and sliced tri tip steak
Sliced steak with nice sear on top Ahirao / Adobe Stock

I grew up in California, eating tri-tip on an almost weekly basis, so when I got a little older and moved around a bit, I was shocked to learn that this delicious cut of beef isn’t as well known in other parts of the country. I’ll never forget visiting a friend in North Dakota and asking a grocery store butcher if they had any tri-tip. I was met with a very confused, sympathetic stare from someone who thought I must be nuts.

When I was growing up the most popular way to cook a tri-tip was on the grill, over smoking charcoals with a huge amount of grilled vegetables and a ton of friends to enjoy it with. But I’ve been grown up for a while now, and in that time, more than a few things have changed. Chiefly, my favorite way to prepare this delicious cut of beef. While tri-tip is still a favorite of mine and a regular item on the menu in my house, these days I make it quite a bit differently – using my favorite sous vide machine and the below recipe.

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Sous vide tri-tip recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 tri-tip roast
  • 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 5 tablespoons butter, cut into cubes
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Olive oil

Method

  1. Using your sous vide machine, preheat a water bath to 134 degrees F.
  2. While the water bath is preheating, season the tri-tip by rubbing it generously with salt, pepper, thyme, and garlic.
  3. Add the seasoned tri-tip to a sous vide bag, and add cubed better, making sure the pieces are evenly dispersed throughout the bag.
  4. Place the bag into the water bath, making sure all of the air is squeezed from the bag and the top is properly sealed.
  5. Cook until the internal temperature of the tri-tip reaches 130 F, about an hour and 45 minutes.
  6. Transfer the tri-tip to a cutting board and rest for about five minutes.
  7. While the tri-tip is resting, preheat a large cast iron pan over medium-high heat until very hot.
  8. Pat the tri-tip dry with paper towels, then season again with salt and pepper and rub with oil.
  9. Sear the tri-tip in the hot pan on all sides until it develops a golden crust, about five minutes total.
  10. Return the tri-tip to a clean cutting board and allow it to rest for at least ten minutes.
  11. Thinly slice your sous vide tri-tip, serve, and enjoy!

All about tri-tip

Tri tip on cutting board
ahirao / Adobe Stock

Named after its triangular shape with a tapered tip, the tri-tip is one of the most deliciously savory roasts one can buy and it’s an absolute crime that it isn’t more popular outside of California. It’s time to change that.

Tri-tip is butchered from the sirloin section of the cow, located in the rear between the short loin and flank primal cut. While this is one of the more flavorful cuts of beef, it isn’t necessarily known for being the most tender, which is why it’s perfect for cooking sous vide.

Why sous vide?

Sous vide has rapidly become a tremendously popular cooking method in home kitchens for a variety of reasons. Firstly, it’s easy. Simply setting a temperature and plopping a few ingredients in a bag requires no real culinary prowess if we’re honest. And that can be a beautiful thing. A delicious meal, no real cooking skills required? It’s certainly enticing.

Second, the accuracy of cooking food in a sous vide bath is unparalleled. So long as you use the machine correctly, there’s never a risk of over or undercooking your meal. That’s not a perk one can enjoy using any other method of cooking.

Cooking meat – especially tougher cuts like tri-tip – using a sous vide machine also improves its texture and flavor. When cooked and sealed in a water bath, the natural juices inside the meat have nowhere to rush off to, so they stay inside the meat where they belong. This gives a naturally tender consistency and better flavor the the meat overall.

We understand that the sear from a grill or a screaming hot cast iron pan is one of the things that’s most loved about a good steak, but those things aren’t lost when you cook with sous vide. A common misconception is that you’re meant to simply remove the meat from the bag and toss it onto your plate. That’s not the case at all. We like to give our sous vide steaks a proper sear after they’ve been removed from the water bath. This way, you have both a perfectly cooked, tender, delicious steak and a perfectly delicious crust on the outside.

Lindsay Parrill
Lindsay Parrill
Former Contributor
Lindsay is a graduate of California Culinary Academy, Le Cordon Bleu, San Francisco, from where she holds a degree in…
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