Smoked Beef Sirloin Tip Roast

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Who doesn't love beef and when it's smoked low and slow and reverse seared just before serving … well, that just makes us beef lovers quiver with anticipation. This smoked sirloin tip roast is quite lean, but if you can find one with a good bit of marbling and you smoke it nice and slow then it will reward you with tenderness and a flavor that will make you want to slap a relative … maybe not your mama, but perhaps that aunt you never liked that much;-)

Serve it sliced up into steaks or slice it up thin and it'll make the best roast beef sandwich you ever tasted.

• Prep Time: 1 hour
• Cook Time: 2.5 – 4 hours (depending on size of roast)
• Smoker Temp: 230°F
• Meat Finish Temp: 135°F (Medium Rare)
• Recommended Wood: Pecan

• 2.5 – 5 lb beef sirloin tip roast
• Kosher Salt
• Coarse pepper
• Jeff's original rub

Remove the sirloin tip roast from it's packaging and give it a good rinse under cold water. Set it on the cutting board.

Top side

Bottom side.

As usual, I like to place the meat into a foil pan before seasoning to reduce cleanup time later. (work smart instead of hard– or something like that)

I love to layer on flavors and that's exactly what I recommend for this cut of beef. A good layer of good ol' salt and pepper.

I keep a bottle of premixed 50/50 kosher salt and coarse pepper in a small cheese shaker for these purposes.

I also sometimes use a thin coat of the Texas style rub  which is based on salt and pepper with some other good things thrown into the mix

Use the salt/pepper mixture or Texas style rub

Use my original rub  liberally as well and take a moment to marvel at how beautiful it is.

Let the meat continue to sit an additional 30 minutes after adding the rub.

I hear a lot of folks saying they don't add anything to beef other than maybe salt and pepper since they want to taste just the beef and nothing else. No worries since both of my rubs complement the beef very nicely and does a great job of bringing out the best in the beef.. the great beef flavor definitely shines through even when you use the seasoning liberally on the outside.

Once the meat is well seasoned with the rub and has been sitting in the pan for about an hour total, it is ready to go on the smoker.

Place the meat on a Bradley rack (if you have one) to make it really easy to transport it back and forth from the smoker to the kitchen.

Getting the Smoker Ready

The best time to get the smoker ready is while the meat is sitting on the counter for that first 30 minutes after you apply the salt/pepper mixture.

During the cold winter months you can expect this process to take a little longer and it may take a little more charcoal than usual if you are using a charcoal smoker.

Setup your smoker for cooking at about 230°F and once it is holding steady, it is ready for use.

Cold weather smoking tips:

• Use some plywood or other material to create a makeshift windbreak.
• Use a water heater blanket to wrap around the smoker to further insulate it from the cold.
• Eliminate basting or mopping during the cook process if you are having trouble maintaining proper heat.
• Add extremely hot water to water pan to keep the smoker from having to use energy to heat the water.

Place the sirloin tip roast (or Bradley rack) directly on the smoker grate and close the lid or door.

Keep the smoke going for the entire time for best results.

Be SURE to use a digital probe meat thermometer to monitor the temperature at the center of the meat. This cut is best served at no more than medium rare.

My favorite digital probe meat thermometer right now is the “Smoke” by Thermoworks which has dual probes to monitor the smoker as well as the meat. It is remote in that there is a unit that stays at the smoker and a separate unit that goes with you in the house, on the lawn tractor or in your pocket. You can be up to 300 feet away and still get a great signal.

I also like to use my thermapen for checking temperatures but when you are smoking something where the temperature is absolutely paramount, I recommend using a good quality digital “leave-in” thermometer such as the “Smoke“.

Since we are wanting to also sear the meat just before serving, you will want to remove the meat from the smoker when it reaches about 120°F and make sure you already have the grill, oven, coals, etc. hot and ready to go before the meat is ready to come out of the smoker.

I often use a bed of hot coals in my Weber Smoky Mountain for searing since my gas grill just doesn't get hot enough for proper searing in my opinion. I also sometimes use the broiler function on my home oven which works quite well.

Searing the meat is something normally done to meat at the beginning of the process however, with smoking, it is a common practice to sear the meat at the end since searing also cooks the meat and this can hinder the formation of the smoke ring as well as change the way the meat is enhanced by the smoke.

Searing results in great flavor and beatiful coloring of the meat especially when it comes to beef.

– Before –

– After –

 

Let me just say here, searing is not the same thing as charring. Searing is good.. charring is NOT always good in my experience.

Turn the meat a few times during the searing process to make sure the meat is browned evenly all over.

Watch the roast and the temperature carefully while you are searing. Ideally the color and the temperature will reach perfect at about the same time but if one or the other is reached, the searing process should be done at that point.

If you are finished searing and the temperature is not within about 10 degrees of what you want it to be, you can always place it back on the smoker for a few minutes.

If the temperature reaches within 10 degrees of your desired temperature and the meat is not quite finished searing, I recommend calling it done at that point instead of continuing to keep it in the heat.

Don't forget, the meat temperature will continue to rise a few degrees once you remove it from the high heat.

Let the meat rest on the counter for about 15 minutes before slicing it up.

Option 1: Cut the smoked sirloin tip roast into 1/2″ steaks and serve it with potatoes or even grilled asparagus and perhaps slice the rest of it into thin sandwich meat

Option 2: Slice the meat very thin and use it to make the best roast beef sandwiches you've ever tasted.

1. Remove from package and rinse with cold water
2. Season with salt/pepper mixture or Texas style rub  and leave sitting for 30 minutes
3. Apply Jeff's original rub  all over the meat liberally and leave sitting for another 30 minutes
4. Get smoker ready for cooking at 230°F.
5. Place meat on smoker grate and apply smoke for entire time
6. Remove from smoker at about 115-120°F.
7. Sear over very hot coals or under broiler turning occasionally to brown evenly
8. Remove from heat when color is right or the meat has reached about 125-130 or within 10 degrees of desired finish temperature.
9. Allow to rest for 15 minutes
10. Slice into steaks or very thinly for sandwiches

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