The Best Smoked Tri Tip Chili Recipe - Hey Grill, Hey (2024)

FAQs

How do you smoke the most tender tri tip? ›

Smoke: Place your roast on a 225° smoker and close the lid. I like it best when cooked to 130-135°, which will give you a nice cooked interior that's still a little pink. If you cook tri tip past this point and into medium and medium-well, you'll sacrifice tenderness. Sear: This process is called a reverse sear.

combine all of the spices. Sprinkle liberally over both the vegetables and ground beef. Set the baking pan on the grate of your smoker, close the lid and smoke at 225 for about an hour. Heat a large pot over medium heat.

The simplest is to add liquid smoke, which will start building a smoky flavor, and is a nice addition to most chili, but doesn't bring the same thing to the party as real smoke does. Another way you can add a smoky flavor to your chili is to add a BBQ or hot sauce to your mixture that already has a smoky flavor to it.

By searing at the end you get the benefit of the flavors introduced by searing and the meat will stay juicy inside. For tri-tip I like to smoke low until an internal temp of about 125. Then pull and foil loosely until the temp has peaked and then dropped back down to the 125 level.

Place tri-tip on smoker unwrapped for 60-90 minutes. Cook until internal temperature reaches 125 – 130 degrees F for rare and remove. Wrap tri-tip in foil and let rest for 15 minutes. When slicing any cut of beef, it's important to slice against or perpendicular to the grains.

There are several cuts of meat you can use, but the easiest and least expensive is probably chuck roast. Beef chuck is a huge primal cut that comes mainly from the shoulder section of the steer. It's very fatty, which gives it good flavor and has lots of connective tissue that requires a long cook time to tenderize.

Health Requirements:

Chili shall reach an internal temperature of at least 165 degrees F throughout before being served.

At 225 degrees Fahrenheit, a 2-pound tri tip takes an hour for rare, to an hour and a half for medium-rare. A 3-pound tri tip requires about 90 minutes for rare, and 2 hours for medium-rare.

Continue checking the internal temp every 15-20 minutes, until it reaches 135°F for medium-rare. Increase the temperature to 140°F for medium. I do not recommend smoking the meat above 140°F. The ideal smoking temperature for tri tip is 225°F.

Why is my smoked tri tip tough? ›

Muscle fibers tense and toughen up at high temperatures, which causes the meat to be tough and chewy. Not to mention the added smokey flavor. You could cook a tri-tip low and slow the whole way, but you can't beat finishing with a quick sear over high heat to develop a flavorful crust.

Elevate your chili recipe by adding an extra layer of flavor. Cocoa powder, bacon, cinnamon, ground coffee and tomato paste will all add a rich sweet & salty flavors that are sure to surprise and delight.

A cup of strong, brewed coffee will work wonders for your pot of chili, imparting a deep, roasted flavor that will make the chili taste like it simmered away all day long. For maximum flavor, reduce the coffee along with a blend of tomato paste, aromatic veggies and spices like we do in our Spicy Vegetarian Chili.

Most Common Chili Spices. Cumin, Chile Powders, and Paprika are the most common spices in chili followed by garlic, onion, coriander, Mexican oregano, and bay leaves. These ingredients can be combined to create a savory and well-balanced pot of top notch comfort food.

Tri tip is a steak-like cut with very little connective tissue, and that means it should be cooked to the same doneness as a steak would be: 130°–135°F (54–57°C) for medium-rare or 135°–145°F (57–63°C) for medium. The temperature to cook the tri tip at is kind of up to you.

The longer you cook tri-tip the more tender it will become, so you can choose your time according to what you are trying to accomplish. For a more traditional texture you can cook it until it is just heated through, usually 3 to 4 hours.

While the tri tip is a steak-like cut, it has very long muscle fibers, and long muscle fibers mean stringy, chewy steak if you don't handle them correctly. You have to cut across the grain of the meat fibers to shorten the individual fiber pieces you'll be eating.