Poor Man’s Burnt End’s {Traeger Style Chuck Roast!}

I finally nailed my Poor Man’s Burnt Ends recipe yesterday and made the best batch I have ever tried!  This is an incredibly easy recipe to make on your Traeger that I hope you will enjoy!

Prepare the Chuck Roast for the Smoker

I bought a twin pack of chuck roasts at the store the other day and they cost me way less than a packer brisket.  One chuck roast got smoked whole but the other one I saved to make Poor Man’s Burnt Ends.

Start by cutting the chuck into cubes that are roughly one inch thick.  Don’t stress out if they cubes are not all the same size; close enough is good enough.

Place the cubes into an aluminum foil pan and season with Traeger’s Garlic and Chili Pepper rub.  This is the rub I used for my Traeger Smoked Tri Tip and it worked great.

If you don’t have this rub on hand then here is the ingredient list so you can whip up a batch of something similar:

Traeger Garlic and Chili Pepper Rub Ingredients

• Salt
• Cane Sugar
• “Spices (Including Basil)”
• Brown Sugar
• Paprika
• Chili Pepper
• Sunflower Oil
• Cane Molasses

I am not 100% sure as to what is covered under “spices” but the basil is prominent.  This is a salty rub with a nice balance of Heat and Sweet.

I seasoned the meat aggressively and probably used at least three tablespoons.

Let the rub soak into the meat for about 30 minutes and then season with a light dusting of Traeger’s Beef Rub for a little bit of sweetness.

Smoke the Seasoned Chuck Roast Cubes at 250F

Turn on your Traeger and set the temperature to 250F.

The exact temperature is not critical at this point.  If you want to get more smoke flavor then you could do this step at 180F and, if you have an Ironwood, run the grill in SuperSmoke Mode.  If you wanted to speed up the cook then you could raise the temperature to 275F.

I put the pan onto the grill along with a smoke tube filled with cherry pellets.

Let the burnt ends smoke for two hours.

Add Sauce to the Burnt Ends

After the burnt ends have smoked for at least two hours it is time to add the sauce and this is where I changed things up for the better.  I wanted the burnt ends to taste more like a smoked ribeye steak than a traditional brisket point so I went with more traditional steak flavors.

I was using “eyeball” measurements and went with:

• 1 cup Traeger’s Texas Spicy BBQ Sauce
• 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 cup steak sauce

Pour the sauce into the foil pan and make sure all sides of the beef cubes are well coated.  Tightly seal the pan with aluminum foil and return the pan to the grill.

Raise the temperature to 275F and cook for at least two more hours.

The burnt ends are ready when they are tender enough to let a fork easily slide through.

The Poor Man’s Burnt Ends Were Great!

These burnt ends tasted like succulent steak bites and were incredible.

I have tried making burnt ends from chuck roast before and was disappointed because they were not as good as burnt ends made from a brisket point.

Instead of trying to make chuck roast like a brisket I changed up the sauce mix to highlight steak flavors and it really paid off.

This recipe is a keeper!