Traeger Chuck Roast {Smoked and Pulled for Tacos!}

Smoking a chuck roast is a great way to have some fun with your Traeger grill.  Chuck roasts are pretty forgiving and a heck of a lot easier to deal with than a packer brisket.

There are about a hundred different ways you can tackle this cut of beef but what I want to share today is how to make pulled smoked chuck for tacos and nachos.

Let’s get started!

Prepare the Chuck Roast for the Traeger

Getting the chuck ready for the smoker is pretty simple and just involves seasoning it heavily with a dry rub and waiting a while for the rub to work its way into the beef.

For this cook I went with Traeger’s Garlic and Chili Pepper rub that worked so well when I made a Traeger Smoked Tri Tip and also for a batch of Poor Man’s Burnt Ends.

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 chuck roast pretty heavily with the rub on all sides and probably used at least four tablespoons.

You want the rub to have time to work its way into the meat.  I would suggest waiting at least one hour from the time you put the rub on the chuck roast before you stick it on the smoker.  I let this one rest overnight in the refrigerator.

Smoke the Chuck Roast at 180F

Turn on your Traeger and set the temperature to 180F.

Place the chuck on the grill and let it smoke for three hours.

For this part of the cook we are putting down a nice layer of smoke flavor. If you want to get even more smoke flavor into the chuck then you can use a smoke tube or, if you have an Ironwood or Timberline grill, use Super Smoke Mode.

I was burning Kingsford’s Cherry wood pellets for this cook but Traeger’s Signature, Gourmet or Hickory pellets would also be great choices.

Braise the Smoked Chuck Roast

After three hours the chuck has plenty of smoke flavor but is far from being done.

At this point we are going to start braising the meat to speed cooking while adding additional flavor layers.

Assemble the Braise

The exact composition of the braise is not critical but in general you want to use some liquid along with some aromatic vegetables.

For this cook I went with a bottle of Guinness along with sweet onion, bell pepper, celery and carrots.

Go ahead and get all of the veggies sliced up, a rough chop works just fine, and place them in a foil pan.  Pour in the bottle of beer and the braise is ready for the beef.

You can also add some potatoes in here if desired.  The potatoes will not add any flavor to the roast but they will become extremely tender and flavorful as they soak up the braising mixture.

Cover and Cook

Place the beef on top of the braise and cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil.

Raise the temperature of your grill to 275 and place the foiled pan onto the grate.  You could do this step in the oven instead of the smoker if you like as the sealed meat will not be taking on any more smoke flavor.

Let the chuck braise for at least three hours until it reaches an internal temperature of about 200F and is probe tender.

Pull the Chuck Roast from the Traeger and Serve

The smoked chuck roast is done when it is fall apart tender and your fork just slides into the meat with little resistance.

You have a lot of service options at this point.

One classic presentation is to defat and thicken the braising liquid to make a gravy and serve the beef over rice or potatoes.

How I decided to go was to pull and shred the beef to make a pile of tender smoked beef for tacos and nachos.  If you wanted to get ultra serious about your tacos then this meat would be perfect for these quesabirria tacos from A Girl Worth Saving.  This type of taco is usually made with goat meat but this smoky smoked beef is an excellent substitute!

The meat pulled easily, smelled amazing and had a beautiful little smoke ring.  I like pulling the meat by hand so I can control how much of the intramuscular fat I want to end up in the final product.

The meat is great for tacos and pairs well with Traeger’s Texas Spicy bbq sauce.  My first taco was pretty plain because I was starving after smelling this cook for six hours and just had meat, lettuce and sauce.  They next few were even better when I threw in some sour cream and pickled jalapenos!