Red Wine Marinade for Tri Tip Steak {Easy, Delicious!}

A tri tip roast is a wonderful cut of beef.  The tri tip is a 1-2 pound steak that comes from the bottom of the sirloin.  The name “tri tip” refers to the odd shape of the muscle.

Tri Tips are one of “secret jewels” of the steak world.  Tri tips have very little internal marbling so they are rather mild on the flavor scale.

I like to make these extra special by soaking the tri tip in a red wine marinade then slow smoking the next day.  You can slice up a slow smoked tri tip and use it to make steak sandwiches good enough to make you cry!

My favorite tri tip marinade has a red wine and herb base.  Here is how I make it!

Prepare the Red Wine and Herb Tri Tip Marinade

Combine the following ingredients and mix well.

• 2/3 cup Cabernet Sauvignon (use your favorite red wine)
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh garlic
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

Use a nice wine in your marinade since the flavor really stays with the beef.  I use Rex Goliath Cabernet Sauvignon.

Marinate the Tri Tip {Fast or Slow Options}

There are a couple of ways to approach the step of marinating the beef depending upon how much time you have.  Both of these approaches work great but I believe I get more/better flavor when using he slow marinade process.

If you are short on time then:

• Use a fork to punch a bunch of holes into the tri tip to help the marinade penetrate faster.
• Place the marinade and tri tip into a one gallon Ziplok bag.
• Place the Ziploc bag in a secondary container (baking tray, etc) just in case it leaks. 
• Let the meat marinate at room temperature for two hours.

If you have plenty of time then:

• Place the marinade and tri tip into a one gallon Ziplok bag.
• Place the Ziploc bag in a secondary container (baking tray, etc) just in case it leaks. 
• Let the meat marinate in the refrigerator for six to twelve hours.

This marinade is not very acidic so you can soak the meat for a long time without worrying about it becoming gray and mushy.

Cooking the Tri Tip

Remove the tri tip from the marinade and pat dry with paper towels.

If you would like to use the marinade for basting the meat while it cooks then you can pour it into a saucepan and bring it to a boil for five minutes.

There are a LOT of ways you can cook the tri tip including:

• Reverse Seared on a Weber charcoal grill
• Smoked on a Traeger Grill
• Sous Vide
• Oven Roasted

Personally I love to fire up my grills so this one got cooked on my Weber kettle.

This tri tip went onto a grill set up for indirect low heat (about 225F at the grate) and was smoked for two hours until it reached an internal temperature of 130F.

I then put the tri tip directly over the coals to sear it off.

Like I said, you can easily cook these in an oven instead of on a grill.  I would probably set the oven to 275F and let the roast cook for 45 minutes.

Whichever method you use to cook the meat the most important thing to do is use a digital thermometer to monitor doneness.

When the steak is finished slice it thinly across the grain and serve!

The sweetness and complexity of the wine can be tasted in every bite.  If you love red wine you then will love this recipe.

Since I used a California red wine for the marinade I decided to make some California inspired tri tip sandwiches.

Slice the smoked tri tip as thin as you can.

Slather a toasted hoagie roll on both sides with mayonnaise and Dijon mustard.  Add some fresh cracked  black pepper.

Make a little bed of lettuce and top with sliced tri tip, avocado and diced tomatoes.

California Dreaming Tri Tip Sandwich

Red Wine Tri Tip Steak Marinade

Red wine, fresh herbs and other ingredients combine to bring out the best in this wonderful steak.

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 4 hours hrs

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 5 hours hrs

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Calories 35 kcal

Ingredients

  

• 2/3 cup Cabernet Sauvignon
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp black pepper
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh garlic
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 tri tip roast 1.5-2 pounds

Instructions

 

• Combine the marinade ingredients
• Place the marinade and tri tip into a one gallon Ziplok bag and marinate in the refrigerator for at least four hours.
• Remove the meat from the marinade and grill, smoke or bake to an internal temperature of 135F

Keyword tri tip marinade