Grilled Tri-Tip Steak with Tiger Sauce
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Summer barbecues call for grilled steak, and not just any steak but delicious, tender, juicy Grilled Tri-Tip Steak topped with spicy, tangy, homemade tiger sauce.
Chicken Satay Skewers with Spicy Peanut Sauce, Honey Balsamic Bruschetta Salmon, and Island Glazed Pork Tenderloin are more recipes to enjoy next!
This post is sponsored by BEEF. IT’S WHAT’S FOR DINNER., a program of the Beef Checkoff. All opinions are my own.
It’s officially my most favorite season: Grilling season! We all love a good steak in my house, but marinated Tri-Tip Steak is particularly delicious grilled, then topped with the (optional) tiger sauce and my oh my, it’s one of our most favorite cookout meals to date.
Why This Recipe Works
Marinade — My favorite grilled steak marinade starts with olive oil and soy sauce and ends with Chinese five spice and Sriracha, with some lime juice and garlic mixed in for tang and tenderness with every bite. You won’t want to sleep on this step!
Tiger Sauce – Don’t let the name scare you, it’s not nearly as fierce as it sounds! It only takes its name from its orange color and slight spicy bite, but otherwise it’s quite tame. I love this sauce made from mayo, Sriracha, and lime juice on grilled Tri-Tip, it really brings out the delicious sizzle, smell, and taste of delicious beef on the grill.
Grilling – Sure, you could bake this Tri-Tip Steak or even cook it on a skillet on the stove and it will still taste good but learning how to cook Tri-Tip on the grill is one skill I think everyone should try to master.
Here’s How You Make It
Making the Tri-Tip Marinade
- Combine olive oil, soy sauce, lime juice, garlic, Chinese five spice, and Sriracha in a bowl. Whisk well. Add to the Tri-Tip Steak in a bowl with a lid or a Ziplock bag.
- Allow to marinade for 20-30 minutes.
Making the Tiger Sauce
- Stir the mayo and Sriracha sauce together.
- Then add the lime juice, stirring again. It should be able to be drizzled over the grilled steak. If it’s too thick, add a little more lime juice or a couple teaspoons of water till it’s the right consistency.
Grilling the Tri-Tip
- Take the marinated Tri-Tip out of the bag or bowl with tongs and add to a grill that’s been preheated on high. (Throw out remaining marinade.)
- Sear each side of the steak for about 2 minutes. Then turn the heat down to medium and keep cooking the steak for another 8-10 minutes, or till an internal temperature reaches 145 degrees on a meat thermometer.
- Take the Tri-Tip off the grill and let it rest for 5 minutes.
- Slice the grilled Tri-Tip against the grain, and drizzle with teriyaki sauce and tiger sauce. Dig in!
Frequently Asked Questions
Nothing beats grilled steak for dinner. While there are endless tastes and ways to cook beef, nothing beat firing up the grill for your favorite cut of beef. Ours happens to be Tri-Tip. It’s basically steaks cut from a Tri-Tip Roast that’s known for its rich beef flavor and amazingly tender texture. Newport Steak is a special cut of Tri-Tip that is from the tip of roast and is known for its incredible flavor and tenderness.
And, while I’ve made all of the cuts of beef I’ve listed, my new favorite happens to be Tri -Tip. It’s just as rich and delicious and tender as more expensive cuts of meat at a lower price point. It’s leaner, too, if you’re worried about your saturated fat intake.
The thing I truly love about steak is that it’s generally well-loved by almost everyone I know. Whether we’re eating as a family or with friends in a bigger gathering, nothing brings people around a grill like beef. We kind of a have a rule in our larger family gatherings that if the grill is hot, then beef is on the menu!
Perhaps one of the most popular ways to enjoy tri-tip is Santa Maria style steak which is typically rubbed down with a simple salt, pepper, and garlic salt blend, then grilled over red oak wood.
How To Cook Tri-Tip Steak
There’s nothing quite like the sizzle, smell, and taste of delicious beef on the grill is there? From Strip steaks to T-Bones to Ribeyes and Ground Beef, there are countless ways to grill and enjoy beef.
While grilling time really depends on how thick your steaks are, I tend to pick a steak that’s about three-quarter to 1 inch thick (what you regularly see at the meat counter). Once you get that sear on, you only need about 10 minutes of cooking over a gas grill to get your grilled Tri-Tip steaks to a perfect medium to medium-rare doneness.
For oven-roasted tri tip, be sure to brown your steak in a hot pan
Expert Tips
- Do you love teriyaki sauce? It’s so easy to make your own! My homemade teriyaki sauce has no “weird” ingredients, is ready in just 10 minutes, and tastes SO good. For the Tri-Tip marinade, you’ll only need about half of a batch, so you can either half the teriyaki sauce recipe, or make the full batch and then store the rest in the fridge or freezer for later (my favorite method!).
More Dinner Recipes You’ll Enjoy
Looking for more delicious beef recipes? Look no further than my popular posts for Slow Cooker Broccoli Beef, Garlic Steak and Potato Foil Packs, and Best Quick Steak Marinade. And don’t forget to use my homemade teriyaki sauce – it’s the BEST!
Did you make this Grilled Tri-Tip Steak recipe? YAY! Please rate the recipe below!
Tri Tip Steak Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds Tri-Tip Steak
- ⅔ cup teriyaki sauce, see note
- ⅓ cup mayo
- 1 tablespoon sriracha sauce, or garlic chili sauce
- 1 tablespoon lime juice, more as needed/to taste
Marinade
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 2 teaspoons Chinese five spice seasoning, optional
- 2 teaspoons sriracha sauce
Instructions
- Combine all marinade ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk well. Add Tri-Tip Steak, toss to coat, and cover. Let marinate for 20-30 minutes.
- Stir together mayo and sriracha sauce. Add lime juice and stir. Sauce should be a good consistency for drizzling. If not, add more lime juice or a few teaspoons of water as needed to thin it out.
- Use tongs to transfer the marinated Tri-Tip to a grill preheated to high. (Discard marinade). Sear on each side about 2 minutes to get a good sear/grill lines. Reduce heat to medium and continue to cook 8-10 minutes until internal temperature reads 145 degrees F.
- Remove from grill, allow to rest about 5 minutes. Slice across the grain, then drizzle with teriyaki sauce and spicy mayo. Serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Excellent steak, had to special order from the butcher, worth the wait! I marinaded for an hour, delicious!! I was not a fan of the tiger sauce, but the steak didn’t need it. Our friends liked it . Flavorful special steak! Thanks!
Cooked this on a skillet. Was still good and after searing had to cook for 3:30 each side on medium-low heat
Made this tonight, it was out of a tri tip roast, thus grilling time was a little longer. The star of dish is the marinade and the sauces. Was really good and will definitely make again.
Made this for a dinner party with friends for my wife’s birthday and got rave reviews from everyone, and they all wanted the recipe. Tri-tip is always awesome but the easy to make sauces, tiger and the linked Teriyaki knocked it out of the park. They were simple and could be used on so many things, not just tri-tip. Yumm!
Loved it with the steak. I also used it with tuna steaks. The tuna was beyond belief !!
OK. Now I see, in the final step, that the teriyaki sauce is drizzled over at the end. I guess I should have read through the whole recipe first. I just assumed the teriyaki was part of the marinade because there is so much of it. I guess the teriyaki will be my marinade this time around. I’ll try to do the recipe correctly next time.
I’m confused. Is the teriyaki sauce part of the marinade? Why is it listed separately. I just mixed teriyaki, mayo, lime and sriracha and put the meat in it because I assumed the teriyaki had to be a part of the marinade. But then I noticed the separate section title Marinade. So, I guess I’ll add all that stuff to my marinade? And then I’ll make a sriracha mayo sauce separately. Directions could be a little more clear.
I’m sorry for the confusion! There’s two different sections because one is for the marinade and the other section is the ingredients for the tiger sauce.
my family loved this recipe.
This is one of my favorite steak recipes! Tri tip turns into delicious tender steak, I can’t stop eating it every time we make it! I do marinade it for a few hours and serve with a store-bought sauce, but I bet the original sauce is amazing. So simple and so wow!