This Cranberry Glazed Tri-Tip Roast is a tender piece of beef with a sweet cranberry-orange glaze for a perfect roast on the grill or oven! It will be the superstar dish of your holiday season.
Gather This
The ingredient list for this tri-tip roast looks long, but all ingredients are easily found! A full list of ingredients with measurements for this recipe is available in the printable recipe card below.
- Tri-tip roast or other sirloin roast – Tri-tip seems to be the most popular on the west coast, and even more specifically Santa Maria, you can ask your butcher for this specific cut of meat. Tri-tip is a three-pointed, flag shaped cut from the bottom sirloin. It’s tender, easy to prepare and less expensive than other cuts.
- Coarse sea salt
- Black pepper
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Green tea
- Cranberry juice
- White rice
- Oak smoking chips
- Orange juice
- Sugar
- Chambord
- Fresh cranberries
- Orange
- Nutmeg
Make it a Meal
You can serve this tri-tip roast with just about any side dish you’d like! Some of our favorites are Homemade Mashed Potatoes, Roast Asparagus, Charred Broccolini, Cauliflower Mac and Cheese and Brussels Sprouts with Bacon.
If serving for the holidays, you can always serve with something a little more elegant like green beans in mascarpone, a potato galette or oven roasted carrots.
Let’s also say that if you have any glaze left over, it tastes pretty amazing drizzled over vanilla ice cream, bread pudding, pancakes, waffles or buttermilk biscuits.
Cranberry Glazed Tri-Tip Roast Recipe
Ingredients
Roast:
- 3 lb tri-tip roast or other sirloin roast
- 3 tablespoon coarse sea salt
- 3 tablespoons black pepper freshly ground
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
If Smoking:
- 2 tablespoons green tea
- 1/2 cup white rice
- 1 1/2 cups oak smoking chips finely chopped
Cranberry Glaze:
- 1 cup orange juice
- 2 cups sugar
- 12 ounces fresh cranberries
- 1 cup Chambord
- Zest of one orange
- 1 teaspoon black pepper freshly ground
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 cup cranberry juice
Instructions
- In a small bowl, mix the 3 tablespoon coarse sea salt and 3 tablespoons black pepper. Rub the3 lb tri-tip roast with 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil and then massage with salt and pepper. Allow to sit for 1 hour to 24 hours before smoking or roasting.
- If smoking, place the 2 tablespoons green tea, 1/2 cup white rice and 1 1/2 cups oak smoking chips in the bottom of smoker, heat over high until it starts to smoke. Add the roast and smoke on stove top for 15 minutes before transferring to a 400°F until it reaches 135°F. If roasting, place roast in a large roasting pan in a 400 degree oven. Both ways, roast for 20-25 minutes or until roast registers 135°F.
- Meanwhile, place the 1 cup orange juice, 2 cups sugar, 12 ounces fresh cranberries in a large saucepan. Heat and stir over medium-high heat until cranberries burst open and mixture starts to make a syrup, approximately 15 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and place the mixture in a blender or food processor and blend on high until mixture is smooth. Add the 1 cup Chambord, Zest of one orange, 1 teaspoon black pepper 1 teaspoon nutmeg, blend again.
- Run mixture through fine mesh sieve to remove any solids. Return mixture to sauce pan and medium-high heat. Add the 1 cup cranberry juice and reduce by half, approximately 15 minutes.
- When tri-tip is done roasting, heat grill to high heat. Baste with cranberry glaze and char on each side for 2-3 minutes until the sauce gets sticky.
- Slice against the grain and serve with a side of cranberry glaze.
- If you've tried this recipe, come back and let us know how it was in the comments or star ratings.
Nutrition
Storage and Freezing
You can store this prepared tri-tip roast in the fridge for up to 4 days. Store it either whole or slice thinly and store in slices.
Yes, you sure can! I recommend freezing it in portions in an airtight container and making sure it is completely cooled before doing so.
More Beefy Recipes
If you’ve been here awhile, you know how much I love beef! Here are some of my favorite beef recipes.
That meat looks luscious and what a great giveaway!
What a fantastic giveaway, but even more delicious is that edible image of your cranberry glazed tri-tip roast! Looks so good!!
We have tri-tip often and it’s always SO good! I love that it’s a bit less expensive than other cuts of beef and it tastes great on the grill, too!
This is all kinds of delicious looking.
This was delicious!!!
Wow, what a stunning roast. You have me drooling at 8am 🙂
This looks fantastic! Pinning too!
beautiful. I love that you favor savory recipes. You just can’t live off of cookies and cakes!
Ooh this looks so delicious!!!
THAT.GLAZE….was amazing!! And so was the Tri-Tip! I was so fun to be on your cooking team with Tony at CAB…hope to see you soon Jessica!
Thanks so much, Martha, it was a blast! Hubby keeps asking when I’m going to make both this and YOUR Philly Cheesesteak Egg Rolls!
Hi there, hubby and I are on our third time making this. I keep coming back to read through the comments to see if there is any update on the 2 cups divided sugar. I don’t know If we are missing something, but what do you do with the sugar? We have just been adding 1 cup to the sauce mixture. Many thanks for a fab recipe!
Hi April!!! I’m glad you love the recipe. I’m going back looking through my notes and I’m not sure why I write divided- it is just 2 cups, although I’m sure it still tastes fabulous with only 1 cup, just slightly more bitter. Thank you for pointing that out to me!
Thank you so much! We have enjoyed it SO much! At what point do you add the sugar? The directions don’t specify. I guess maybe it doesn’t matter because it has been working out for us. Seriously, our fave. In fact we are going on holiday to Hawaii and are going to make it for some friends after we renew our vows.. THAT’S how much we LOVE! Thanks again!
Step #3 is to add OJH through cranberries, which would include the sugar 🙂