Slow Cooked Tri Tip Roast with Gravy

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This Slow Cooked Tri-Tip Roast creates the most tender beef and creamy gravy. Serve over warm mashed potatoes and a side of Brussel sprouts! Comfort food at its finest!

Simple Ingredients for Flavorful Tri-Tip

You might be surprised just how simple it is to get this Tri-Tip Roast nice and flavorful. Here are some common ingredients used to get this recipe *just right*:

• Olive Oil, Yellow Onion + Garlic – these three are the trifecta of delicious base flavor. Don’t skip this, they make a difference trust me.
• Salt + Pepper – these are easily forgotten but make a huge difference. Season as you go and then adjust at the end too.
• Beef Consomme – beef consomme is such an easy way to get flavorful beef flavor without watering down the roast too much.
• Bay Leaves + Thyme – two common herbs that pack a punch! You can always experiment here with different herbs or spices.
• Butter + Flour – all that flavor from hours of slow cooking these ingredients together are not wasted! Butter and flour are mixed together with all of the leftover juices from the meat to make the gravy!

Tender Tri-Tip: The Secret is in the Cut

Tri-Tip is usually found in larger cuts of about 2 pounds or more and sometimes in smaller steaks. It’s a triangular cut of meat that is part of the lower sirloin cut, but not yet part of the flank. Because of its location, it is on the leaner side of things. Which means that it’s more difficult to keep it tender. Well here’s the secret, you can increase tenderness in the way you cut the meat!

Repeat after me, cut against the grain. Against. The. Grain. What does that mean? Meat is technically animal muscle fiber and muscle fiber runs in grains. Do you see the parallel lines that run along your raw piece of meat? Cut perpendicular or in the opposite direction of those lines to cut against the grain.

The other thing that ensures tender meat is my slow-cooked method, more on that below!

How to Cook a Tri-Tip Roast

For full details on how to cook tri-tips, see the recipe card down below 🙂

1. Preheat Oven + Brown Meat

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a large heavy-bottomed pot {such as a dutch oven} heat olive oil over medium heat. Once the pot is hot, sauté onions for 3 minutes.

Stir in garlic and cook another minute. Season meat with salt and pepper and brown in pot. This should take about 5 minutes.

2. Slow Cook Tri-Tips in the Oven or in the Crockpot!

Pour in beef consommé, water, bay leaves, and thyme. Stir and cover. Place into a preheated oven or crockpot/slow cooker and bake/cook until the meat is fork-tender. Remove from oven.

How long to cook a tri-tip roast?

Whether you are slow cooking in the oven or the crockpot (high setting) cook for 2-3 hours!

3. Remove Meat + Make Gravy

Using a slotted spoon, remove meat from the liquid in the pot.

Return to medium heat on the stovetop. In a small bowl, stir butter and flour together until smooth paste forms. Pour butter mixture into the hot liquid and whisk in to stir. Within a minute or so, the sauce should thicken to a gravy. If the gravy gets too thick, add in 1/2 cup water or until desired consistency is reached.

Replace meat and stir to coat in gravy. Turn heat to low to keep warm before serving.

Crockpot Directions

I know a lot of people will read through the directions above and think ‘wait, where’s the crock pot?’ Instead of ‘slow cooked people see ‘slow cooker’ which can be confusing. So, incase you are that person who is looking for those crockpot directions, here they are:

1. Start by browning the tri tips with salt and pepper in olive oil. Add those browned (not fully cooked) pieces of meat into the bottom of your crockpot.
2. Add in the onion, garlic, seasonings and beef consommé. Cover and cook on high for 2-3 hours or until the meat is very tender.
3. Create a paste with the soft butter and flour and stir that into the hot gravy. After 30 minutes the gravy should thicken slightly. It will not tighten up very quickly, nor will it get as thick as it would cooking this on the stovetop, but it will still give you that velvet, smooth gravy.

Can I Cook This in an Instant Pot?

Yes, you absolutely can! Similar to the crockpot directions, brown the tri tips with salt, pepper, onion and garlic in olive oil using the SAUTE function. Once browned, add in the seasonings and beef consommé. Cover and add lid. Switch to PRESSURE COOK add 15 minutes and press START. After cook time has elapsed, quick release pressure, remove lid and switch back to SAUTE function. Add in the butter/flour mixture and boil to thicken. Once thick, switch to KEEP WARM and serve over mashed potatoes.

Thickening with Cornstarch

If you don’t like using flour or are wanting a more gluten free gravy, you can thicken this with cornstarch! Take 1 tablespoon cornstarch and whisk it into 1/4 cup cold water. Stir it into the gravy, bring to boil to thicken and voila! Thicker gravy.

Keep in mind the beef consommé (especially the Campbell’s) is NOT gluten free. If you did want to make this gluten free, consider adding gluten free beef stock. Beef stock is a little stronger than beef broth, thus more flavorful.

What to Serve with Tri-Tips + Gravy

This recipe is meant to be eaten with mashed potatoes so I highly recommend that (the gravy and the tri-tips go so so well with it). But I also think a good easy roasted veggie on the side would be yummy too! Here are some links to mashed potato and veggie recipes:

• Garlic Mashed Potatoes
• Crockpot Mashed Potatoes
• Mashed Sweet Potatoes
• Roasted Cauliflower
• Roasted Asparagus
• Roasted Green Beans
• Roasted Brussels Sprouts

More Meaty Roasts to Try!

• Crockpot Pot Roast Recipe
• Garlic Pork Loin Roast with Potatoes
• Rosemary Maple Mustard Pork Roast
• Crockpot Pork Roast
• Red Wine Braised Short Ribs
• Crockpot Rosemary Balsamic Beef

The printable recipe card is down below, enjoy 🙂

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5 from 18 votes

Slow Cooked Tri-Tip Roast with Gravy

This Slow Cooked Tri-Tip Roast creates the most tender beef and creamy gravy. Serve over warm mashed potatoes and a side of Brussel sprouts!

servings 4 servings

Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 2 hrs

Total Time 2 hrs 15 mins

Ingredients

• ▢ 3 tablespoons olive oil
• ▢ 1 medium yellow onion diced
• ▢ 3 cloves garlic roughly chopped
• ▢ 2 lbs tri tip pieces or a 2 lb. tri tip roast cut into large pieces
• ▢ salt & pepper to taste
• ▢ 10.5 oz beef consomme 1 can
• ▢ 1 can water
• ▢ 2 bay leaves
• ▢ 3/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• ▢ 3 tablespoons butter softened
• ▢ 3 tablespoons flour
• ▢ more water if needed
• ▢ 1 recipe of my Perfect Mashed Potatoes

US Customary – Metric

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a large heavy-bottomed pot {such as a dutch oven} heat olive oil over medium heat. Once the pot is hot, sauté onions for 3 minutes.
• Stir in garlic and cook another minute. Season meat with salt and pepper and brown in pot. This should take about 5 minutes.
• Pour in beef consommé, water, bay leaves, and thyme. Stir and cover. Place into the preheated oven (or crockpot on high) and bake 2-3 hours or until meat is fork-tender. Remove from oven.
• Using a slotted spoon, remove meat from the liquid in the pot. Return to medium heat on the stovetop. In a small bowl, stir butter and flour together until smooth paste forms.
• Pour butter mixture into the hot liquid and whisk in to stir. Within a minute or so, the sauce should thicken to a gravy. If the gravy gets too thick, add in 1/2 cup water or until desired consistency is reached. Replace meat and stir to coat in gravy. Turn heat to low to keep warm before serving.
• Serve with mashed potatoes and/or roasted veggies!

Nutrition

Calories: 570kcal | Carbohydrates: 9g | Protein: 49g | Fat: 37g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 19g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 170mg | Sodium: 345mg | Potassium: 929mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 284IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 76mg | Iron: 4mg

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: American

Keyword: slow cooker tri tips, tri tip roast