Smoked Top Sirloin Roast Beef

Top sirloin roast is possibly my favourite beef roast. It is nicely marbled and comes out very tender with a rich beef flavour. Also, it is not one of the most expensive cuts of beef, so this has excellent value for what you pay. Sure it is more than cheap roasts, like inside round, eye round, tri-tip, and shoulder, but you will be happy you spent a little more for a top-sirloin. I also love how the roast is a fairly uniform shape as this helps to provide a more even finished roast.

I roast top sirloins in the oven a lot of the time and I have a detailed post showing how to cook the best top sirloin roast, found here: How to Cook a Top Sirloin Beef Roast

Instead of cooking the top sirloin in the oven, it is also possible to smoke this roast. This results in an incredible smoked roast with a beefy flavour and deep smokey taste.

How to Smoke a Top Sirloin Roast-2

If there is any excess fat on the outside of the roast, feel free to trim it up. I leave a thin layer of the fat cap on the roast. I have smoked it with the fat cap on top as well as on the bottom and actually have not noticed a difference in the moistness of the roast. But, I find that if the fat cap is on the bottom, the crisp outside of the roast is so tasty.

If needed, tie up the roast with some kitchen twine. This allows the roast to hold into a football shape and comes out as a much better finished roast.

For a seasoning for the roast, I use a combination of sea salt and Montreal steak spice. I first rub the roast down with sea salt and then rub it with some Montreal steak spice. That’s it.

How to Smoke a Top Sirloin Roast-10

Mesquite wood is great for a beef roast as the strong smoke flavour balances the beefiness of the roast quite well. There are many types of wood that will also work great, including maple, hickory, apple, pecan, oak and more.

I set the smoker to 250F and I find that this is a great temp to cook the roast evenly and still infuse plenty of smoke flavour in the beef. While the roast is smoking, keep the door closed as much as possible. Every time you open the door, you not only let the heat out, but the smoke escapes as well. My digital thermometer has a probe with a long cable that I run through the vent in the top of the smoker. That way I can keep the door closed and still monitor the temperature of the roast.

How to Smoke a Top Sirloin Roast-6

I cook until the internal temperature of the roast is anywhere between 130-135F. Instead of smoking to a specific length of time, it is much better to smoke to a certain internal temperature. If you do not have a digital thermometer, this is an excellent tool to pick up and have in your smoker’s toolbox.

Once the roast reaches your desired doneness and internal temperature, take it out of the smoker and let it rest for about 10 minutes before slicing. This allows the juices to be evenly distributed throughout the roast and you will find it tastes much more moist than if you slice it right away.

How to Smoke a Top Sirloin Roast-9

Smoked Top Sirloin Roast Recipe

4.94 out of 5
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Smoked top sirloin roast recipe with detailed instructions for smoking a beef roast. This was done in with mesquite wood in a Bradley Smoker with a simple steak type spice rub.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 3 hours
Total Time: 3 hours 10 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 top sirloin beef roast (5-6 pounds)
  • 3 tbsp sea salt
  • 1/4 cup Montreal steak spice

Instructions

  • Trim the roast of any excess fat. If desired, tie the roast up with kitchen twine.
  • Rub the roast down with the sea salt and then rub the roast with the Montreal steak spice.
  • Set up smoker for 250F using mesquite wood, or other wood of choice.
  • Lay the roast on a smoker rack and smoke until 135, or until desired doneness.
  • Remove the roast from the smoker and let rest for 10 minutes. Slice and serve.

 

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4.94 from 47 votes (25 ratings without comment)

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45 comments

  • 4 stars
    no fancy smoker here.. just a cheap Oklahoma Joe from Walmart and we LOVE it.. getting ready to put some meat on it now and one will be a 5.5 lb sirloin tip roast.. Can’t wait to taste it. it’s breezy today here in South Florida and I can smell smoke from other smokers in the neighborhood .. it is always BBQ weather here ( especially after a hurricane )

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  • 5 stars
    Made this on the weekend. Was great. the only thing I might add to it was to sear the meat afterwards. Perfectly cooked through in about 2.5 hrs

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  • 4 stars
    Did my own things to your recipe, but it made a great starting point! Set my roast up on onions in the pan, abs filled the pan with beef broth. Cut slits in the roast, filled with garlic. Used Cajun seasoning as well, mmmm mmmm good!!

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    • Thanks for sharing how you made some changes! Glad you enjoyed the roast! Sounds great

      • Reply
  • Preparing this recipe as I text will come back and let y’all know at a later time

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  • It was wonderful! Moist, tender, delicious!

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  • Thank you gonna give this a try. First time to smoke one.

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  • 5 stars
    This recipe has become one of my go-to smoking meals, especially for family gatherings. Yesterday I smoked three roasts (from Sam’s) in my Masterbuilt smoker for a family Easter dinner with about 25 people. Each roast was about five pounds and all three finished in about 2.5 hours. I used apple wood. I started the temp at 250 but turned it down to 235 after about an hour because the meat was cooking a little quicker than I needed. I cooked to about 138 degrees to get a little closer to medium, then took the meat out and wrapped it in foil to rest and transport.

    I also made some au jus. I put a couple cups of beef broth in the water pan under the meat while it smoked. After the meat finished I put the broth (along with the fat that dripped during the smoke) in a sauce pan with a couple tablespoons of flour and a dash each of garlic powder, onion powder, and black pepper (to taste).

    Everyone raved about how juicy and flavorful the meat was. Give this a try!

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  • Hi im smokin one right now. Planning on 3.5 hrs at 300 on my louisana pellit smoker due to being 2 c and a breeze outside today. I marinated it overnight worshire , soy sauce , blend of spices as rub like garlic cajun salt pepper and a combo of 5 differnet dry rubs. Im useing mesquite pellits should be awesome.

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  • 5 stars
    Hi Steve. We just bought a Knox Tera Gear has smoker and haven’t used it yet. Going to try this recipe for a party I’m hosting tmw. The smoker came with a water tray…should I be using that with this recipe?

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  • 5 stars
    I bought my master built smoker in 2015. There’s nothing like smoked pit beef! Best thing and I can monitor it from Inside the house. Set the internal desired temperature and it beeps off when done and since it’s wirel wear it clipped to my jeans. Since I like it med rare set temp for 130-135. I use hickory cherry and apple. Dry boudascious rub from Texas

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  • 5 stars
    Steve, I plan on trying this tomorrow on my treager. Some people have suggested a reverse sear at the end. I wanted to know if you have tried that or what your thoughts are on that. Thanks!

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    • I have not tried it, but it might work well. If you do try it, please come back and share how it turned out.

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  • Smoked a sirloin roast today. Smoked it at 250 for 4 hours on my pit boss smoker took it off when it reached 150 degrees as my wife doesn’t like rare. Wrapped in foil and towel then let it rest in a cooler for an hour turned out really good although I will not be using the Traeger rub I put on it as it was to sweet

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  • 5 stars
    I am cooking a top roast tomorrow. I will be using apple wood chips and apple juice in the water pan. a sweet smoked roast sounds like a good idea. Hope it works out good for me.

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    • Sounds awesome! Hope you enjoy it. Come back and share how it turned out

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  • 5 stars
    A local retailer often sells USDA prime top sirloin beef roasts. They cook up well in my Big Green Egg. And they are much less finicky than brisket.

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  • 5 stars
    Hey Steve, we love your smoked sirloin recipe so much that we featured it as part of our 101 favorite smoker recipes. And we love the fact that you took the time to truss it up, it’s that old school attention to detail that leads to great bbq! You can check it out here – https://bbqonmain.com/101-smoker-recipes/

    Thanks so much for sharing!

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  • I have one going right now in my Smokin It brand smoker with a PID controller. Ironically I started mine before I found this article and used almost the same season for the crust. I started mine out at 1 hour at 180 then up to 220 for an hour finishing at 250 till PID controller shuts it down at 135 internal. Not a doubt this will be delicious.

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    • Sounds great!

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  • I smoked mine today on a Trager, it was just under 4 lbs and took 3 hours to get to 142 degrees. It tastes amazing. Also, I used Mesquite Pellets

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  • This looks good and simple too. I’m excited to try it today with my roast.

    Has anyone ever tried a top sirloin roast on a Traeger? Suggested cooking temp?

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  • My cooking experience was a little different on my Green egg. I cooked my top sirloin cap roast, about 5 pounds, in under two hours. 250°.When I reach 133° I took it off and let it rest.

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    • Sounds great. Big green egg works so great for a roast like this!

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  • I realize there are many factors affecting smoke/cook time including ambient temperature, wind, size of roast etc. but what ballpark is the cook time for the roast? 2 hours? 6 hours? Just trying to get an idea what time to start the roast so it’s ready around dinner time.
    Thanks

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    • You are right that the factors affect the time dramatically, but for a 5 pound roast, I try to give myself close to 4 hours. Hope that helps.

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      • 5 stars
        thanks for the reply Steve. I got home from work tonight and my wife surprised me with a smoked roast. All I can say is WOW! I think we’ll be doing another this weekend for the in-laws.

        • Reply

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