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Tender and juicy tri tip steak with a perfect crunchy crust, air fried to medium rare perfection in less than 25 minutes from the fridge to your dinner table!
I love making this tri-tip all the time because of the easy use of the air fryer’s convection function – this is my favorite too rainy to grill air fryer steak recipe!
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At Sweet C’s, I add lots of tips in all of my recipes – because I am a home cook without any formal training, and I find I am more confident making dishes when I understand why it works, and what each ingredient means to the flavor of a recipe. My goal is for even the most beginner home cook to feel empowered in the kitchen.
Table of contents
Air Fried Tri-Tip
This tri tip steak is incredibly tender and juicy – I love grilled churrasco style steak, but when we can’t get outside over the grill, the air fryer is the BEST way to make steak!
We love air fryer New York strip steaks, and decided to try tri tip in our air fryer – what a game changer!
Air fryers are like mini convection ovens that broil at high temps (and because they are small, they direct heat more efficiently than many ovens, allowing you to get a lovely sear and crunch without overcooking the meat) – giving you perfect delicious steak.
We love to serve this steak with chimichurri sauce – it’s simple, clean, and crazy delicious!
Check out my web story about air frying this tri tip, it includes video!
How to Air Fry Tri Tip Steak
This recipe was designed to work with any air fryer model or pressure cooker (Ninja Foodi or Instant Pot) with broiler lid and basket.
We’ve made it in a Phillips air fryer (standard air fryer with basket), a Ninja Foodi with broiler lid, and an Instant Pot with crisping lid and broiler function.
This steak is delicious with a super simple steak rub – we’re going to show you our favorite rub with a little kick from Aleppo pepper (one of my all time favorite seasonings), but if you have a steak rub you love, go ahead and use that as you wish (use 2 tablespoons)!
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 tablespoon aleppo pepper (less if you don’t want it too spicy)
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
Method: You’ll flip the tri tip after about 8 minutes, and aim for 16-20 minutes air fry time – but then leave the tri tip in the air fryer until it hits your target temperature to carryover cook in the ambient heat.
Since cuts of meat can vary in size, and different air fryers hit different temperatures, we strongly recommend on going off the temperature of your tri tip, not the time on your air fryer for absolutely perfect results.
Tips to Perfect Air Fried Steak & FAQs
This recipe is incredibly easy to get perfect air fried tri tip with a crunchy crust and juicy, tender center – but there are a few things you can do to make sure your tri tip is a knockout every time.
Bring to room temperature. For the crunchy crust and rich meaty flavor you get from a steakhouse, you want to cook steak as hot and fast as possible. Steak that has come to room temperature before cooking can crisp on the outside faster, and allows the fat to render more. Simply let tri tip rest on the counter for 20-30 minutes before cooking while you prep the rest of your meal.
Pat dry. Steak with excess moisture or water will not crisp and risk boiling instead of broiling – giving you tougher, chewier, gray meat. Simply pat dry with a paper towel to make sure your steak is completely dry before rubbing with oil.
Drizzle in oil. Before air frying, we will be adding a little oil to help seasoning stick and crisp the outside of the steak a bit more when air frying. Think of this as just a drizzle for your steaks – they should just glisten from the oil, they don’t need to be soaked in oil.
Season well. Before air frying, be sure to season steak well. Use your favorite steak seasoning, herbs de provence, Montreal steak seasoning, or rub.
Give steak space. It is absolutely essential to have lots of airflow for your air fryer to properly cook steaks – don’t cram into the basket and don’t let steaks crowd the basket or touch.
Let steak carryover cook in air fryer. If you remove your steaks from the air fryer/broiler basket right when the machine’s timer shuts off, your steak will be crispy outside, but very much raw in the middle. The broiler/air fry function is great for crisping the outside of the steak, but a good deal of the cooking is done after your air fryer fan shuts off and the steaks cook in the heat of the machine. Keep machine closed (you can quickly pop in a digital thermometer to monitor doneness) for at least 5 minutes for medium rare, and up to 10 minutes for medium well to well done.
Let it rest. All steak need to rest for 5 minutes after cooking before serving and slicing (after removed from machine) to let juices set and prevent steak from drying out.)
Know what temperature to cook steak to. Since we’re cooking this steak to an ideal doneness – and less for time – it is critical to know the temperature you’d like to cook your tri tip to. I personally go for “Pittsburg Rare” – charred on the outside, and fairly rare in the middle – it’s my absolute favorite way to eat steaks, including tri tip! Air fryers are great at getting the perfect crunchy crust on the outside of steak, without overcooking the middle, so you get a delicious juicy steak at perfect medium rare (its great even done more, I just love rare-medium rare.)
- Rare – 120 degrees
- Medium Rare – 130 degrees
- Medium – 140 degrees
- Medium Well – 150 degrees
- Well – 160+ degrees
Recipe FAQs
Tri tip steak is great for an air fryer – it comes out with a perfect crunchy crust and tender, juicy meat!
The hot air circulation in an air fryer helps steak cook hot and fast, so you’re left with tons of rich meaty flavor, without all the butter, oil, or splattery, smoky mess from pan frying steak at home.
This recipe was designed to work with any air fryer model or pressure cooker (Ninja Foodi or Instant Pot) with broiler lid and basket.
Air fryer/pressure cookers with broiler functions should be set at 450 degrees.
For medium rare, broil for 12 minutes and let steak sit in machine for another 5 minutes to carryover cook until steak is 130-135 degrees Fahrenheit.
Rare – 120 degrees
Medium Rare – 130 degrees
Medium – 140 degrees
Medium Well – 150 degrees
Well – 160+ degrees
What To Serve With Tri Tip Steak
Try my air fryer London broil next!
Tri tip is delicious for fajitas and tacos, but it’s also great on its own, served with delicious hearty sides.
For our steak recipe archives, click here.
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Air Fryer Tri Tip Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 tri tip steak, about 4 lbs
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon paprika*
- 1 tablespoon aleppo pepper*, less if you don’t want it too spicy
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder*
- 1 teaspoon salt*
- 1 teaspoon pepper*
- ½ cup chimichurri sauce, to garnish, optional
Instructions
- Remove steak from refrigerator and let come to room temperature.
- In a small bowl, mix together herbs, spices, and seasonings.
- Pat steak dry with paper towels.
- Rub olive oil into steak.
- Add spice rub to steak.
- Preheat air fryer to 400 degrees F for 5-10 minutes.
- Add steak to air fryer basket, set to maximum heat, and fry 8 minutes.
- Flip tri tip and cook again 8 minutes.
- Check the tri tip temperature – if you are within 10-15 degrees of your target, close the lid and let the tri tip continue cooking in the air fryer (it will stay very hot after air frying, don't let all the heat escape when measuring temp.)
- If tri tip is more than 20 degrees from your target temperature, cook additional 5-10 minutes.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
HI, you are not telling us what temperature to run the airfryer. Could you provide that please.
The air fryer temperature is 400 degrees, I have updated the recipe, thanks for letting me know.
It turned out amazing! This is the second time I’m using this recipe. Thank you! Oh and the extra tips you included was just what I was looking for.
So glad you loved it! Thank you!
Great recipe and directions! My steak came out perfect with a great crust. I used the tray instead of the basket in my fryer and it turned out perfect. Thanks for including the temperature guide. The helpful tips to turn the meat mid-way and let it continue cooking in the warm oven made all the difference!
So glad you loved it!
Do you have a chart for the suggested temperatures?
I don’t have one yet but that is a great idea, and I will make one. For temperatures its:
Rare – 125 F
Med Rare – 135 F
Medium – 145 F
Medium Well – 150 F
Well Done – 160 F
Thank you for these so I don’t have to leave this page to find out what my target temp. is. Thank you Thank you. I can’t wait to eat.
Enjoy!
This is a lot of rambling and aggravation for a simple collection of suggestions. Who has the time to waste on a diary entry?
GET TO THE POINT.
Buddy this is a women’s page she’s not catering to you. Btw great recipe Courtney. Making it as I wrote this
Hello Courtney. Courtney here. This recipe sounds delicious. Can it be adapted for ACTUAL STEAKS? I was looking for a similar recipe for the much smaller steaks and your title was a little misleading.
Hi Courtney! You can use a different cut of beef if you want but you may need to adjust the cook time if it’s a lot thinner or thicker than tri tip.