Whether you make a smoked tri-tip or prepare an oven roasted tri-tip, there's a good chance you'll end up with tri-tip leftovers. One way to use up the leftovers is to make these delectable Tri-Tip Sandwiches and tri-tip sliders!
These mini sandwiches are so good! They are layered with thinly sliced tri-tip, caramelized onions, and pepper jack cheese, then brushed with garlic butter. I've even prepared them with thinly sliced steak leftovers.
If you love mustard, you may want to slather on some of these pickled mustard seeds for an extra pop of flavor! Red onion chutney is another great addition.
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😍 Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Tri-Tip sandwiches are super easy to build and can be customized to fit everyone's taste.
- They are perfect to serve for a potluck, game day, or the holidays!
- You can do the prep work ahead of time, cover them with foil, then refrigerate them. When you are ready to serve the tri-tip sandwiches, just pop them in the oven for 25 minutes or so.
- Leftovers can be wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated. To reheat the sandwiches, they can be microwaved for 45 to 60 seconds.
🛒 What You Need For This Recipe
🔖 Ingredients & Substitutions
- Tri-Tip: Tri-tip is one of my favorite cuts of beef. You can use your favorite tri-tip recipe or try mine. I season my tri-tip roasts with my Santa Maria Seasoning which is made of a combination of salt, black pepper, paprika, cayenne pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and fresh rosemary. If you have to, you can use roast beef or smoked prime rib instead of tri-tip.
- Bread: Although I used Artesano Bakery Rolls to make sliders, you can use Hawaiian rolls or ciabatta rolls. Sourdough rolls would also be an excellent choice.
- Cheese: The Pepper jack cheese can be replaced with your favorite cheese including Swiss, Cheddar, Havarti, or Provolone cheese.
- Onion: If you don't have yellow onions, you can use red onions instead.
🥪 How To Make Tri-Tip Sandwiches
Step 1: Line a 9"×13" pan with aluminum foil; set aside. Place tri-tip roast onto a cutting board and slice thinly against the grain.
Step 2: Slice onions and sauté in olive oil until caramelized.
Step 3: While the onions are sautéing, use a serrated bread knife to slice the bread rolls without separating them. You should end up with 2 slabs of bread.
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Pro Tip: It's ok if the top or bottom portions don't stay intact. You can arrange them back together when you assemble them in the pan.
Step 4: Place the bottom slab into the prepared pan. Layer with sliced tri-tip, caramelized onions, and cheese. If you have a lot of tri-tip leftovers, you can do multiple layers of meat and cheese. Add the top bread layer.
Step 5: Whisk melted butter, crushed garlic, and ranch seasoning in a small bowl. Brush the tops and sides of the rolls. At this point, you can either cover and refrigerate the rolls or bake them immediately.
Step 6: When you're ready to bake the tri-tip sliders, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Cover the pan with foil and bake the sandwiches for 15 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 5 minutes. Use a sharp knife to slice into individual portions and serve the steak sandwiches while hot.
🤷🏻♀️ Recipe FAQs
Tri-tip is a sirloin roast with a triangular shape, hence the name "tri-tip" or "3-tips." Although this cut is lean, it's also very flavorful and perfect when thinly sliced against the grain.
Tri-tip is less expensive than prime rib and is excellent when smoked. However, it can also be cooked on a charcoal or gas grill or baked in the oven. To retain the roast's juiciness, do not overcook the tri-tip. 
The tri-tip needs to be sliced against the grain into thin slices. Since the grain on the roast goes in two different directions, you have to slice it in half first and then slice each piece in a different direction, against the grain. If you are a visual person, here is a helpful video.
Tri-tip can be served with a potato dish such as baked potatoes or air fried potato wedges. For a vegetable side option, consider serving broccoli crunch salad, cheesy Bussel sprouts, or oil and vinegar coleslaw.
👩🏼🍳 Pro Tips
- Although tri-tip sliders are amazing as-is, adding your favorite sauce takes them to a whole new level. I love adding huckleberry BBQ sauce to my individual tri-tip sliders. However, you may prefer mustard, horseradish, lemon garlic aioli, chipotle aioli, or plain mayonnaise. If you want to push the envelope a bit, add some huckleberry chutney or chimichurri sauce with cilantro.
- If you love mushrooms, they would be delicious in these sandwiches. Just sauté some at the same time you sauté the onions.
- Pickles, sliced tomatoes, and lettuce are all great options as well, but I would add them just before serving.
- If you're on a budget, these sandwiches can even be prepared with this bottom round roast recipe. Just slice thinly against the grain.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container and reheat by either microwaving or in a 325-degree oven until warmed through.
🧀 More Sandwich Recipes
📖 Recipe
Tri-Tip Sandwiches with Caramelized Onions
Equipment
- 1 skillet
Ingredients
- 1 lb. tri-tip (thinly sliced against the grain)
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 small yellow onions (sliced)
- 1 package 12-count artesano rolls (or Hawaiian Rolls)
- 8 ounces sliced pepper jack cheese (or favorite cheese)
- 3 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1½ teaspoon ranch seasoning
Instructions
- Line a 9"×13" pan with aluminum foil; set aside. Place tri-tip roast onto a cutting board and slice thinly against the grain.
- Slice onions, then sauté in a skillet in olive oil until caramelized.
- While the onions are sautéing, use a serrated bread knife to slice the bread rolls without separating them. You should end up with 2 slabs of bread.
- Place the bottom slab into the prepared pan. Layer with sliced tri-tip, caramelized onions, and cheese. If you have a lot of tri-tip leftovers, you can do multiple layers of meat and cheese. Add the top bread layer.
- Whisk melted butter, crushed garlic, and ranch seasoning in a small bowl. Brush the tops and sides of the rolls. At this point, you can either cover and refrigerate the rolls or bake them immediately.
- When you're ready to bake the tri-tip sliders, preheat the oven to 350°F. Cover the pan with foil and bake the sandwiches for 15 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 5 minutes. Use a sharp knife to slice into individual portions and serve the steak sandwiches while hot.
Notes
- Although tri-tip sliders are amazing as-is, adding your favorite sauce takes them to a whole new level. I love adding huckleberry BBQ sauce to my individual tri-tip sliders. However, you may prefer mustard, horseradish, chipotle aioli, or plain mayonnaise. If you want to push the envelope a bit, add some huckleberry chutney or Cilantro chimichurri sauce.
- If you love mushrooms, they would be delicious in these sandwiches. Just sauté some at the same time you sauté the onions.
- Pickles, sliced tomatoes, and lettuce are all great options as well, but I would add them just before serving.
- If you're on a budget, these sandwiches can even be prepared with this bottom round roast recipe. Just slice thinly against the grain.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container and reheat by either microwaving or in a 325-degree oven until warmed through.
Cinda says
Silly question…. With left over tri tip the meat is cold. Do I need to warm the meat up in the microwave first, or will the tri tip warm up in the sandwich? Lol
Hilda Sterner says
Hi Cinda, That's a great question! The tri-tip will warm up in the oven, no need to warm it first.
Jane Gordon says
We had a lot of grilled tri-tip leftover from family BBQ and I searched for a way to use the leftovers online. Stew...No. Burritos...No, Mexican burritos No, had them two nights ago. I kept looking and I almost tried your tri-tip Shepard's Pie (another time), but these sliders won with tonight's crowd! Hilda -- I had not seen your recipes before today and now we are over-the-moon with this tri-tip slider recipe. It is stellar: the perfect balance of flavors put together with regular ingredients for a bomb dinner. We kept it very simple and had Italian marinated cukes, tomatoes, and sweet onions, along with cut up juicy navel orange pieces. Our local markets did not carry the exact dinner rolls from the recipe, but I used the same Sara Lee Artisan rolls in the sausage bun size and it was wonderful. My husband is the only one of our group of six that used a dipping sauce (BBQ sauce), while the rest of us enjoyed the sliders in their purest delicious form, as prepared. I am looking forward to perusing some more of your recipes for my family to enjoy in the near future!
Hilda Sterner says
Hi Jane, Thank you so much for your sweet review! I'm so happy that your family enjoyed the tri-tip sandwiches and hope you enjoy some of my other recipes!
Kelly Methey says
Delicious!!!
Hilda Sterner says
Thank you, my friend!