A step-by-step guide to smoked beef tenderloin with a reverse sear that results in melt-in-your-mouth, tender, juicy beef.
David and I smoked our first beef tenderloin on his Weber Performer charcoal grill a few weeks ago. After it slowly smoked over cherry wood, we finished a hot fiery reverse sear with fresh herbs and garlic butter.
GOOD LORD, this piece of meat is to die for!!
The beef was so tender and juicy that it practically melted in your mouth. The tenderloin cooked perfectly with a delicious garlicky herb-seared crust.
Beef tenderloin is known as a favorite holiday, special occasion, or celebratory dish. It can be one of the more expensive cuts, but tenderloin is a little cheaper if you purchase as whole untrimmed. I managed to find one on sale. I’ve always wanted to cook one and seized the opportunity to purchase this normally expensive cut of meat.
David and I say life is too short to sit around waiting for a holiday or special occasion to cook meat. I mean, you could wake up dead tomorrow and never get your lips around this juicy piece of meat again, right?!?
Fire up the grill and celebrate summer with this amazing smoked beef tenderloin or if you want to get all fancy about it, call it “filet mignon.” Learn how to smoke beef tenderloin with this step-by-step guide using the reverse sear method.
What is Beef Tenderloin?
Beef tenderloin is probably the most tender cut on a cow, known for being lean, tender, and juicy with an easy-to-carve fine texture. Beef tenderloin is where filet mignon comes from. It’s part of the cow high up inside beneath the ribs, next to the backbone. This muscle is not weight-bearing, so it has minimal connective tissue, making it very tender.
What is Reverse Sear?
Beef tenderloin has low-fat content, so a reverse sear gives the meat incredible flavor. Reverse sear is a method of smoking beef tenderloin to allow the meat to take on a nice cherry wood flavor as it slowly smokes. Then the tenderloin is seared over the fire while basted with an herb brush drenched in garlic butter. The result is a sizzling crust on the outside with a blood-red medium-rare center.
The low-and-slow cooking gives you a long window of time between perfectly cooked meat and meat overdone. When cooked correctly, tenderloin may be the best beef you will ever pull off the grill.
Let’s smoke a tenderloin!
What You’ll Need to Make Smoked Beef Tenderloin – Reverse Sear
The recipe card at the end of this post provides a detailed list of ingredients.
What You’ll Need:
- (1) 3 to 5-pound center cut beef tenderloin, trimmed
- Dry Rub: we use equal parts kosher salt, black pepper and garlic powder
- Garlic Butter: Unsalted butter and garlic
- Herb Brush (Bouquet Garni): Sprigs of fresh rosemary and thyme
Helpful Equipment and Supplies:
- Large cutting board
- Sharp butcher knife
- Butcher’s Twine
- Kitchen Shears
- Weber Charcoal Grill
- Charcoal Baskets
- 1 to 2 Cherry Wood Chunks (or any fruit wood is fine)
- Utility Tongs
- Cooking/Grilling Tongs
- Instant Read Thermometer
- Grilling Gloves
How to Make Smoked Beef Tenderloin
#1 Trim The Tenderloin
The beef tenderloin needs to be trimmed, so if you buy an untrimmed whole beef tenderloin, cut off the excess fat, chain, connective tissue, and silver skin, and remove the muscle-on roast.
I’m not going to lie; this piece of meat starts ugly, like some weird alien or something. But it looks better after you trim it. However, it doesn’t look that appetizing until you reverse-sear it and slice it open.
The beginning weight of our untrimmed whole beef tenderloin was right at 5 pounds. By the time it was trimmed, the tenderloin weighed 2.8 pounds. So roughly 2 pounds of fat, connective tissue, silverskin, and meat were removed from the tenderloin. However, the scraps of fat and meat are NOT a waste. Save them for grinding hamburgers or other recipes such as fajitas or stir-fry.
#2 Prepare the Tenderloin
Since the tail of the tenderloin can be somewhat thinner, a good way to ensure even cooking is to fold it under and secure it with butcher’s twine. This will double up the thickness of the tail and allow it to cook more evenly across the tenderloin. Some go a step further by cinching the whole tenderloin to ensure even cooking.
In a small bowl, whisk together the dry rub ingredients to combine. Sprinkle the rub across the beef tenderloin pressing lightly with clean hands to help it adhere to the meat. Place the rubbed beef tenderloin in the refrigerator for at least two hours before lighting the grill.
Smoking the beef tenderloin right away is ok, but sitting in the refrigerator for several hours allows the rub to penetrate the meat, especially the salt.
Salt is the most valuable part of this dry rub mixture. When you put salt on meat, it does a little more than give it flavor. The salt dissolves into the natural juices of the meat. This helps dissolve the proteins (myosin) in the meat that makes it shrink when heated. Allowing the dry rub to stay on the meat will help it shrink less and expel more moisture during cooking, which helps with browning.
#3 Fire Up the Grill For Smoking
For this beef tenderloin recipe, David used his Weber Performer charcoal grill, a kettle-style grill. To slowly smoke the tenderloin, he uses an indirect heat technique to place the hot charcoal on one side of the grill.
Prepare the grill for indirect heat and preheat the grill to 250 degrees F. To maintain this low temperature, use only half as much charcoal as usual. (A half chimney-full.)
#4 Slow Smoke The Prepared Beef Tenderloin
Remove the tenderloin from the refrigerator and place it on the cool side of the grill grate. Throw a chunk of cherry wood onto the bed of coals and slow smoke the tenderloin over indirect heat, with the lid closed.
Smoke the tenderloin until an instant-read thermometer reads approximately 135 degrees F; about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Then remove the beef tenderloin from the grill.
#5 Make A Herb Brush For Basting (Bouquet Garni)
Meanwhile, make a herb brush to baste the meat. This brush is much like a “bouquet garni.” “Bouquet garni” are two fancy French words that mean “garnished bouquet.”
Essentially what this refers to is a bunch of herbs tied together with a string. “Bouquet Garni” sounds better than strung up herbs, so let roll with it! However, you don’t want to hear David’s pronunciation of that culinary term.
To make the herb brush, you’ll need two long sprigs of rosemary and two long sprigs of thyme. First, remove the last 4 to 5 inches of green needle-like leaves from the rosemary; discard or use them for another time. Then gather the sprigs of thyme and rosemary together and tie it into a bundle along the woody stem of the rosemary with butcher’s twine. Set aside until needed.
#6 Prepare the Garlic Butter
Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Smash the two cloves of garlic with the side of a chef’s knife, peel off the skin and add them to the melted butter. Simmer for about a minute stirring the butter with the herb brush until the butter becomes fragrant. Be careful not to get the butter too hot, or it will burn and scorch the garlic. Turn off the heat and set aside until needed.
#7 Reverse Sear The Smoked Tenderloin With Herbs & Garlic Butter
Prepare the grill for direct high heat grilling. Spread out the already hot charcoals and light up fresh hot charcoal.
Note: David mentioned that lighting up the charcoal chimney again would probably speed up the process, rather than throwing the new coals on top of the cooling charcoal bed.
When the charcoal is ready and the grill is hot, place the tenderloin back onto the hot grate. Have the herb brush and garlic butter warm and ready to go—Grill the beef tenderloin for about 3 minutes on each side. Check the tenderloin with an instant-read thermometer often.
When the meat is about 138 degrees F, carefully dip the herb brush into the warm garlic butter and baste each side of the tenderloin. Use caution, as the butter will cause the flames to lick up high on the meat. Have the lid handy to help put out overpowering flames. (Grilling gloves are recommended.)
When the meat’s internal temperature is at 140 degrees F, remove it from the grill immediately. The carryover heat will bring the meat to the perfect doneness of 145 degrees F.
Place the meat on a carving board and allow it to rest for at least 10 minutes. Perfectly smoked beef tenderloin will have a dark red center and be light pink on the outside.
How To Serve Beef Tenderloin
To serve, carve the tenderloin into 1-inch-thick medallions. Serve the beef as is or with a Creamy Horseradish Sauce With Roasted Garlic, Honey Mustard BBQ Sauce, or sauce of your choice.
CHECK OUT OUR VIDEO FOR HOW TO SMOKE BEEF TENDERLOIN – REVERSE SEAR:
Celebrate summer with all of your carnivorous friends gathered around the grill outdoors. They won’t be able to stop talking about it!
Smoked Beef Tenderloin – Reverse Sear
Useful Equipment:
- Sharp Butcher Knife
- Cherry Wood Chunks
Ingredients
- 3 pound beef tenderloin, trimmed 3 to 5-pound center-cut
Dry Rub:
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 ½ tablespoon freshly cracked black pepper
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
Garlic Butter
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (½ stick)
- 2 garlic cloves peeled and smashed / crushed
Herb Brush (Bouquet Garni)
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
Instructions
Trim The Tenderloin
- The beef tenderloin needs to be trimmed, so if you buy an untrimmed whole beef tenderloin, cut off the excess fat, chain, connective tissue, silver skin, and remove the muscle-on roast.
Prepare the Tenderloin
- Since the tail of the tenderloin can be somewhat thinner, a good way to ensure even cooking is to fold it under and secure it with butcher’s twine. This will double up the thickness of the tail and allow it to cook more evenly across the tenderloin.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the dry rub ingredients to combine. Sprinkle the rub across the beef tenderloin pressing lightly with clean hands to help it adhere to the meat. Place the rubbed beef tenderloin in the refrigerator for at least two hours prior to lighting the grill. Smoking the beef tenderloin right away is ok, but sitting in the refrigerator for several hours allows the rub to penetrate the meat.
Fire Up the Grill For Smoking
- Prepare the grill for indirect heat and preheat the grill to 250 degrees F. To maintain this low temperature, use only half as much charcoal as usual. (A half chimney-full.)
Slow Smoke The Prepared Beef Tenderloin
- Remove the tenderloin from the refrigerator and place it on the cool side of the grill grate. Throw a chunk of cherry wood onto the bed of coals and slow smoke the tenderloin over indirect heat, with the lid closed. Smoke the tenderloin until an instant-read thermometer reads approximately 135 degrees F; about 45 minute to 1 hour. Then remove the beef tenderloin from the grill to rest.
Make A Herb Brush For Basting (Bouquet Garni)
- Meanwhile, make the herb brush. You’ll need two long sprigs of rosemary and two long sprigs of thyme. Remove the last 4 to 5 inches of green needle-like leaves from the rosemary; discard or use for another time. Then gather the sprigs of thyme and rosemary together and tie it into a bundle along the woody stem of the rosemary with butcher’s twine. Set aside until needed.
Prepare the Garlic Butter
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Smash the two cloves of garlic with the side of a chef’s knife, peel off the skin and add them to the melted butter. Simmer for about a minute, stirring the butter with the herb brush, until the butter becomes fragrant. Be careful not to get the butter too hot or it will burn and scorch the garlic. Turn off the heat and set aside until needed.
Reverse Sear The Smoked Tenderloin With Herbs & Garlic Butter
- Prepare the grill for direct high heat grilling. Spread out the already hot charcoals and light up fresh hot charcoal.
- When the charcoal is ready and the grill is hot, place the tenderloin back onto the hot grate. Have the herb brush and garlic butter warm and ready to go. Grill the beef tenderloin about 3 minutes on each side. Check the tenderloin with an instant-read thermometer often.
- When the meat is about 138 degrees F, carefully dip the herb brush into the warm garlic butter and baste each side of the tenderloin. Use caution, as the butter will cause the flames to lick up high on the meat. Have the lid handy to help put out overpowering flames. (Grilling gloves are recommended.)
- When the meat temperature is at 140 degrees F, remove from the grill immediately. The carry over heat will bring the meat to the perfect doneness of 145 degrees F.
- Place the meat on a carving board and allow it to rest at least 10 minutes. Perfectly smoked beef tenderloin will have a dark red center and be light pink on the outside.
Serve the Beef Tenderloin
- To serve, carve the tenderloin into 1-inch-thick medallions. Serve warm or at room temperature. It's amazing any way you slice it!
Fitoru Keto Support says
My brother’s coming over tomorrow and I’m thinking of trying this. Thanks a lot for sharing!
The Mountain Kitchen says
Awesome! Thanks for commenting and enjoy the smoked beef tenderloin!
Dave says
Phenomenal outcome last night with this recipe. The reverse sear came out perfectly, first time! Thanks TMK!
The Mountain Kitchen says
Awesome, Dave! Thanks for the great review!
bill welling says
i have not made this one yet, but i have had the pleasure of watching TMK make it and then help them eat it, not once, not twice, but about 4 times now. this recipe right here folks is what you want for dinner. absolute perfection. yum, yum, yum.
bill (sparky) welling. aka- lid man, aka- guinea pig guy.
The Mountain Kitchen says
and the best part is you remembered it all 4 times!!!!!!!!! LOL! Thank you for the kind review. Hopefully, we can cook another one again soon!
Sonja Samuels-Neal says
Smoked Beef Tenderloin – Reverse Sear – Can this be done in an oven or air fryer? Thanks so much.
Sonja
The Mountain Kitchen says
I’m not sure why you would air-fry a beef tenderloin. We have never tried it.