Smoked Beef Tenderloin on a Traeger Pellet Grill

Learn step by step how to make a smoked beef tenderloin on a Traeger pellet grill and why this is such a great way to prepare this ultimate beef roast.

Let's go!

Jump to:

• Prepare the Beef Tenderloin
• The Best Seasonings for Beef Tenderloin
• Choosing Wood Pellets
• Start the Traeger
• Smoking Temperature
• Smoke the Beef Tenderloin
• Target Internal Temperature
• Cooking Time
• Reverse Searing
• Grill Grates to Reverse Sear Beef Tenderloin
• Carve and Serve
• 📖 Recipe

Prepare the Beef Tenderloin

Plan to trim and salt your beef tenderloin the night before you smoke it on your Traeger.

This is also a great time to prepare the horseradish cream in the recipe below ahead of time so you have one less thing to worry about the next day.

Trim the Fat and Silverskin

If your beef tenderloin comes fully trimmed, great, if not...you will need to do a little work before seasoning it and throwing it on the Traeger.

Use a good boning or filet knife like our favorite one from iMarku to first remove the silver skin from the top of the beef tenderloin.

This will allow you to better see where the chain attaches to the tenderloin.  The tenderloin chain is the fatty piece of meat that runs along the side of the main tenderloin.

There's nothing wrong with this cut of meat so don't just discard it, but we want to remove it for our purposes for the main event.

Pull the chain away from the tenderloin and then cut it off.  You will need to do this on both sides, although one side is usually a lot bigger than the other.

Then remove any remaining silverskin and fatty pieces until you have a nice cleaned up beef tenderloin in front of you.

Dry Brine Overnight

If you have the time we highly recommend dry brining your beef tenderloin overnight.

As we've discussed with our rib roasts, turkeys, and even chickens, salting your meat overnight allows it to penetrate DEEP into the meat for fuller flavor and moisture retention.

The best way to do it is to set up a wire rack on a baking tray.  Here is a great set if you don't already own this must-have combo.

It works great for dry brining all sorts of things including your Thanksgiving turkey.

Use good KOSHER salt and apply a fair amount to the beef tenderloin on all sides.  You can always brush off the extra in the morning but you want plenty of salt to penetrate overnight.

If you want to use a quality beef rub for dry brining your beef tenderloin, we are big fans of Bad Byron's Butt Rub Seasoning on smoked beef because it is heavy on flavor, and has no sugar.

Another great no sugar rub is Holy Cow from Meat Church.

It also works great anytime you are reverse searing and you don't want a sugary rub to burn at those higher smoking temperatures.

Once you've applied a healthy amount of kosher salt or beef rub, place the beef on the wire rack so you have airflow around the tenderloin and then place it in the refrigerator overnight.

If you did not have time to dry brine overnight, no problem. Just season the beef tenderloin and let it sit out for a little while as you get the smoker ready.

Tuck and Tie

The next day, take the beef tenderloin out of the refrigerator and keep it on the wire rack so you keep a good amount of air circulating around the meat.

You can keep it on the counter for up to two hours while you season it and start the Traeger so that it comes up closer to room temperature before you start smoking.

You'll notice one end of the beef tenderloin is much thicker than the other.

We are going to tuck the thin "tail" underneath and tie it so that the tenderloin is a more even thickness from end to end and therefore cooks more evenly throughout.

You can use some simple butchers twine to keep it in place.  If the rest of the beef tenderloin is more flat than tubular, take some more twine and tie it around every inch or so to help the meat maintain its shape.

Then trim the excess twine so just about 1-2 inches of twine remain above each knot.

This will allow it to cook more evenly like a round roast rather than a flat steak.

The Best Seasonings for Beef Tenderloin

When it comes to an expensive cut of meat like a beef tenderloin,  you want to keep the seasonings fairly simple and let the meat shine through.

Save the sugary and spicy BBQ rubs for your brisket, ribs and pork butts.

For our recipe below, we are going to use fresh minced garlic and coarse fresh cracked pepper.

Then, while the beef tenderloin is smoking, we will baste it with a rosemary infused butter to keep it moist and give it some extra flavor and brown color.

Ideally use a HIGH smoke point oil to help the garlic and pepper adhere to the meat such as avocado or grapeseed oil, especially if you plan to reverse sear at the end of the cook as we go into detail on below.

Choosing Wood Pellets

You have a lot of freedom when it comes to choosing the right wood pellets to smoke a beef tenderloin on a Traeger pellet grill.

Mesquite and hickory will give a very aggressive smoke flavor.

Alternatively, you can also go for a milder smoke flavor by choosing oak or fruitwood pellets. Pecan, apple, beech, alder, and cherry all give great results on beef.

For a mid-priced pellet, we are big fans of Bear Mountain Gourmet Blend Pellets. For a premium pellet, we like Knotty Wood 100% Plum Wood Pellets and Almond Cabernet Wine Blend Pellets.

For best results, store your unused pellets in a sealed room temperature container rather than in the Traeger's hopper outside.

Traeger pellets do not last forever, but will definitely last a LOT longer if stored indoors.

Start the Traeger

There is a specific start up process for the Traeger brand pellet grills. You can read all about in depth here if you aren't sure how to fire it up the first time.

Add your pellets to the hopper, plug in the grill, and get it started.

While it runs through the start up cycle, make sure your grates are clean. If not, do this now with a good bristle free brush like the BBQ Daddy.

Smoking Temperature

We recommend initially setting up the smoker to cook at 250°F.

This seems to be the sweet spot where its low enough that the outside doesn't overcook but also high enough that the smoked beef tenderloin doesn't cook for so long that it dries out.

Smoke the Beef Tenderloin

Place the beef tenderloin directly on the grill grates.

Since a lot of Traegers get gradually hotter in temperature from left to right, it is best to position your smoked beef tenderloin so it's more the same temperature all around the beef.

If your monster beef tenderloin is too long to do this, then position it with the thicker end facing to the RIGHT.

That being said, every grill has different hot spots, so position the beef in a way that makes most sense for your particular Traeger.

Target Internal Temperature

You HAVE to use a good instant read meat thermometer to know where the internal temperature is of your smoked beef tenderloin while its cooking on the Traeger.

Ideally you want a good leave in probe thermometer like the ThermoPro as well as a second instant read to spot check different points of thickness along the roast.

While we have used and recommended ThermoPro for years, lately we have also become big fans of the MEATER leave in thermometer.

It is extremely accurate and has an incredible 165 foot Bluetooth range and works right with your smartphone so you don't need to carry a separate controller around with you like many other remote thermometers require.

In fact, the thermometer itself is COMPLETELY WIRELESS, so no more awkward wires running out of the side of your smoker!

It's got a great free app that is constantly being updated and even has an algorithm to predict how much longer your type of meat will take to cook based on cooking temperature, target temperature, and current internal temperature.

It's like a GPS for your meat!

We are going to slowly bring the internal temperature up to about 105-110°F, then crank the heat as hot as we can to reverse sear the smoked beef tenderloin until the internal temperature hits about 120°F and then remove it from the Traeger.

Perfect medium rare in the center means an internal temperature of about 130-135°F, and a good rule of thumb is to pull big roasts like this when they are 10°F shy of your target temperature.

Once you switch over to the start the reverse searing phase, and are rolling the smoked beef tenderloin around over a hot grill it's much easier to use an instant read thermometer rather than the leave in probe kind.

We are particular fans of this one from ThermoPro because of its durability and affordable price.

Everyone from beginner smokers to competition cooks need to use instant thermometers to consistently make great food.

So keep it handy and use it often.

Cooking Time

A general guide is that it will take about 20-30 minutes per pound to smoke a beef tenderloin  at 250°F up to 110°F.

So plan on a 3 lb beef tenderloin to take about 60-90 minutes to initially smoke during the "Low" portion of the cook.

Then we will crank the heat for another 3-5 minutes depending how long it takes to raise the internal temperature the rest of the way up to 120-125°F.

Then you will need to let the meat rest for about 15-20 minutes after cooking it before carving.

Unless you want those delicious juices running all over your cutting board instead of staying in the meat where you want them, you need to set aside time for the meat to rest.

Reverse Searing

"Reverse Searing" is just a fancy term for searing your meat at the very end, once it is pretty much all the way cooked through, in order to get a nice crispy exterior crust that you sometimes just can't get from low and slow smoking alone.

In this case, we are not technically going to sear the beef tenderloin like we might do with a steak in a ripping hot cast iron pan like we did with our smoked ribeye steak recipe.

Rather, we are going to crank the temperature of our Traeger up as high as it will go right at the very end of cooking, and only for a few minutes, in order to get a nice, golden brown crust on the outside of our smoked beef tenderloin without overcooking the inside.

If you wish to reverse sear the meat, you will want to smoke it at 250°F only until it reaches an internal temperature of about 110°F.  At this point it will still be very, very rare in the center.

Next, you will turn up the temperature setting on your Traeger to "High," or the highest temperature setting it has available, depending on your model.

Both the newer Timberline and Ironwood series are capable of going up to 500°F.

Make sure you have plenty of pellets in your hopper for this part as it will burn through them quickly at these high temps.

You will need to watch your beef tenderloin VERY closely at this point as it may only need 3-5 minutes total once the Traeger comes fully up to the new high temperature.

Watch for the color to turn from grayish to medium-dark brown, and whatever you do, do no leave it unattended to burn or over cook!

Make sure to turn frequently and continuously spot check with your instant read thermometer.

Once the internal temperature has reached 120-125°F, remove it from the Traeger and place it on a cutting board.

Remember, it will continue to rise another 10°F as it rests after you remove it.

DO NOT cover or wrap in aluminum foil or it will overcook beyond this level from its own residual heat.

Grill Grates to Reverse Sear Beef Tenderloin

If you are using an older model Traeger pellet grill that doesn't have a high heat or direct grilling option, and finding it hard to get that high heat needed for searing, try laying a couple of Grill Grates over a section of the RIGHT side of grill.

These work great for creating a hot searing station on a pellet grill using the ambient heat the pellet grill is already creating.

You can then move your smoked beef tenderloin over to the Grill Grates, with the flat side of the Grill Grates up, and roll it around and cook it like you would on a hot flat top griddle.

Grill Grates come in many different sizes so make sure to choose the size that will fit your grill.

Alternatively, you can use a large cast iron griddle right over the heat source for searing.

Carve and Serve

You will then remove the smoked beef tenderloin from the hot Traeger and let it rest.

Let the roast rest for 20-30 minutes before carving.

Although we tucked and tied the tail, and mostly slow smoked the beef tenderloin for ideal even cooking, the portions closer to the ends will still be more done than the very center.

This is nice because as you slice you can give the more done pieces on the ends to those that prefer them.

Then give the more medium rare slices from the center to those that prefer their meat less done.

Use a good meat slicing knife and cut the smoked beef tenderloin into nice thick slices based on how many guests you are serving.

We particularly like this meat slicing knife from Mairico.

We like to top the beef tenderloin with a garlic herb butter or serve it with a Dijon horseradish cream sauce.

Beef tenderloin goes great with Smoked Baked Potatoes, Smoked Twice Baked Potatoes, and Smoked Brussel Sprouts.

📖 Recipe