Looking for a cheap cut of meat that’s great for smoking? Eye of Round is a tough cut of beef that’s often prepared poorly turning out either too tough or too dry.
With a little bit of attention this tough cut can give your Texas brisket a run for its money. Slow braised in beef au jus and butter this eye round has massive beef flavor!
Speaking of Beef, If you are looking for more beef recipes checkout Smoked Corned Beef, Australian Wagyu Denver Steak and Texas Style Beef Ribs
Where is the Eye of Round Located
The Eye of Round Roast is located on the back leg of the cow and at first glance looks very similar to the tenderloin.
That being said it’s an extremely tough cut of beef because of its constant movement and being a weight bearing muscle of the animal. It is very lean with lots of connective inter muscular tissue.
To break all that down you’ll want to cook this cut low and slow. Not for nothing another big advantage of the eye round is the price.
Eye round is often on sale at local markets and in my research almost always cheaper than brisket.
Smoked Eye of Round Recipe
- Trim any excess fat of the eye round and remove any silver skin.
- For Brine Instutions See Recipe Below
- Combine Salt, Pepper, Onion and Garlic
- Pat Brined Beef dry and season the Eye Round with spice blend. Smoke at 225 degrees for 3-4 hrs. Until beef reaches 160-170 degrees F.
- Remove Eye Round from smoker and raise temperature to 300 degrees F. Double Wrap the Eye Round in aluminum foil with a ½ cup of beef broth and ½ stick of butter added in. Re insert probe and return to the smoker.
- Cook beef for 3-4 more hrs depending on size until beef reaches an internal temperature of between 205-210 degrees F.
- Open the top of the foil to let the beef rest in the juices until it cools to about 150 degrees F. Before slicing into ¼ inch slices. Pour off the au jus and serve alongside the Eye of Round.
Brining Eye of Round Roast Before Smoking
Most of the time when you think of brining or curing beef we are discussing brisket to make corned beef or pastrami.
Eye of Round can benefit from some of these processes as well. I like to give the eye round an overnight brine using Real Salt, peppercorns, bay leaves, onion and garlic.
The beef will turn a pale color but don’t worry, it won’t affect the final product other than making it more tender and juicy. For a easy cheat recipe for pastrami check out this recipe.
Smoking vs Braising
Smoking the Eye Round then wrapping in foil gives you the best of both worlds.
You get the beautiful smoke ring and flavor that you want with beef roasts. In addition wrapping the beef will help tenderize and hold in the juices to keep the roast a Moist.
The addition of beef broth and butter in the foil acts as a flavor booster to really take the roast up a notch.
How to get a Perfect Smoke Ring
To achieve a perfect smoke ring start the beef roast at a lower temperature around 225 for the first 3-4 hrs. Once the eye round has reached an internal temperature of 160 degrees F. It’s really taken on all the smoke that it can.
Then you can wrap it up and raise the temperature after that. Once the eye round is wrapped I’ll turn my smoker up to 300 degrees F and cook it until I hit 205-210 degrees F. Internally.
Resting Before Slicing
This is the key to your success or failure in this recipe. You’ve been cooking all day and you’re hungry but don’t let your impatience get the best of you.
At 205-210 degrees F. the beef has pushed out a lot of juices but it can reabsorb those juices if you give it time. Plus if you cut it while it’s that hot it will probably tear and crumble when slicing.
Open the foil carefully on top so the beef can breath and cool down a bit. Make sure the beef still sit in its own au jus. Let the beef cool down for 30-45 minutes until it hits an internal temperature of 150 degrees.
It will still be hot and ready to eat but it will be perfectly moist as well. Pour off that leftover au jus in a bowl to serve along side the eye round for even more beefy goodness.
Slicing the Roast
You have 2 choices when slicing your eye round. You can cook it less and retain more moisture but have it be tougher. Option two, you can cook it a little longer and have it be a lot more tender.
Both methods work but need to be sliced completely different. If you choose to undercook the eye round then its important to slice as thin as possible. If you have a meat slicer that would be even better.
If you cook it longer then the goal should be to slice at pencil thickness just like you would slice a beef brisket.
Cut a slice and take a bite if you are happy with the tenderness then keep the slices that thickness. If its tough slice thinner and if its crumbling slice thicker.
You can dunk the slices in the au jus before serving to make the meat even juicier.
More Beefy Inspiration
- Beef Bourguignon
- Beef Heart Satay
- Texas Style Beef Ribs
- Rotisserie Prime Rib
- Grilled Maryland Style Pit Beef
Smoked Eye of Round w/ Au Jus
Equipment
- Pellet Grill (Rec Tec 700)
Ingredients
- 4 lb Eye Round of Beef
- ½ cup Beef Broth
- ½ stick Butter 4oz.
- ½ tbsp Real Salt
- 1 tsp Coarse Ground Black Pepper
- ½ tsp Granulated Garlic
- ½ tsp Granulated Onion
Instructions
- Trim any excess fat of the eye round and remove any silver skin.
- For Brine Instutions See Recipe Below
- Combine Salt, Pepper, Onion and Garlic
- Pat Brined Beef dry and season the Eye Round with spice blend. Smoke at 225 degrees for 3-4 hrs. Until beef reaches 160-170 degrees F.
- Remove Eye Round from smoker and raise temperature to 300 degrees F. Double Wrap the Eye Round in aluminum foil with a ½ cup of beef broth and ½ stick of butter added in. Re insert probe and return to the smoker.
- Cook beef for 3-4 more hrs depending on size until beef reaches an internal temperature of between 205-210 degrees F.
- Open the top of the foil to let the beef rest in the juices until it cools to about 150 degrees F. Before slicing into ¼ inch slices. Pour off the au jus and serve alongside the Eye of Round.
Notes
Nutrition
Beef Brine
Ingredients
- ½ Gallon Water
- ½ cup Real Salt
- ¼ Cup Black Peppercorns
- 1 Yellow Onion Peeled rough chopped
- 1 head Garlic Cloves Peeled and smashed
- 6 Bay Leaves
Instructions
- In a pot bring water, salt, peppercorns, bay leaves, onion and garlic to a simmer stirring occasionally for about 15 minutes until salt is dissolved. Remove from heat and add ice cubes until brine is completely chilled. Pour brine over the eye round and store in a sealed container for 8-12 hrs in the fridge.
Derek
Really interested in how this turned out? Even w/ the brining, cooking to a temp of 210 and cutting that thick…I can’t imagine how many times you had to chew? Maybe I’m wrong. Cooked 2 last week,…the Medium Rare one, sliced very thin was good. However, the one that creeped up to Medium Well was almost inedible.
Culinary Lion
its all or nothing, you can slice thin like you did at med rare otherwise you have to treat it like brisket and cook it well beyond well don to break down the muscle fibers. I wrap it so it sit in its own au jus to stay moist. when its don its fork tender and not chew at all.
Asraf abid
Can i did it for a smaller piece.
Culinary Lion
yes you can use a smaller piece, it will change the cooking time but internal temps will remain the same
Keith
Even with the mistakes (no time to brine) and adaptations (wrapped at 140 and finished in the oven) this was the most tender eye of round I have ever raten.
Culinary Lion
Awesome,glad you enjoyed the post. Eye round is an underrated cut!
Ronald Mazzoni
#5 in your instructions don’t make sense. Why would you cool beef 3-4 hours?
Culinary Lion
Spelling error, its supposed to say Cook, not cool. thanks for pointing that out. it has been corrected
David Kouri
Perfect smoking technique for eye of round. Works well on my RecTec 700
Culinary Lion
Thanks!! I love Eye round and this is almost as good as a tasty brisket. So glad you’re Team Rectec as Well!
Ed
Have you tried this with a butcher paper wrap instead of foil?
Culinary Lion
normally I use butcher paper with beef but for this recipe I prefer the foil so I dint lose any of the juices. I pour all the rendered beef juices into a pot and add beef stock to make an au jus to serve along with the eye round to keep it extra moist.
Eleegp
Made this recipe with a few alterations. I already had the meat marinading when I read this recipe. So I skipped the brine. I followed most of the rest of this recipe, but instead of just beef stock in the “wrapped part” I added some of the marinade that I cooked first. The meat was soft and flavorful. My husband said it was the best piece of beef he’s ever had!!
Culinary Lion
Fantastic!! thank you for the feedback and I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe!! I do love that Eye round recipe
Brad
I am going to try this recipe tomorrow (sans brine), but my question is what do you estimate in cooking time getting the meat from 160 to 210? I assume there may be a stall like in a brisket. I am trying to predict cooking time, thx!
Culinary Lion
depending on the size its normally about 2-3 hours. you can also raise the smoker temp once its wrapped to speed it up a bit.
Bill
This was my first attempt at smoking meat. Followed your instructions to a “T”,even the brine. Found the eye of round on sale two for one. Came out perfect and tender, nice smoke ring. Glad I have leftovers. Thanks.
Culinary Lion
Thats fantastic to hear. Eye round is such an underrated cut of Beef. thanks for trying it out and leaving a review.
Charlene Hjorleifson
Well, I’m going
To try this recipe Next weekend for a dinner party. I purchased a 8.5lb so I’m thinking it will take total 10hrs. I have a Komodo style cooker. Will let you know how it turns out.
Culinary Lion
On a Komodo style it may finish a little quicker so keep an eye on it but it will definitely be tasty. Please keep me posted
Yvonne McMullen
We followed this recipe to the letter and it is the best smoked roast we have ever done! My husband was really worried this cut would be tough but it turned out amazing! Thank you!
Culinary Lion
Love to hear that so glad you enjoyed the recipe.Thank you so much for the 5 star review!!!
Tim
I have made this a couple of times now for my In-Laws and my father in law always raves about it. Smoke it on the BGE. I found that when i finished at 206 it was perfect.
I could drink the Au Jus.
I picked up a couple of top sirloin that were on sale. Do you think I will get the same result as the Eye?
Culinary Lion
Yes a sirloin will be similar but depending on the fat content it will provably be tender at a lower temp. I have a smoked chuck roast recipe on my other website culinarylion.com that I cook more like a brisket.
David Crawley
My new favorite. Did not brine. Injected with beef broth. Coated with Montreal steak seasoning and followed directions from there. Sliced as thin as I could. So juicy and flavorful. Made copycat Arby sauce and ate the 3 pound roast in 3 days by myself. Try it-you will like it.
Culinary Lion
Thank you!! so glad you enjoyed it!!
Chrissy
I want to make this today. I will have to inject and not brine. What type of wood did you use for your smoke?
Culinary Lion
I like using a blend most of the time but for beef I normally use hickory, oak or pecan.
Cody
Would you use this same method on a bottom.round?
Culinary Lion
Sure the same method is gonna work on a top round, London broil or a chuck roast.
Pete
Dry brined a BIG ol Eye of Round
Took forever to cook (225 smoked to 160F, tight foil wrapped with some wine n beef broth at 300 in over til 199F) rested and sliced.
Best $20 I’ve ever spent!
Culinary Lion
That sounds awesome!! glad it came out tasty!! love the addition of some wine!!
joe s.
I skipped the brine because I had already marinated the roast before I found this recipe. Other than that, I followed the directions to the letter.
The meat was tender, but dry. I was disappointed.
Pellet grill king
Not sure what this guy is thinking but you don’t cook anything to 210°? Jesus chicken is what 165. Why would you go another 50° on a roast? Unless you’re looking for beef jerky do not do this. Pull it off at about 150 and let it rest for about 10 minutes
Terry
Going to start this recipe tonight when I get home from work. I have an almost 8 lbs eye of round so I obviously need to double everything, but my eye of round has some hard fat on the bottom should I trim this or leave it alone?
Culinary Lion
You can trim it up a bit but you can leave some fat, it will be fine
Justin Ray
Someone tell pellet grill king this isn’t chicken or a steak you don’t cook it to temp you cook it harder to break down the meat. You don’t cook brisket or chuck to 165 you cook it more and let it rest. Some of these pellet guys think they know everything
Culinary Lion
Yeah, everyone is entitled an opinion but You would have to slice that eye round paper thin at that temperature for it to be tender.
jimmie black
can you use a sirloin tip roast rather than eye of round
Culinary Lion
I think that would be fine. You may want to cook that more like a chuck roast bit either way will work.
semper_fi
Turned out super, was very windy and cold today so needed longer to finish.
Culinary Lion
Fantastic, so glad you enjoyed it.
Jason C
I tried this tonight. I’ve done the rare and I must say it turned out absolutely amazing. Worried all day about the outcome cause I’ve done medium rare and everyone love it but this was great. Never would have thought. Good job. Loved this recipe.
Boomer
To the “Pellet King”, apparently you’ve never smoked a brisket before.Pull @ 203° and let rest. Same with this cut. Fat renders and tenderizes (for lack of a better word) the tough meat.
JR
Thanks so much for posting this. While I’ve modified it a bit, your plan helped me turn eye of round into a family favorite.
I skip the brine and do a mustard rub, take it up to 160 then, wrap it with Full stick of butter and follow the rest of the instructions.
My 10 year old would never eat any other beef and now requests this. I make it a couple times each month.
Culinary Lion
I love to hear this!! I think the Eye round is so underrated and Im glad you enjoyed the recipe!! thank you for sharing!!
John S.
I have the eye round roast on my Rec Teq Bullseye 380 cook g at 225. Been on for 2.25 hrs and looking good at an internal temp of 142 degrees. I followed the recipe exactly as posted and will continue until the very end. I will follow up with a final comment once my eye round roast has been finished and served to eat. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Mark
Instead of wrapping it in foil, could I use a foil pan and cover it? Or would that not keep it moist enough?
Culinary Lion
Yes that will work just as well if not better
Ed
Just up from the table. Excellent way to cook eye of round. We have cooked “low and slow” to 200°F for years. Three hours of smoke added a great depth of flavor. If they are still on sale at Kroger in the morning we will do this again soon.
Culinary Lion
Awesome, so glad you had a successful cook!!
Brian
What type of pellets do you use?
Culinary Lion
I use the Kingsford Competition blend most of the time
Thomas
I’m in the process of making this and I’ve got so many questions.
For the Beef Brine;
1. The head garlic cloves. Do you peel it? Do you cut it? Do you crush it?
2. Do you bring the whole concoction to a boil before setting it to simmer? Or just bring it up to a simmer?
3. How long do you simmer it for? An hour? Longer?
4. When you put the beef into the brine do you refrigerate it, let it sit at room temperature, or do you keep adding ice to it to keep it chilled?
For the Smoked Eye Round w/ Au Jus
1. For the garlic in the Spiceology mixture, is it to be garlic salt, granulated garlic or garlic powder?
2. When you mention 1/2 stick of butter, is it a half pound, or 1/8 pound (assuming 4 sticks to a pound of butter)?
I’m excited to see how this turns out. The comments below are so positive.
Culinary Lion
Thank you for the feedback on the instructions, I went back and updated them so the recipe should be more clear. Hope you try it out.
Frank
So I did the brine and was looking to add something to the pot to bring the brine over the top of the meat…we just bought a case of cherry coke so I fit a couple unopened cans would do the trick. I checked the brine a few hours later and the mixture caused one of the cans to pop, haha. I left it be, we will see how a little cherry flavor works out.
Culinary Lion
that’s an interesting flavor combo, let me know how it turned out!!
Randy West
Delicious! This is my third time doing this recipe. It’s become quite a hit among my family especially with how tender and flavorful it is. Thanks for this!
Culinary Lion
that’s awesome, one of my favorite recipes for eye round
Brandon
I was recommended this blog by way of my cousin.
I’m no longer sure whether or not this post is written by way
of him as nobody else realize such special approximately
my trouble. You’re wonderful! Thank you!
Richard Barnhart
I am smoking 2 eye of rounds (5 1/2 lbs) for Easter. I’m doing them ahead of time and wonder how soon after they are done do they need sliced. I’d like to do it the next day. Thoughts??
Rich Barnhart
I’m smoking 2 eye of rounds for Easter 6lbs apiece. I’d like to smoke them the night before. Will it be ok to wait and slice them the next morning? How would you store them over night? I could probably do it overnight if that would be better. Thoughts?
Culinary Lion
Eye round is very lean and can dry out. If you have to slice it ahead of time you’ll need to heat the au jus and rehydrate the meat. The total cook time is around 6-7 hours. If you cook them early in the morning you can let them rest and keep them hot in a cooler wrapped in a towel then slice right before serving. Hope that helps
Chris Lane Rocks
This is about affiliate links, would NEVER cook a eye of round this way… unless you like chewing on rubber. Low and slow 225° pull at 135 and wrap in foil. Drop in a cooler for an hour. Your jaw will thank me. Ultra tender melt in your mouth, cut against the grain. Better yet cool down and run it through your slicer.
Culinary Lion
Its funny you would write a review like this. Ive made this recipe many times and it comes out perfect each time. Im a professionally trained chef who works regularly with my local butcher. Top round can be prepared many different ways but I assure you this is as tender as a brisket
Grillin and chillin
This is the first time I’ve felt compelled to leave a review on a recipe I followed. I was skeptical about getting this cut of meat to such a high internal temp, but it came out fantastic. Made sandwiches with thick slices and you could bite right through the meat. Family loved it. This is my go-to recipe for round roast now.
Culinary Lion
Thank you, you’re not the first to be skeptical of this recipe but Im glad you gave it a chance!! its my favorite way to cook eye round and Im never looking back!!! Thanks for Sharing!!!
RANDY MARTIN
Just bought a wood pellet grill for the first time and this recipe was not only easy to follow but came through with the tender juicy roast with a beautiful smoke ring…I used hickory pellets and the neighbourhood smelled amazing!
Culinary Lion
thanks for the feedback, what was hard to follow, I can try to better explain the process. Glad it worked out for you!
Will
Trying this recipe out in a few days, I’m stressed and excited about this one! My roast is 8 pounds, how much longer do you think it will take to smoke?
Culinary Lion
It really won’t take too much longer because its not about the weight as much as it is the diameter. Dont stress. Start early and let it rest if it finishes before you’re ready to serve. Slice it at the last minute and pour over some au jus to keep it moist
ben
I brined overnight and I am about to start up my smoker. Ill be using hickory pellets and I am super excited for this process! I like to smoke the cheaper cuts but as you stated you need to slice super thin for it to be tender. So far I have followed everything to a T. Thank you for the detailed instructions hopefully I dont screw it up!!! When you wrap it do you put the meat in first then pour over the broth? My only worry is leakage from the foil.
Culinary Lion
If you want you can wrap the roast in an aluminum pan so nothing leeks ( or any oven safe dish)
Just be sure to save the juices to pour over the eye round to keep it moist.