Rotisserie Sirloin Roast (2024)

Rotisserie Sirloin Roast - a spit-roasted center cut top sirloin makes an awesome (and affordable) main course for a holiday meal.

Ingredients

Scale

• 6 Pound Center Cut Top Sirloin Roast
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon coarse ground black pepper

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1. Truss, season, and spit the roast: Truss the roast into a tight cylinder with butcher’s twine, tying it about every inch and a half. Mix the salt and pepper and sprinkle them evenly over the roast. (If you have the time, truss and season this the night before cooking. Rest the seasoned roast in the refrigerator, uncovered. Salting early dry brines the roast, seasoning it more thoroughly.) Put the first spit fork on the roast, run the spit through the center of the roast, and secure the roast to the spit with the second spit fork. Let the roast rest at room temperature until the grill is ready.
2. Set the grill for rotisserie cooking with indirect medium-high heat (425°F): For my Weber Summit, this means removing the grates, turning the two outer burners (burners 1 and 6) to high, and turning the infrared burner to high. Then I put my drip pan in the middle, over the unlit burners, and let the grill preheat for ten to fifteen minutes. (For a kettle grill, I light a Weber charcoal chimney ¾ full of charcoal, and divide it into two piles on the sides of the grill.)
3. Rotisserie the roast: Put the spit on the rotisserie and start it spinning. (Close the lid and cook with the lid closed as much as possible.) After 30 minutes, check the roast - it should be browning well - and cut the heat back to medium-low, about 300°F. (On my Summit, I turn off my infrared rotisserie burner - the two outer burners on high give me about 300°F. On a charcoal kettle, don’t do anything - let charcoal burn-down take care of dropping the heat.) Continue to cook on medium-low with the lid closed, checking the temperature of the roast every 15 minutes. The roast is done when it reaches an internal temperature of 120°F for medium-rare, about 60 minutes of total cooking time. (Cook to 110°F to 115°F for rare, 125°F to 135°F for medium. If you want to go higher than that, don’t tell me; I don’t want to know.)
4. Rest, carve, and serve: Remove the spit from the grill. Be careful – the spit is branding-iron hot. Remove the roast from the spit and immediately remove the trussing twine. Cover the roast with aluminum foil and let it rest for 15 to 30 minutes. Carve the roast, serve, and enjoy!

Smaller roast: the whole center cut top sirloin roast weighs 4 to 7 pounds. Cooking time depends on how thick the roast is, and they’re all about the same thickness, so the cooking time doesn’t change much for a smaller roast. My 6-pound test roasts took about 60 minutes total cooking time. On the low end, a 4-pound roast will take roughly 50 minutes. On the high end, a 7-pound roast will go for about 70 minutes. But these are just estimates…

Please, please, please cook to internal temperature, not by cooking time. When you’re aiming for a medium-rare roast, an instant read thermometer is your best friend.

High-low cooking: I start at med-high heat, then cut back to med-low heat to even out the cooking. Starting at high heat gets the roast browning, and finishing with low heat cooks the roast evenly. If your grill doesn’t brown as well as my infrared burner does, you may have to stay at medium-high for the whole cooking time to get a good crust. That’s OK - the crust is the best part of rotisserie - but start checking the temperature earlier, because it will cook faster. (How much faster? It depends. See “cook to internal temperature” above.)

Tools

Grill with rotisserie attachment (I love my jumbo Weber Summit with its infrared rotisserie burner)

13 by 9 inch drip pan

Instant Read Thermometer (I love my Thermapen, the rolls royce of thermometers. The ThermoPop is a good, less expensive version.)

Grilling gloves to protect your hands (I use welding gloves)

Butchers Twine to tie the roast