Traeger Filet Mignon

This classy dish is perfect for a romantic dinner or any special occasion. Traeger Filet Mignon captures the perfect flavor of the beef filet and blends it with a smoky flavor to create the ultimate bite.

If you have ever cooked beef filet mignon, you typically go with a high-heat sear that gives a great crust and helps to keep the moisture inside as you cook it until your preferred doneness. In this recipe. we use the Traeger Pellet Grill to first smoke the filet. The model I have uses the Super Smoke feature to create a little more smoke flavor. I love cooking this way to add that beautiful wood smoke flavor to your steak without overcooking it. After we smoke the filet, we then sear it over high heat to give the filet a nice crust for that texture we love on our steak.

What is Filet Mignon?

The Filet Mignon Steak is a cross-section cut of the whole beef tenderloin. From the middle of the whole tenderloin, also referred to as the beef tenderloin roast, you can slice 1.5-inch to 3-inch thick beautifully succulent steaks. There is little to no fat. This is a tender, lean cut of beef, and because of that, you want to monitor the internal temperature with a meat temperature probe to watch the internal temp as you cook.

How to Make a Traeger Filet Mignon

Remove your steaks from the packaging and pat dry with a paper towel. Season all sides of the steak with kosher salt and black pepper. Then place directly onto the grill grates in a preheated smoker between 200°F and 225°F, close the lid, and cook for 40 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 120°F. I like my steaks rare to medium rare. Depending on the thickness of the cut, the cooking time will vary, so watch that internal temp.

Cooking Tip: If you or your butcher trimmed the beef tenderloin removing any silver skin or scraggly meat, it is easy for the beef to lose a bit of its nice round shape. Using butcher's twine can be a big help. You can easily smoke the meat with the butcher's twine around the beef. Just be sure to watch it, if you are reverse searing over an open flame. That butcher's twine can ignite quite easily. Go ahead and remove the twine before serving.

While the steak is smoking, be sure to use a meat thermometer probe to monitor the internal temp of the meat.

Reverse Searing

Why do sear the filet after we smoke it? If we seared the meat before we smoked it, we would ensure that no smoke flavor would be able to penetrate that outer crust. If you have ever seen a perfectly smoked piece of meat, there is this red ring of flavor that has penetrated the outside of the meat and slowly worked its way in. The longer the smoke the further that smoke ring will go. We reverse sear so that we can first create the smoke ring, that ring of flavor, then we sear it to keep the flavor and juices in as well as to give a crusty texture to the steak. Flavor and texture are two of the main characteristics that we use to taste food. Reverse searing adds an important element to the texture.

Reverse Sear Method

1. You can preheat your gas or charcoal grill and reverse sear over high heat.
2. You can use a cast iron skillet or another thick-bottomed frying pan and reverse sear it on your kitchen range.
3. Once the steak is done smoking on the Trager Grill, you can remove the steak then crank the Traeger up to 500°F and reverse sear it in the Traeger.
4. You can also use your oven or broiler to reverse sear it on high.
5. I used my flat-top griddle. I preheated it on high as the filet mignon steak was smoking.

Once the internal temp hit 120°F, I placed it on the griddle and seared it on high, on the hot grill grates, for only about 30 seconds per side, until the internal temp hit 130°F. That's all you really need when you have high heat for your reverse sear. Keep an eye on your internal temp so you cook perfectly to your desired doneness. Then let it rest for 5 minutes and serve.

Variations

I love the flavor of beef, you don't really need to add too much to it. Salt and pepper will usually be all you need. Now, if you want to add a little depth, herbs like fresh rosemary or thyme can give a really nice flavor to the steak. I love garlic and occasionally I might add it to my steak. Fresh garlic or smoked garlic creates a wonderful blend of flavor with smoked beef.

If you want to really treat this filet mignon with bbq flavor, using a simple dry rub could do nicely. I love our dry rub combo of salt, pepper, garlic powder, and smoked paprika. It is delicious.

For a sweet rub just add brown sugar to the above.

Common Questions

What wood should I use?

You can use almost any of your favorite wood flavors. I went with an equal blend of hickory and cherry wood pellets. Traeger's signature blend, which is a blend of hickory, maple, and cherry hardwoods, would do just fine as well. Mesquite and oak are other good choices. If you are cooking this in a charcoal smoker or a stick burner, you can also switch up the flavor combinations to see what you like best.

If you are interested in cooking the entire beef tenderloin, check out our Smoked Beef Tenderloin Recipe. If you are looking for some other great dishes that are packed with protein, try Smoked Salmon and Smoked Pork Loin. Here are a few delicious side dishes to complete the meal. Traeger Baked Potatoes, Smoked Corn Bread, Grilled Broccoli, and Grilled Carrots.