Smoked London Broil: {Top Round On a Pellet Grill}

Top Round Steak, which is often sold under the name “London Broil” is a relatively inexpensive cut of beef. 

If you try to grill a top round steak it will usually come out tough and chewy.  However, if you do a little prep work and throw it on your smoker, it can turn out tender and delicious!

Let me show you my recipe for Smoked Top Round Steak on a pellet grill so you can enjoy this inexpensive cut of beef at your home!

How to Smoke London Broil {Top Round Steak}

To make the most of this cut we are going to follow the “4 S” process:

• Salt: To make this cut more tender we are going to coat it in salt and let it dry brine.
• Season: After the steak brines, rinse off the excess salt and season the beef with a dry rub.  
• Smoke: We are going to help the steak stay tender by slowly smoking for an hour.
• Sear: Just for kicks, we are going to sear this beast and put down some beautiful grill marks.

Dry Brine the London Broil

Coat the steak liberally with kosher salt (approximately one tablespoon per pound) and let the steak rest in the refrigerator overnight.

If you are short on time then you can speed up the dry brine process by packing the meat in kosher salt and letting it rest at room temperature for an hour.

After the steak has brined, rinse the steak to remove excess salt and pat dry with paper towels.

Season the Steak

Season the steak with a low sodium steak seasoning (there is already plenty of salt in the steak from the dry brine.)  I used Miner’s Mix Steak and Veggie rub. 

You could simply go with black pepper, onion powder and garlic powder and it would still be amazing.  Montreal Steak Seasoning would be excellent.

Let the Top Round rest for about 30 minutes while the dry rub soaks into the meat.

Smoke the London Broil

I cooked these steaks Low and Slow on my pellet grill to an internal temperature of 130F.  This steak went onto my Z Grills pellet grill at 225F using hickory for a light smoke. Yes, this recipe will also work on your Traeger, Pit Boss, etc.

Sometimes you cook at low temperatures to slowly break down connective tissue and melt collagen.  That is not needed for this lean steak. 

Instead I went with low temperatures to make sure I did not over cook the steak and to prevent the muscle fibers from tensing up and getting tougher which can happen from the application of high heat.

I pulled the steak off the smoker when it reached an internal temperature of 125F (it took just over an hour).  There is no need to flip the meat while it is cooking.

Sear the Steak

The steak didn’t look very impressive coming off the pit but that was easily fixed. 

I finished bringing the steak up to 135F by cranking the heat on my Z Grills to High and giving it a quick sear (2 minutes per side) on a GrillGrate panel.

The London Broil got some beautiful grill marks and surface browning.  If you are using a Pit Boss pellet grill with a Flame Broiler then now is the time to put it to use!

If you have trouble getting a decent sear with your pellet grill then you can try grilling directly over the fire pot.  I show you how to do that in the video below!

She was a beauty.

Tender, delicious and just about perfect.

What is This Steak?

This steak, which is commonly sold as 1-3 pound cuts called London Broil, comes from…wait for it…the top of the Round section on a steer.  The muscles in the Round get used with every single step that the steer makes.  As a result these steaks are very lean and on the tough side of things and can, in a pinch, be used as a substitute in recipes that use flank steak.

Nutritional Content

• Calories: 140
• Protein: 25 grams
• Saturated Fat: 1.3 grams

From a nutritional standpoint the top round is more similar to a sirloin than a ribeye.