Smoked Eye of Round with Port Wine Marinade

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Make your own roast beef sandwiches at home with this mouthwatering smoked eye of round roast! The thinly sliced beef will melt in your mouth since it’s perfectly seasoned with subtle sweetness and smoky flavor.

Making your own roast beef for sandwiches is significantly cheaper per pound than buying it from the deli counter. We can find a whole eye of round on sale at our local grocery store for around $5 per pound, compared to the high cost of sliced roast beef which is up to $15 per pound.

The eye of round roast is marinated in a port wine marinade before it’s generously seasoned with salt, pepper, and all purpose seasoning. The wine adds a very subtle sweetness and the acidity helps to break down the beef. Unlike store-bought deli counter roast beef, we know exactly what’s in it when it’s made with homemade ingredients.

Once you try this smoked roast beef recipe, you will never buy store-bought roast beef again. The combination of ingredients with the smoking process creates a woodsy smoke flavor that tastes amazing. You can slice it thin and enjoy tender roast beef sandwiches all week long!

If you’re looking for another deli style sandwich meat, try making Smoked Pastrami from Beef Brisket.

What is an Eye of Round Roast?

The eye of round is a lean cut of beef with little fat which means it slices cleanly into thin pieces when it’s cooked right. It’s lean yet tender, making it the perfect cut of meat for deli roast beef.

This cut of beef is also great for cooking low and slow which makes it a great choice for the smoker or pellet grill. It has a relatively uniform shape which helps it cook evenly and consistently.

You can make it as a traditional roast for dinner with larger slices, or slice it thin for deli style roast beef. It’s the perfect cost effective meal for dinner and leftovers.

Smoked Eye of Round Video

Trim the Silver Skin

Before cooking the beef, you will want to make sure you trim off any excess skin. Trimming the skin makes a huge difference when cooking, so make sure to trim the silver skin. Use a flexible sharp knife. Look for a loose edge or flap of the silver skin to start the trimming.

Slide the knife under the skin, with the blade facing away from you, parallel to the meat. I use a gentle sawing motion to cut it from the beef. Pull the skin up slightly with your hand as you cut the skin away. You can work in sections to remove all of the skin.

Don’t dig too deep otherwise you will cut off the beef. And don’t pull off the skin or else it won’t come off cleanly.

Fat Cap: On or Off?

When you’re roasting or smoking the beef whole, you will want to leave the fat cap on as the fat cap helps to baste the meat and keep it from drying out.

If you’re slicing it thin for deli meat, then it’s up to you whether you want to remove it. I like to leave it on to lock in the moisture and flavor. After cooking, you can remove it before slicing the beef. Or you can remove it completely before cooking, when you cut off the excess skin. Either way, the meat will still taste amazing!

Tying the Eye of Round Roast

When smoking certain beef roasts like the eye of round, I like to tie it up with butcher’s twine to make the roast more of a uniform shape. Not only does this help the beef to cook more evenly, because there aren’t any thicker or thinner areas, but it also creates a wider girth so that it can stay on the smoker longer without overcooking – and that means more smoke flavor!

Just use butcher’s twine to tie the roast up lengthwise first, making it fatter and shorter versus longer and skinnier. Then if needed, added a few knots of twine cross-wise to make the shape more even in thickness. You can reference the photo above for how I tied my marinated beef roast.

Ingredients You Need

This simple recipe requires just a few ingredients that are easy to find. A full list of ingredients and measurements are included in the recipe card below, but here are a few notes about them.

• Port Wine Marinade: You will need port wine, extra-virgin olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, honey, dijon mustard, dried thyme, minced onion, garlic, and dried rosemary to make the marinade.
• Eye of Round Roast: Look for a roast with a vibrant red hue – not brown or dull. There will be minimal marbling as this is a lean cut of beef.
• All-Purpose Seasoning: You can use your favorite all purpose seasoning for grilling. I use my Texas style rub.
• Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• For Serving: If you want to make roast beef sandwiches with the meat, you will need sliced bread, horseradish sauce, lettuce, sliced tomatoes, and sliced onions.

How to Make a Smoked Eye of Round Roast

Roasting beef is relatively easy. You just need some time to marinate and rest the beef.

Step 1: Make the marinade (the day before roasting.) Mix together all of the ingredients for the marinade in a ziploc bag or large bowl.

Step 2: Trim the beef (if you haven’t already.) Make sure to remove any excess skin from the beef. You can leave the fat cap on or take it off.

Step 3: Marinate the beef overnight. Add the beef to the bag or bowl with the marinade. Seal the bag, pressing out all of the air. Let the beef marinate in the fridge overnight.

Step 4: Salt the beef. After marinating, remove the roast from the bag and allow the excess liquid to drip off. Place the roast on a wire rack set on top of a sheet tray. Season all sides of the beef with salt. Then place the sheet tray with the beef in the refrigerator for 4-5 hours to salt brine.

Step 5: Prepare for smoking. Preheat your smoker to 250°F (121°C). Roasting at a low temperature ensures that the beef stays tender.

You can add your choice of wood or pellets. I used Smokin’ Pecan pellets for this recipe. They are made from the pecan shell (not the tree) so they are sustainable.

Step 6: Finish seasoning and cook the beef. Lightly season the beef on all sides with all purpose seasoning (I like to use Texas Style Rub.) Generously season with black pepper.

Add internal meat thermometers to the beef. Place the roast on the top rack of the smoker and cook until the internal temperature reaches 130°F (mine took about 3 hours.)

You want to watch the temperature closely as roast beef can easily dry out at temperatures above medium.

Step 7: Make roast beef sandwiches.

Once the beef is done roasting, let it rest for at least 10 minutes to cool. If you are making sandwiches, you may want to let the beef rest a little longer or overnight in the fridge.

Use a meat slicer or a sharp knife to thinly slice the beef into deli-style slices. For roast beef, I think that thinner slices are better.

Assemble the sandwiches by spreading horseradish sauce on two pieces of bread. Layer with the lettuce, sliced tomatoes, sliced onions, and the freshly sliced roast beef.

These mouthwatering sandwiches are a flavor-packed option for any day. The beef is completely irresistible and will have you going back for more!

Recipe Tips for Smoked Roast Beef

• Season generously: In addition to the port wine marinade, you will want to generously season the beef with the remaining seasonings. Just be careful not to oversalt the meat since the all-purpose seasoning already includes salt.
• Tie up the beef: Don’t forget to tie up the ends of the beef. This helps to add more girth to lock in moisture and flavor. It also ensures that the beef cooks evenly so you won’t be left with any dried out ends.
• Don’t overcook the beef: The eye of round roast is a lean cut of beef and will dry out quickly if cooked past medium. Use an instant-read meat thermometer to ensure it is cooked to the ideal temperature.
  • Rare: 120-125°F
  • Medium-rare: 130-135°F
  • Medium: 135-140°F (Max temperature)
• Let the roast sit before slicing: If you’re slicing thin for sandwiches, then you can let the roast chill before slicing. You can thinly slice with a sharp knife if you don’t have a meat slicer. You can also chill the meal in the fridge overnight before slicing.

Storage Instructions

Store the cooked roast beef in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.

To freeze, store in freezer bags in the freezer for up to 1 month. Thaw in the fridge before serving.

Reheating

If you are using it in sandwiches, you do not need to reheat the beef, but reheating will help elevate the flavor. Just keep in mind that you want to be carefully reheating beef as it will dry out quickly.

If you want to reheat the smoked roast beef, you can bring the beef to room temperature. Wrap the slices in foil, then heat in the oven (wrapped in the foil) until warmed through. You can also reheat the slices in a skillet on the stove top.

More Smoked Beef Roast Recipes

• Smoked Whole Beef Tenderloin
• Smoked Picanha
• Smoked Prime Rib Roast

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