Chicken Fried Steak with Gravy

Article by Layla Khoury-Hanold

Chicken fried steak is a Southern comfort food classic made with cube steak that’s been breaded and fried like fried chicken and served with a creamy country gravy. Chicken fried steak is also a budget-friendly dish that uses inexpensive cube steak, and it’s versatile enough to serve for dinner with homey sides or breakfast or brunch with biscuits and eggs. Ree Drummond loves to serve this cowboy-friendly, dish to her family alongside mashed potatoes for a hearty comfort food meal. In her easy chicken fried steak recipe, Ree shares her top tips for breading and frying like a pro, the key technique for making a flavorful, creamy white gravy and why you must serve chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes.

How to Make Country Fried Steak Like a Pro

Prepare an assembly line for breading the steaks. Make a seasoned flour mix in one bowl by combining flour, seasoned salt, black pepper, paprika and cayenne. Mix the milk with the eggs in another dish and put the meat in a third dish. Have one clean plate for the finished breaded steaks.

Bread the steaks following a dry-wet-dry method. Working with one piece of meat at a time, season the cube steak with salt and pepper on both sides, the place it in the flour mixture and turn to coat. Then, dip the meat into the milk-egg mixture, turning to coat. Finally, place the steak back in the flour and turn to coat.

Fry the steaks in batches to ensure even cooking and browning. Fry the steaks in a big skillet with oil and a little bit of butter for color, cooking 2 to 2 ½ minutes per side until nice and golden. Work in batches so that you don’t crowd the pan.

Use the pan drippings and seasoned flour to make a flavorful, deeply golden roux. Ree drains most of the cooking grease from the pan, then sprinkles in the seasoned flour that was used to bread the steaks. Add enough flour so that the mixture turns into a golden-brown paste and it doesn’t have an oily appearance. If it becomes too clumpy, add a little more grease.

Whisk in whole milk and deglaze the pan for a flavorful white gravy. Ree turns up the heat a little bit, then pours whole milk into the pan, whisking the whole time to ensure a smooth consistency. Be sure to scrape up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan to make give the gravy extra depth of flavor. And be patient: it’ll take 5 to 10 minutes for the gravy to thicken.

Season the gravy to taste, adding more black pepper. You may need to add a little more salt, but Ree suggests definitely adding more black pepper to give the creamy white gravy a kick.

Assemble the chicken fried steak. Plate the chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and pour gravy on top of the whole dish for a stick-to-your ribs, cowboy-approved meal.

What Is Chicken Fried Steak?

Chicken fried steak is a Southern dish with Texas roots featuring cube steak that has been seasoned, breaded and fried until golden-crisp and is served with a creamy country gravy. It is called chicken fried steak because the cube steak is fried like fried chicken.

Chicken Fried Steak vs Country Fried Steak

Chicken-fried steak and country-fried steak are both Southern dishes featuring cube steaks that are breaded and fried. The difference between the two is that chicken fried steak has a crispier texture (more closely resembling Southern fried chicken) and is typically served with a creamy gravy, while country fried steak tends to be served with brown gravy and onions.

Steak for Country Fried Steak

The best steak for chicken fried steak or country fried steak is cube steak or another pre-tenderized cut of beef. Also known as minute steak, cube steak is a budget-friendly, flavorful cut of beef that’s pre-tenderized by a process of pounding and cutting. You can also purchase tenderized round steak or untenderized round steak and use a meat tenderizer to pound the steak at home. For more information, check out our primer What is Cube Steak?

Side Dishes for Country Fried Steak

Serve country fried or chicken fried steak with side dishes such as Ree’s Creamy Mashed Potatoes or Green Bean Casserole, fresh salads, like Ree’s Marinated Tomato Salad with Herbs or Corn Salad and bread for mopping up the gravy, like Ree’s Buttered Rosemary Rolls, Skillet Cornbread or her fan-favorite No-Knead Cloverleaf Rolls. You can also serve country fried steak for breakfast or brunch with sides like Ree’s Spicy Scrambled Eggs, Drop Biscuits and Best Breakfast Potatoes Ever.