By Naz Deravian
Published Dec. 6, 2023
- Total Time
- 50 minutes
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 40 minutes
- Rating
- 4(130)
- Notes
- Read community notes
There is, in fact, no chicken in chicken fried steak. The name of the classic Southern dish refers to the batter — the sort typically used for fried chicken — which coats cube steak, whose perforated texture provides lots of little nooks and crannies for batter coverage. That, and a double dip in flour makes for a delightfully crisp crust. Season the flour with the salt and seasonings used here, or try 2 teaspoons of store-bought seasoned salt or Cajun seasoning. Chicken fried steak is traditionally draped with a simple white gravy made with flour, milk, butter and plenty of salt and pepper. Make it in a separate pan with butter for snowy white results, or recycle the pan and oil used for frying the steaks for a tawny, speckled gravy. Serve with fluffy mashed potatoes and a side of greens for the ultimate comfort food.
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Ingredients
Yield:6 servings
- 1½cups all-purpose flour
- 1½teaspoons smoked or sweet paprika
- ½teaspoon garlic powder
- ½teaspoon onion powder
- ¼teaspoon ground cayenne, or to taste
- Kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal) and black pepper, for seasoning
- 1½cups whole or 2-percent milk
- 1large egg
- 1½ to 2pounds cube steak (see Tip), cut into 6 pieces
- Vegetable oil, for frying (about 1 cup), plus more if needed
- ¼cup all-purpose flour
- 2cups whole or 2-percent milk, plus more as needed
- Kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal) and black pepper
For the Pan Gravy
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
777 calories; 52 grams fat; 9 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 33 grams monounsaturated fat; 7 grams polyunsaturated fat; 37 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 7 grams sugars; 39 grams protein; 837 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
Step
1
Prepare your dredging station: Place the flour, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper, 1½ teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon black pepper in a shallow dish or pie plate, and stir well to combine. Taste a little bit of the flour mixture and adjust seasoning as needed. In another similar dish, add the milk and egg, and beat until well combined. Place a sheet pan or a large plate beside you as a landing place for the meat.
Step
2
Season both sides of the steak with salt and pepper. Place each piece of meat in the seasoned flour, shaking off any excess. Dip in the milk mixture, and then again in the flour mixture. Place on the sheet pan.
Step
3
Heat the oven to 200 degrees. Place a wire rack on a second sheet pan. In a large cast-iron or similar pan, heat the oil (about ½ inch) over medium-high until shimmering. Reduce heat to medium and add 1 to 2 steaks at a time, without crowding the pan. It should sizzle as soon as the meat hits the pan. Fry until golden brown and crisp, about 3 minutes per side, adjusting the heat as needed. (It’s OK if you lose a little bit of the crust to the pan.) Transfer the fried steaks to the wire rack and place in the oven to keep warm. Repeat with the remaining meat, adding more oil as needed.
Step
4
Make the pan gravy, if using. (For very white gravy, follow this recipe.) Turn off the heat. Using a mesh strainer, carefully strain the oil into a heatproof measuring cup or bowl. Discard any large bits left in the pan. Pour ¼ cup of the strained oil back into the pan and heat over medium-low. Whisk in the flour, 2 tablespoons at a time, scraping up any small bits stuck on the bottom of the pan. Continuously whisk until the mixture becomes a thin paste, about 2 minutes. Increase the heat to medium, slowly pour in the milk, continuously whisking or stirring until the gravy coats the back of a spoon, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. (If the gravy is too thick, stir in a bit more milk.)
Step
5
Transfer the chicken fried steaks to plates and pour as much gravy as you like over the top. Season with more black pepper, if you like.
Tip
- The best cut of meat for chicken fried steak is cube steak, an extra-tenderized round steak. Ask the butcher to tenderize round steak to about ¼-inch thickness. Or, you can tenderize it yourself with a meat mallet.
Ratings
4
out of 5
130
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Cooking Notes
Steve Owen
No need to strain the oil or discard the large bits - leave all that good stuff in the pan to elevate the gravy.
Julie, Sonoma
This is my secret (no longer!) not-good-for-you dinner. Crispy, well-seasoned, done in a couple of minutes. I find that there's enough flour residue in the pan to make the gravy without needing to make the roux, just get rid of the extra grease, deglaze with some water and then boil that down and add some milk; it thickens nicely. Serve with something non-guilt-inducing, like broccoli. A glass of good wine and you're good to go!
James
This can also be made using cubed pork steak. Not much difference in flavor, but generally tenderer.
Will
For sublimely tender steaks, rub 1 teaspoon of baking soda onto each steak before seasoning with salt and pepper.
Brooke
This is exactly how my mom makes her chicken fried steak. It was always one of my favorite meals growing up. One thing to note is to make sure you pat the cube steak dry before dredging it in flour.
My Texas family gravy recipe
For the roux, heat solid bits and 2-3 tbls of the oil (no straining necessary) on med/med high until hot, then add an equal amount of flour. Stir until well mixed and bubbling. Season the roux (rather than seasoning the gravy) with lots of salt and pepper, constantly stirring until it begins to brown. Then add the milk and simmer, stirring frequently, until it reaches the desired thickness. This can take 5-10 (or more) minutes. Serve immediately.
Pickering LaRoux
Growing up on the Bayou, we ate this every Sunday. Sometimes we’d have crawdads too. If we didn’t have no crawdads, we ate sand. We ate sand.
Ken Tracy
Anyone who grew up eating their mamma's chicken fried steak knows that the best part is making a sandwich the next day with leftovers (if there are any). Soft white bread, lots of mayo, iceberg lettuce and a chicken fried steak. Heaven.
John M.
Does this mean that you didn't make this recipe?
Allison
The trouble with fried cube steaks is they are never very tender. Almost better to dredge a hamburger. I’ve begun to pan fry cube steaks, add onion gravy and cook in oven at 300 for 2 hours. Flavorful and no gristle.
Brenda M.
I prefer to use tenderized round steak or something similar and a frying pan on the range. Oil only to about a quarter inch on the side of the steak.
Lauren
Also good with venison your uncle bagged in the fall.
MG
Y’all. White gravy needs sausage drippings in it. For real gravy, start there.
John M.
I made these today exactly as written and they were good. Loved the gravy! Thanks to a helpful commenter, I sprinkled some baking soda on the steaks at the same time as the seasoning to help tenderize the steaks. I'll probably use a spice blend in the flour dredge next time, too. Thanks again, Mr. Deravian and helpful commenters.
T e r i
I grew up eating and loving Chicken Fried Steak.But now our consumption of industrially raised animals, especially cattle, is stressing out Mother Nature and contributing to the dangerously rapid warming of Living World.We need to radically reduce our consumption of meat and dairy — and when/if we do eat meat/dairy, choose animals who’ve been humanely raised and slaughtered, been fed organic feed or are 100% grass-fed on plants not doused in pesticides or imported from deforested regions.
John M.
Does this mean that you didn't make this recipe?
Robin Luger
"Or, you can tenderize it yourself with a meat mallet." If you are going to make a decent chicken fried steak, you take round steak and beat it with a mallet or the side of a desert plate. You would NEVER use cubed steak. Lord a mighty!!! as my West Texas grandmother would say.
rose c.
I make it almost exactly like this recipe, but with nods to Mom's "Missouri style" chicken fried steak with white gravy. Mom used a lot, lot of coarse black pepper in the dredge and in the gravy, and would only add garlic and onion powder if she felt like it, but never used paprika or cayenne in this particular dish. She fried in lard or shortening. I use vegetable oil. Her's was better. Mashed potatoes are a must, green beans cooked to death with bacon and onions also traditional.
Ken Tracy
Anyone who grew up eating their mamma's chicken fried steak knows that the best part is making a sandwich the next day with leftovers (if there are any). Soft white bread, lots of mayo, iceberg lettuce and a chicken fried steak. Heaven.
Andrea
I agree Cube Steak is very tough unless it's baked with gravy for hours, but I might try this anyway because it just sounds so good. Maybe I'll just pound it out a little bit more, that might help.And Pickering LaRoux ate sand so I think a little raw flour in the mouth may not prove fatal.
Pickering LaRoux
Growing up on the Bayou, we ate this every Sunday. Sometimes we’d have crawdads too. If we didn’t have no crawdads, we ate sand. We ate sand.
Allison
The trouble with fried cube steaks is they are never very tender. Almost better to dredge a hamburger. I’ve begun to pan fry cube steaks, add onion gravy and cook in oven at 300 for 2 hours. Flavorful and no gristle.
Edward Rice
I am a recent convert to low-salt eating, for very good medical reasons. If I leave out or sharply reduce the amount of salt called for in this recipe, will it still work *other than* the obvious change in flavor? Or will the batter become a flop entirely?
My Texas family gravy recipe
For the roux, heat solid bits and 2-3 tbls of the oil (no straining necessary) on med/med high until hot, then add an equal amount of flour. Stir until well mixed and bubbling. Season the roux (rather than seasoning the gravy) with lots of salt and pepper, constantly stirring until it begins to brown. Then add the milk and simmer, stirring frequently, until it reaches the desired thickness. This can take 5-10 (or more) minutes. Serve immediately.
Brooke
This is exactly how my mom makes her chicken fried steak. It was always one of my favorite meals growing up. One thing to note is to make sure you pat the cube steak dry before dredging it in flour.
Linda from Virginia
Don’t taste the flour mixture. According to the FDA, flour is a raw food and salmonella and E. coli as well as other pathogen can be present and cause illness if consumed.
Jonathan B
I once had the most marvelous chicken fried steak in a restaurant in Tulsa (on a very hot day with the spritzers keeping the patio cool). But no cube steak. It was a filet mignon with a brandy cream sauce "gravy"! Amazingly good.
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