Chicken Fried Steak Recipe With Gravy

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This easy chicken fried steak recipe is a time-honored Southern staple that involves tender steak covered in a crispy coating and served with a deliciously creamy gravy.

Bite taken out of chicken fried steak with gravy and carrots.

Chicken fried steak is one of my favorite meals. But it wasn’t always that way. While it is a Southern staple in most homes and restaurants, I didn’t try it for years. But when I first tried it in Texas, it didn’t take long for me to realize that the chicken fried steak meat was anything but chicken. And I sure wasn’t disappointed because instead I was served the most tender cubed steak infused with some of the most beautiful flavors that I had ever had.  

From my first bite of that chicken fried steak sandwich, I was hooked. Thankfully, this chicken fried steak recipe comes together so fast that I regularly serve it for supper on the busiest of days. In this post, I’m gonna show you a little trick that will help you to have a nice crunchy breading on your fried steak every time. I serve mine with a creamy gravy that also’s quick and easy to make, but I’ve included more serving suggestions below.

Now let’s get a head start on supper!

Ingredients for chicken fried steak recipe.

Recipe Ingredients

  • Milk
  • Flour (whatever you have on hand: all-purpose flour, self-raising flour, or almond flour for gluten-free friends).
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Cubed steak

How To Make Chicken Fried Steak

Heat oil in skillet.

Before ya start, pour a little oil into a large skillet and set it over medium to medium-high heat.

Mix together flour, salt, and pepper in shallow dish.

Now place your flour in a shallow dish. Season it with salt and pepper and then stir this flour mixture up well.

Pour milk into another shallow dish.

Now pour a little milk into another shallow dish and you’ve got a breading station set up.

Dip cube steak in milk.

Take one piece of cube steak and dip it into the milk on both sides.

Hold it up to drip excess milk off a few seconds and then…

Dip both sides in flour mixture.

Dip both sides into the flour mixture.

Dip steaks back into the milk.

Dip it BACK into the milk…

See, the trick to getting a nice thick breading is to double-dip. That first dip is basically creating a “glue” for the second coating to stick to.

Then dip steaks back into the flour mixture.

Dip it back into the flour mixture.

Repeat with the rest of your cube steak.

Placed breaded steak in skillet.

Carefully place the breaded steak into the hot skillet and cook until golden brown.

Once golden brown, flip the chicken fried steak and cook on the other side.

Flip, and cook until browned on the other side as well. This will probably take anywhere from 5 to 7 minutes per side.

Once it’s brown, remove it to a paper towel-lined plate.

Add flour to skillet to make gravy.

Pour off most of the oil in your skillet, but keep about 3-4 tablespoons.

Add your flour to the hot skillet.

Stir until flour browns and then add milk.

Stir constantly until flour is brown, just a minute or two. Then reduce heat to low, pour in the milk, and stir.

Continue cooking until gravy at preferred consistency then season with salt and pepper.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Continue cooking until gravy at preferred consistency.

Continue cooking until gravy is as thick as you like (2 to 4 minutes).

If it gets too thick, stir in more milk.

Covering chicken fried steak with gravy.

Place your chicken fried steak on a plate with some friends, like mashed potato, carrots, and a biscuit.

Plate of chicken fried steak with gravy and carrots.

Dive into some old-fashioned goodness that money just can’t buy!

Storage

Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. I recommend reheating either in the oven or air fryer to get it crispy once more.

Recipe Notes

  • Whatever flour you have on hand will work just fine, whether it is all-purpose or self-rising. These days I even use almond or coconut flour. If using self-rising flour, you can just leave the salt out since it already has salt in it.
  • If you want to add some heat to this chicken fried steak recipe, add a tablespoon of hot pepper sauce (like Tabasco) to the milk before you dredge the steaks. Otherwise, add 3/4 teaspoon of paprika and 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper to the flour mixture.
  • You can use any kind of oil or fat for frying: canola oil, peanut oil, vegetable oil, olive oil, or shortening.
  • For an even creamier country gravy, use 1/4 cup of heavy cream and 1.5 cups of milk.
  • Don’t overcrowd the pan. I cooked them one at a time and they were perfect!
  • Instead of milk, you can dip your chicken fried steak in buttermilk.

Recipe FAQs

What do you serve with chicken fried steak and gravy?

Mashed potato is the most popular side dish to serve with chicken fried steak. But you might want to serve it with mashed sweet potato or even cheesy garlic mashed potatoes for something different. Then I love to serve it with some kind of bread to soak up that creamy gravy. Take your pick between Southern cornbread, hoecake, buttermilk biscuits, or homemade dinner rolls.

My final serving suggestion is the vegetables of your choice. Simply add some roasted vegetables, zucchini and squash, collard greens, or even grilled asparagus. The choice is all yours!

What is the best cut of meat for chicken fried steak?

You want to use cube steak that’s already been tenderized or a cheap cut like round steak, which you’ll need to pound into a thin cut with a meat mallet. 

What’s the difference between chicken fried steak and country fried steak?

People often use the terms interchangeably. However, some Southern folk differentiates the two on the basis of gravy. Some people will say chicken fried steak is served with a milk-based gravy, but country fried steak is served with a beef-based gravy. In saying that though, you’ll find the country fried steak at Cracker Barrel is served with a milk-based gravy.

Can I cook my chicken fried steak in the air fryer?

Yes, you can air fry this chicken fried steak recipe. Preheat the air fryer to 400 degrees, bread the steaks and then add them to the air fryer basket in a single layer. Spray them with lots of cooking spray for extra crunch! Air fry for about 5 minutes, turn them over, spray the other side, and then cook for another 5 minutes. You can also follow these directions to cook your chicken fried steaks in the oven, but they won’t get as crispy.

You may also like these easy steak supper recipes:

Cubed Steak and Milk Gravy

Steak Sandwiches

Fork Tender Crockpot Swiss Steak

Swiss Steak in Oven

Steak Kabobs in the Oven

Delicious Hamburger Steak Recipe with Fried Onions

Chicken fried steak recipe with gravy.

Chicken Fried Steak

This chicken fried steak recipe is a Southern staple that involves tender steak covered in a crispy coating and served with a creamy gravy.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American
Keyword: fried, gravy, steak
Servings: 4
Calories: 791kcal

Ingredients

  • 2 pieces cubed steak
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour self-rising flour is fine, just omit salt
  • 1/2 tsp salt more if you like
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper more if you like
  • vegetable oil for frying

For Gravy

  • 3 tbsp reserved oil from frying steaks
  • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper or to taste
  • 1 1/2 - 2 cups milk

Instructions

  • Pour oil to a depth of 1/4-inch in a large skillet. Place over medium heat while you prepare the cubed steaks.
    vegetable oil for frying
  • In a shallow bowl or pie plate, stir together the flour, salt, and pepper. In another shallow bowl, pour the milk.
    1 cup all-purpose flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • Dip each piece of meat into the milk on both sides, then the flour mixture on both sides. Then dip them back into the milk on both sides, and back into the flour mixture on both sides. Repeat until both pieces of meat are breaded.
    2 pieces cubed steak
  • Carefully place steaks in the hot oil and cook until golden brown on both sides (about 8-10 minutes). Remove to a paper towel-lined plate while you prepare the gravy.

For the Gravy

  • Drain off all grease except for 3-4 tablespoons. Add flour to grease and stir over medium heat until flour is brown (just 1-2 minutes).
    3 tbsp reserved oil from frying steaks, 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • Reduce heat to low and pour in the milk while stirring constantly. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir over low heat until gravy is of desired thickness. Add more milk if it becomes too thick.
    1/2 tsp salt, 1 1/2 - 2 cups milk, 1/4 tsp pepper
  • Pour gravy over the fried steak and serve with mashed potatoes and biscuits if you like.

Nutrition

Calories: 791kcal
Tried this recipe?Mention @southernplate or tag #southernplate!

 

What you get out of life is measured by what you’re willing to put into it.

~ Thomas Edison, Submitted by Johnny Lansdell

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98 Comments

  1. I add a tablespoon of bacon grease to the oil for an authentic (to me, anyway) taste. I once used a Southern Living recipe that called for crushed crackers in the flour. That was a big hit, but be sure you crush the life outta those crackers!

  2. Good grief, I see the recipe is for hoe cake that goes with this. Missed it somehow. Thanks Christy for all you do for us!

  3. I used your technique to bread some pork chops, and by golly, the breading stuck, something it doesn’t always do for me. Yay! I saved this posting in my mailbox so I could remember to get some cube steak and do that—and am wondering if you have the recipe posted somewhere in here for that biscuit friend that’s sitting on the plate looking like it needs dipping into the gravy?

  4. Chicken Fried Steak — It’s whats for dinner — TONIGHT!

    Love you and all your recipies and stories!!

  5. Hi Christy! Great post! I’ve had mixed success over the years with breading and frying stuff (please don’t tell my Drs. I still eat fried foods). I like the double-breading technique and will try it your way, as well as trying to incorporate Panko, perhaps in the second dip. Panko seems always to ensure crispness in the end result. (I’m half-Japanese and grew up with my mom using Panko when she could find it on the mainland. Now that we live in Hawaii, every grocery store has it. Hawaii is a multi-ethnic paradise and I’m blessed to call it home.
    NOW. I was going to ask if *you* use any leftover flour from the breading set-up for your gravy, because your instructions make it seem that you use “fresh” flour that you season up like you do the breading flour. Then I saw posts by Melissa P. and Lana that addressed my query. Aside from adding the Panko suggestion, I guess I was just seeking “points” for actually reading the posts before asking a question that others already had answered. ^.^ Hope you had a great time in NYC w/your Mama — and that your book does boffo business! Aloha!

  6. I’ve made this forever but never tried the double-dip trick until I read your recipe…YUM! Crunchy on the outside and so tender on the inside…mashed taters, gravy and broccoli casserole…WOW, what a meal we had! YAY for Southern Plate and Christy! I appreciate you! Can’t wait for your new book!

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