Southern Cubed Steak and Milk Gravy
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There’s nothing quite as comforting as this Southern cube steak and gravy dish. Fortunately, it’s an easy dinner to make on a busy weeknight. All you need is cube steak, milk, and flour and you will have dinner ready in about 35 minutes. The end result is tender steak swimming in creamy and flavorful milk gravy. How good does that sound? You can choose to serve your steak with a variety of side dishes too, like Cheesy Garlic Mashed Potatoes With Mozzarella, Fresh Green Beans, Easy Homemade Dirty Rice.
Recipe Ingredients
- Milk
- Salt
- Pepper
- Flour
- Cube steak
Helpful Kitchen ToolsC
How to Make Cube Steaks and Gravy
Pour just enough oil to coat the bottom of your cast iron skillet and heat oil over medium heat.
Put about a cup of flour in a bowl. Add some salt and pepper and stir that up.
Place a piece of cube steak in the flour mixture and press down a bit to ensure it is dredged in flour.
Turn it over and coat the other side…
Repeat with all of the pieces.
Place in hot oil.
Fry steaks and flip to ensure they’re nice and brown on each side. Once done, remove steak and place on a paper towel-lined plate.
Add about 1/4 cup of flour to this and seasoned salt and black pepper to taste.
Stir that up and continue cooking it on medium heat until the flour gets browned a bit, stirring the whole time.
Next, turn your heat down to the lowest setting and pour the milk into the skillet. I start out with about a cup and a half and then add more if I want it thinner.
Use a wire whisk to stir this because it really helps break up the lumps of flour and get it all good and mixed up.
Cook on the lowest heat until it thickens, stirring constantly. If it gets too thick, you can add more milk. This will just take a few minutes, so stir the entire time and be ready to remove it from the heat when it gets thick.
Put your steak back into the milk gravy, turn them over to coat both sides and you’re done!
Ingredients
- 4 pieces cubed steak
- 1 cup all-purpose flour plus about 1/4 cup more to thicken gravy
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
- 1 1/2 cups milk approximately
Instructions
- Place enough oil in a pan to just coat the bottom and put that over medium heat while you prepare your steak.
- In a bowl, place 1 cup flour and add 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/ 4 teaspoon pepper (more if you prefer). Stir that up. Dip each piece of steak into flour on both sides to get it coated well.4 pieces cubed steak, 1 cup all-purpose flour, salt, pepper
- Place each piece of steak in the heated pan and cook until good and brown on both sides. Remove steak to a plate while you make your gravy.
- Place about 1/4 cup flour into skillet with meat drippings. Add a little more salt and pepper and stir this over medium heat until the flour is slightly browned (just a few minutes).1 cup all-purpose flour, 1 1/2 cups milk
- Slowly pour in 1 1/2 cups of milk, stirring constantly. Continue stirring with a wire whisk (to help with the lumps) over the lowest heat setting until thickened and there are no lumps. This will happen rather quickly. Add a little more milk if you prefer thinner gravy. Return steak to the pan and turn to coat with gravy on both sides.
- Serve steak and gravy together in a bowl or serve gravy on the side to go with mashed potatoes.
Video
Nutrition
Storage
Store the steaks and gravy in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days.
Recipe Notes
- You always want to have your oil good and hot before you add anything to it, as this keeps your food from getting greasy by actually searing it on contact.
- If you’re unsure what cube steak is, it’s either sirloin or a top-round cut of beef that’s been tenderized and pounded with either a meat mallet or machine. This process is called cubing and leaves indentations in the meat, which is where it gets its name. So if you like, you can buy your beef and tenderize it at home. Just make sure it’s about a 1/4-inch thick.
- To make this steak and gravy dish gluten-free, simply swap the flour for a gluten-free version. It’s that easy. All of the side dishes mentioned below are gluten-free too.
Recipe FAQs
What do you serve with cube steak and gravy?
I like to serve Southern cube steak with milk gravy, mashed potatoes or rice. But another option is to serve it with roasted vegetables, a side of potatoes and peas, or alongside a side salad and bread, to soak up every drop of the flavorful gravy. Yum!
Here are some more easy steak recipes:
Oven Steak Kabobs – A special meal on a budget
Okay, I know silly question, however I’m just now taking up cooking and wanted to know… What type of flour is used and what type of oil is used for this recipe? Thanks!
Melissa – It’s not a silly question! No such thing, especially when learning from scratch! There are several options out there and it’s not silly to ask which one works best. Acually, any vegetable or canola oil (my favorite) is sufficient, and any regular, NON self-rising white flour will work fine. (Self-rising flour is for baking because it has salt and baking soda in it to work with recipes requiring it. Just saves the extra step of adding it when baking from scratch.) Also, don’t use whole wheat flour – just plain white is fine for coating meat to brown.
Good luck!
I used while wheat flour(cooking right now) why do u say not to use whole wheat flour
I like to use cornstarch instead of flour for my gravy. Use half as much, and it comes out creamier. Just a personal opinion. I make this for my family as well, and it is always a hit.
I love this, especially once we get into the colder weather and are not so inclined to cook on the grill as much. Cube steak is also great because it is always inexpensive, for those of us on a budget (which is probably most of us these days!)
Amy Nafe- love the idea for the onion soup substitution, will definitely give that a try.
Hey Christy! I am always so lost in the meat department of the grocery store! If you have a moment, (I know you just have so much free time on your hands!) could you make a little list of meats that may go by the same name? For example, is cubed steak the same as grilling steak? Thanks!!!
I’m not Christy, not nearly so talented, but I’ve found that cube steak is the tenderized version of round steak. You’ll see bottom round, top round, and sometimes I think whatever name the butcher can think of but what works for steak and gravy is cheap. The cheapest cut of round steak, cut into serving pcs. and run through the tenderizer at the grocery (some will still do that) or beat with the edge of a thick kitchen glass, jelly jar, or saucer, will do the same thing. I buy cube steak when we want that except the week after I balance the checkbook and can vividly remember just how far retirement income does NOT always go, then I buy round steak and beat out my frustrations. Hope it helps a little anyway.
It’s me again, Amy. I forgot. When you get your cheap round steak home and are going to cut it into serving pcs. that’s when I cut off the gristle, etc. I don’t want to eat. I know my grocer doesn’t do that, so when I buy cube steak I always end up with these mystery holes in it where I have cut something out.
The only times we had steak my Mother fixed it this way. It was the most affordable way to stretch it. In the late summer when the threshing crew was at our place for the day that is what they got fed at noon. In the afternooon with their coffee they were fed sandwiches with a potted meat filling and cake. I mentioned potted meat sandwiches to my younger sisters one time and they had no idea what I was talking about, but then I got to thinking they were enough younger than me that by the time they were old enough to remember we probably had a combine. Every now and then I will get a craving for potted meat sandwiches and buy a little can of the stuff.
I remember my grandaddy eating potted meat sandwiches! Oh the things we cherish (which the younger folks shun!lol)
I use Lipton onion soup mix in place of flour, makes an awesome onion gravy for the cube steak.
You’re better off beating your meat…. LOL With a saucer as a lot of markets use the cheapest, most gristle filled meat for their cube steak. A mistake I won’t make again.
This was awesome and super easy!!!!!!!
I had never cooked cube steak and this has got me hooked!
Thanks!!