Chicken fried steak is a classic southern dinner comfort food you can make at home in only 30 minutes. Think of that crispy golden brown breading smothered in wonderful creamy milk gravy—an easy weeknight recipe with restaurant-quality results.
Introduction
Time for some Texas-style diner comfort food. Chicken fried steak with gravy can be yours in 30 minutes with these quick and easy step-by-step photo instructions.
I have done chicken fried steak before for this blog, but it was a bigger recipe and too complicated.
As they say, I was trying to make my point the hard way. I truly fried it and made a mess in the kitchen. It was delicious, but a complete overhaul was in order.
It is time for an easier, weeknight version that you can scale to your needs. My inspiration recipe is the Pioneer Woman version of Chicken Fried Steak. It was for 6 and needed a cut-down and a little streamlining to make it quicker and less fussy.
It also needed some additional garlic, and I popped up the milk gravy a bit with some extra beef flavor — excellent comfort food.
My Rating
I love this.
✔️Tips
No chicken is used here, this is beef all the way using cube steak which usually comes from the sirloin or top round cuts.
The name "cube" refers to the shape of the indentations left by the mechanical tenderizer used to make the steak tender.
This is called chicken fried because it is a steak that is fried like chicken and has a coating that is like fried chicken. So chicken fried steak makes sense, but chicken fried chicken is double talk. Also, usually, the coating of chicken fried steak uses egg and a milk-based gravy.
First: Dry the meat well before starting the breading.
Second: Shake excess flour and egg off after each coat.
Third: Let the meat sit with the coating for 5 minutes before cooking.
Fouth: Use a fork to handle the meat once coated and only flip once.
🐄Milk Gravy
One of the main features of classic diner chicken fried steak is a milk-based tasty gravy. It is usually spiced like the steak, so we just use the flour from coating the steak and the oil from the frying. And it usually is peppered up a bit for more taste.
For our Yankee taste, we needed a bit of a beef flavor pop to the gravy. I added some Pensey's beef gravy base. You may add 1-2 beef bouillon cubes or the equivalent if you have Yankee taste buds or lack the fond memories of milk gravy,
📖Recipes with Gravy
Old Fashion Salisbury Steak with Onion Gravy
🖼️Step-by-Step Instructions
Start with about one pound of cube steak in two large pieces.
In a larger fry pan, heat 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil over medium-high heat.
Set up a breading line. In pan #1, beat 1 egg with ½ cup of milk. In pan #2 add ¾ cup of flour with 1 teaspoon seasoning salt, ½ teaspoon paprika, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, and ½ teaspoon black pepper. Add a pinch of cayenne pepper if you want. Mix well.
Dry the cube steaks. Coat cube steak in the flour mixture, shake off excess. Coat in egg mixture, shake off excess, and one more coat of the flour mixture. Place on plate and repeat for next steak.
By now the oil should be shimmering. Using a fork, lay the steak into the oil.
When the edges turn to gold, and it looks like some blood is coming through the flour (4-5 minutes), it is time for your only flip. Fry another 3-4 minutes. A final internal temperature of 145° - 150° but go by the color also.
Remove steaks to a clean plate and tent lightly with foil.
Lower burner to medium. Add 4 tablespoons of the flour mixture from coating pan #2 to 4 tablespoons of the oil and drippings in the pan. Whisk for a few minutes to cook the flour.
Slowly add 2 cups of milk while continuing to whisk. It should start thickening in a few minutes.
Add salt and pepper to taste. Also, you may want to add 1-2 beef bouillon cubes or the equivalent for a heavier beef taste.
📖 Recipe
30-Minute Chicken Fried Steak with Gravy
Ingredients
- 1 pound cube steak
- ½ cup milk
- 1 large egg
- ¾ cup flour
- 1 teaspoon seasoning salt - Lawry's is good
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- cayenne pepper - optional pinch
Ingredient for Gravy plus flour from above
- 2 cups milk
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1-2 beef bouillon cubes - optional-see discussion
Instructions
- Start with about one pound of cube steak in two large pieces.
- In a larger fry pan, heat 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil over medium-high heat.
- Set up a breading line. In pan #1, beat 1 egg with ½ cup of milk. In pan #2 add ¾ cup of flour with 1 teaspoon seasoning salt, ½ teaspoon paprika, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, and ½ teaspoon black pepper. Add a pinch of cayenne pepper if you want. Mix well.
- Dry the cube steaks will. Coat cube steak in the flour mixture, shake off excess. Coat in egg mixture, shake off excess, and one more coat of the flour mixture. Place on plate and repeat for next steak.
- By now the oil should be shimmering. Using a fork, lay the steak into the oil.
- When the edges turn to gold, and it looks like some blood is coming through the flour (4-5 minutes), it is time for your only flip. Fry another 3-4 minutes. A final internal temperature of 145° - 150° but go by the color also.
- Remove steaks to a clean plate and tent lightly with foil.
- Lower burner to medium. Add 4 tablespoons of the flour mixture from coating pan #2 to 4 tablespoons of the oil and drippings in the pan. Whisk for a few minutes to cook the flour.
- Slowly add 2 cups of milk while continuing to whisk. It should start thickening in a few minutes.
- Add salt and pepper to taste. Also, you may want to add 1-2 beef bouillon cubes, or the equivalent, for a heavier beef taste.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- Use the flour that is already seasoned to make the roux. If you need more flour, just use regular flour.
- Use the oil used to fry the steak for the gravy. You need 4 tablespoons.
- The recipe does call for the optional addition of some beef bullion or beef gravy base to increase the beef taste in the milk gravy.
- To help the breading stick better, make sure the steak is dry before starting, shake off excess well between coats, let set for 5 minutes before cooking, use a fork to handle the meat once coated, and only flip once.
- This gravy can be bland. Adding the beef flavor helps, using the flour that already has seasoning helps, but lots of pepper is frequently used.
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition
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Originally Published February 24, 2018. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Pam Wheeler
Oh my goodness! Just made this for my guy and myself and it is soooo delicious. I can't wait to see what else you have.
Pam
Ralph Simek
This sounds like a recipe that's something I want to try. Instead of using all purpose flour I'll be using Almond flour to greatly reduce the carbs. Any thoughts?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Ralph,
Welcome to the blog.
First, the coating will be different but I don't know how the technique would need to change. The coating sticks usually by the starch getting sticky. Not much starch probably means not much sticking. Also, I find almond flour does give a bit of a nutty taste. Not what I'm going for here.
I also have serious doubts about almond flour being a good thickener. Standard thickeners work by the starch attaching to the fluid. Almond flour would definitely be different, if it works very well. You can Google some to see if it works well and how much. I do remember xanthan gum being a common low carb thickener but again, I can give no specific advice.
Dan
Susan
Hi! I just read through your instructions, and found you've misplaced the word "flour" a couple of times in your directions (when saying how much to put in the dry coating mix).
I'm looking forward to making this. Had it as a kid with mashed potatoes and whatever vegie was out of the garden. 😊
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Susan,
Thanks for the proofread. It has been that way for 3 years and nobody saw it. This is an update and I skimmed the instructions to be sure they conformed to what I do now. And then cut and paste from the post to the recipe card. So the error transfers.
All fixed now. The two biggest hints on this recipe are to review the tips in the post about getting the breading to stick, and to use the remaining flour from the breading to make the gravy for the seasoning.
Thanks again.
Dan
Kim Faubert
This was delicious! I’ve always had a difficult time with milk gravy, either to thick or to thin... this was perfect with just the right amount of seasonings. The husband and I give this a strong 5 stars, thank you for sharing!
DrDan
Hi Kim,
Thanks for the note. I have a more detailed post on how to make gravy at home https://www.101cookingfortwo.com/how-to-make-gravy-101/ that may be useful.
Dan