This easy chicken fried cube steak recipe will turn your kitchen into a sweet Southern kitchen in no time. Chicken fried cube steak is a Southern classic - any Southern restaurant worth it's salt serves a great classic chicken fried cube steak, and now you can too!
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Chicken fried cube steak, the traditional Southern dish guaranteed to make your family's and friends', mouths water!. Delightfully crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, these steaks have great texture as well as amazing flavor.
All of the seasonings used in our recipe take a typical fried cube steak to a whole new level. Adding the garlic and onion powder adds a nice aromatic flavor, without having to use whole garlic or onions.
Cayenne helps add a little kick, that nice Southern spice, if you will, to the delicious crust.
❤️ Why I Love This Recipe
- Simple. Such an easy recipe, it takes a bit of time to make, but the steps are as easy as can be. Just prep, dredge, fry, and you're eating them.
- Delicious. Golden brown fried to perfection with a juicy tender steak under that crust? The best combination.
- Affordable. Cube steak is a relatively cheap cut of meat, while everything else used in this recipe is a pantry staple. Eggs, milk, flour, oil, and seasonings, done.
🥘 Ingredients
This recipe is made up of almost all staple pantry ingredients. All you will need to go out and buy are the cube steaks.
- 1 pound Pre-Tenderized Cube Steaks (4 steaks) - When selecting steaks of any sort, you want to go for the freshest cut. Look for that ruby red color when meat is fresh, you can touch it and the meat should spring back.
- 2 Large Eggs - Use beaten eggs as part of your dredging station to coat the cube steaks for frying.
- ½ cup Milk - If you do not have any milk, heavy cream, half-and-half or even water will suffice.
- 2 cups All-Purpose Flour - Another important part of making these delightfully crisped country fried steaks.
- Canola, Vegetable, or Peanut oil - When frying, you want to use an oil with a high smoke point because of the temperature the oil needs to reach. Canola and vegetable oils are good, cheap oils, peanut oil lends a much better flavor.
- Seasonings - 2 teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon pepper, 1 ½ teaspoons garlic powder, ½ teaspoon onion powder, and ½ teaspoon cayenne.
- 2 cups Country Gravy - My country gravy recipe is the perfect fit for these cube steaks.
Be sure to see the free printable recipe card below for ingredients, exact amounts & instructions with tips!
🔪 How To Make Chicken Fried Cube Steak
5 easy steps to a delicious Southern dinner. It may take some time, but perfectly crispy chicken fried steak is worth it.
- Prep. Preheat your oven to 200°F (95°C) and place a baking dish with a wire rack inside on the center rack. (You will use this to keep the chicken fried cube steaks warm as you finish frying the batches and make gravy). Season your 1 pound of cube steaks generously on both sides with salt & pepper.
- Whisk. Take two shallow dishes and set up a dredging station. In one, whisk together the 2 large eggs and ½ cup milk. In the second, whisk together the flour, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and cayenne.
- Dredge. One at a time, dredge each steak in the flour, pressing the flour into both sides of the steak. Shake off the excess flour and lightly dip each steak into the egg mixture, covering on both sides.
- Double dredge. Lift the steak out of the egg mix, lightly shake off the excess, and then coat the steak in the flour a second time, pressing the flour into the steak on both sides again. Set aside.
Fry & Serve
- Prep. Heat the oil of your choice in a large skillet over medium-high heat to about 350°F (175°C) (*see note). You want to make sure that the oil is at least ¼" thick on the bottom of the pan.
- Fry. One at a time, lay a steak into the hot oil. Fry in the oil until you see the edges of the coating on the steak turn golden brown, about 2-3 minutes. Carefully, with a slotted metal spoon or tongs, turn the steak over in the pan, and fry for 2 more minutes.
- Serve. Once golden brown on both sides, use your slotted metal spoon or a metal spatula remove the steak and allow the excess oil to drip off. Place finished steaks on the wire rack in the warm oven until all steaks have been fried. Serve as quickly as possible when done.
Top each steak with country gravy and serve with mashed potatoes and rolls for a classic country dinner. The mashed potatoes and rolls are perfect for soaking up extra gravy.
💭 Angela's Pro Tips & Recipe Notes
- The double-dredging ensures a super crispy chicken fried steak and is well worth the extra few moments (and a bit more of a mess)!
- Don't lose your breading! Use a metal spoon to pour some of the hot oil over the top of the steak. This helps prevent the coating from coming off.
- Make sure your oil is hot! Sprinkle some flour into your frying pan, if the oil sizzles it is ready. If the flour burns, it's too hot and you should turn down the stovetop.
- If you are unable to find cube steaks in your local supermarket, you can use a round steak or a sirloin. You just want to make sure that you pound it out very thin so that the meat can cook thoroughly, but won't be tough. About ¼ - ⅛ of an inch thick is the perfect thickness.
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🥡 Storing & Reheating
When storing leftovers, place a paper towel on the bottom of an air-tight container and spread the steaks in an even layer. If stacking them, make sure you place a paper towel in between each steak.
In a fridge, the steaks will last like this for up to 5 days. You can also place the steaks into an airtight freezer storage container and keep frozen for up to 6 months.
Reheating
If you have an air fryer, preheat it to 400°F (205°C). Lay the chicken fried steaks in a single layer (if your air fryer is small, you may need to work in batches), and "fry" for 3 minutes.
For the oven, preheat to 425°F (220°C), line a baking sheet with foil, and place a wire rack on top. Place the steaks in a single layer with about ½ to 1-inch of space between them on the wire rack.
Bake for 4 minutes, flip and bake for another 3-5 minutes until crispy and sizzling! Take them out of the oven and let them rest for about a minute on the rack to allow any residual oil to drip off.
😋 Perfect Southern Side Dishes
- Southern Fried Corn
- Southern Coleslaw
- Southern Baked Macaroni and Cheese
- Roasted Okra
- Garlic Red Skin Mashed Potatoes
Do you love a recipe you tried? Please leave a 5-star 🌟rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page.
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📖 Recipe Card
Chicken Fried Cube Steak
Ingredients
- 1 lbs cube steaks ( pre-tenderized)
- salt & pepper (to taste)
- 2 large eggs (beaten)
- ½ cup milk
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon Kosher salt (for the breading)
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper (for the breading)
- 1 ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon cayenne
- canola oil (or peanut, or olive oil- enough for frying)
- 2 cups country gravy (see recipe)
(Note: 2x or 3x only changes the ingredient list)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 200°F (95°C) and place a baking dish with a wire rack inside on the center rack. (You will use this to keep the chicken fried cube steak warm as you make gravy). Season your steaks generously on both sides with salt & pepper.
- Set up a dredging station with two shallow dishes. In the first dish you will whisk together the eggs and milk. In the second dish whisk together the flour and seasonings (kosher salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and cayenne pepper).
- Dredge each steak by placing it first in the flour mixture, using the palm of your hand to press down firmly on each side so the flour sticks to the meat. Then, dip the flour-coated steak into the egg mixture (or egg wash), making sure to submerge both sides. Gently shake off any excess egg wash. Then press it firmly into the flour mixture on both sides once more. Continue until all steaks are coated.
- Add oil to a frying pan, enough to cover the bottom of the pan ¼-inch deep. Heat to medium-high heat (*see note). One at a time, place a prepared steak into the frying pan. Fry for bout 2 minutes, or until you see the edges begin to turn golden-brown. Flip and fry for another 2 minutes on the opposite side.
- After the steak is golden brown, let any excess oil drip off as you remove it from the pan. Then, set it on the wire rack in the warm oven until you are done making the remaining steaks and and gravy. Repeat with each steak. Once all steaks are fried, top each one with country gravy and serve right away.
Notes
- If using round steak instead of pre-tenderized cube steak, you will need to tenderize the meat before dredging. Place the steak between 2 pieces of plastic wrap and pound with a meat mallet, rolling pin, or wine bottle until the meat is roughly ¼-inch thick.
- If you do not own a meat thermometer, you can test to see if your oil is hot enough by taking less than a pinch of flour and quickly, but carefully, drizzling it into the oil. If the oil pops and sizzles, it is hot enough.
- Use a metal spoon to pour some of the hot oil over the top of the steak. This helps prevent the coating from coming off.
Sue K says
Nothing at all complicated about this, but I have to say the entire family thought this was extremely good, even better than in a restaurant. And I live in Texas, so that is saying something. I don’t think you need two whole cups of flour for dredging four pieces of meat, however. Threw a lot of that away. I also used packaged country gravy just for simplicity sake. Well done.
Anonymous says
Great chicken fry
Anonymous says
This is super easy, delicious and a real keeper. Not a big fan of frying, I'm glad I made an exception!
I did use a packaged country gravy mismix to save time