The MOST DELICIOUS Southern Chicken Fried Steak and Gravy You Will Ever Have

Looking for a mouthwatering recipe? This southern chicken fried steak with peppered gravy is a classic southern meal that will satisfy any hungry person. This recipe is so good – actually better than what you find on many restaurant menus – it’ll have you saying, “It’s the best!”

Adapted from an America’s Test Kitchen recipe, your ‘chicken’ (beef steak) is breaded perfectly for just the right amount of crunch and a juicy inside. You won’t get a burnt or doughy outside that you see in so many other recipes.

And chicken fried steak is not without its gravy, that’s also great with mashed potatoes and biscuits. It’s a true southern-style cream gravy with easy ingredients of milk, butter, flour, ground black pepper, and salt to complete a very hearty and delicious meal. Are you ready to dig in?

Perfect chicken fried steak topped with creamy southern gravy… So good!

HOW TO MAKE THE BEST CHICKEN FRIED STEAK

Cook time: 6-10 minutes for deep fry, or 3-5 minutes each side for pan fry
Servings: 4

Directions:

1. Take your meat and let it rest at room temperature.
2. Combine the flour and seasonings, and set aside.
3. Trim and discard the extra fat off the steaks and cut into portion sizes. A good rule of thumb is to take a steak the size you’d normally eat, and use half of that…after it’s pounded flat and breaded the steak will almost double in size. 1lb will get you around 4 steaks. Lightly pound them with a meat tenderizer to even out any discrepancies in thickness. You should pound them to about 1/4″ thick.
4. Lightly dredge the steaks in the flour mixture and let them rest.
5. Take the remaining flour and slowly add the milk into it 1/4 cup at a time until it starts to look “mealy” and coarse, similar to the crumb topping. It will create a little bit of flour to give that crunch when cooking. Don’t make it too wet, you still want the texture of flour, but just kind of chunky and clumpy.
6. Pound the steaks one more time to help the flour adhere to the meat. This will produce the stickiness with the gluten (so not sure if gluten free would work the same… ). Dip each steak into the beaten egg, and then into the crumb mixture, pressing to coat each side. Set on a foil-lined cookie sheet to rest again. Repeat with remaining steaks.
   (The meat can rest out on the counter for 30 minutes, or in the fridge for a few hours so if you’re having guests over for dinner and serving this. Just pull them out about 30 minutes before frying.)
7. Start on your chicken pepper gravy by melting butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat.
8. Whisk in flour until it turns light brown and then slowly add milk and continue stirring until smooth.
9. Add salt and pepper, stir, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Set aside.
10. Take a large pot and fill it with frying oil (vegetable oil is used in this recipe). The oil is ready when you put a little flour nugget in to test and it sizzles and floats to the top. The oil needs to be hot!(Place the steak in the oil, careful not to overcrowd to ensure the breading crisps up and the meat cooks quickly. The steaks will only be in between 6-10 minutes. Watch carefully.)
11. If you aren’t deep frying and plan to pan fry, it should be about 3-5 minutes each side. When they are golden brown, remove them to drain and fry the rest of the steaks.
12. Take a look at that crunch! Drench it with your southern gravy and serve!

Notes:

1. When buying your beef round steak, you can get your store butcher to cut them thin and tenderize them for you.

Want A Great Side Dish? Now Watch How To Make Southern Baked Mac And Cheese!