Chicken Fried Steak with Gravy
Recipe and photography provided by Heinen’s partner, Chef Billy Parisi.
This Chicken Fried Steak with Gravy is the ultimate comfort food recipe that cooks in under 20 minutes.
If you want an absolutely perfect southern-style homecooked meal, look no further than this. It’s incredibly tender and the easy-to-make gravy drizzled over the top is so amazing!
How to Make the Gravy
This gravy could not be easier to make. It’s seriously just roux, milk, salt and pepper. That’s it. The beautiful thing is you should have a bit leftover, which you can mix with cooked breakfast sausage and pour over biscuits. You’re welcome!
Start by making a roux which is equally weighted parts of butter and flour. If you don’t have a scale, you can use a simple 1 to 1 butter to flour ratio. It’s okay if it’s a little on the runny side. Melt the butter in a pan over low heat and then whisk in the flour until it’s completely combined. Don’t cook the roux, as you want to keep it light in color.
Next, add the milk and turn the heat to high to bring it to a boil while constantly whisking. The sauce will become very thick, and once it does, turn the heat down to low, season with salt and pepper and keep it warm.
If for some reason the gravy gets too thick, just thin it out with more milk.
How to Cook the Steak
I know, I know, it’s weird that this dish is beef and is called a chicken fried steak. The name behind the recipe just comes from the procedure used to make it. All it is is steak that is breaded like fried chicken and cooked in oil. It may sound elementary, but that’s because it is.
The steak portion of the recipe uses cube steak, which is essentially thinly- sliced topped round that’s been pounded out with a mallet leaving cube-like shapes in the steak. If for some reason your local Heinen’s doesn’t offer this, then no problem. Simply buy top round steaks, thinly slice them and pound them out in your kitchen. You could also do the same thing to a filet, strip loin or even a ribeye if you’d like. Make this recipe based on what is available and what you already have on hand.
Once the meat is sliced and tenderized from the mallet, simply run it through seasoned whisked eggs and then into the seasoned flour before cooking it in oil. The steak will cook very quickly because it’s so thin, maybe 3-4 minutes per side. It will form a nice, browned outer crust that is so delicious.
Add the gravy all over the breaded steak and prepare for a delicious meal.
Chicken Fried Steak with Gravy
Servings: 4
Ingredients
For the Gravy
- 1 oz. of unsalted butter
- 1 oz. of all-purpose flour
- 2 cups whole milk
- Salt and pepper to taste
For the Steak
- 3 whisked eggs
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp. paprika
- 4 4 oz. cube steaks
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Oil, for frying
Instructions
- In a large frying pan over low heat, melt the butter and whisk in the flour until completely combined.
- Pour in the milk and turn the heat to high to bring to a boil while constantly whisking. Season with salt and pepper and keep warm over low heat.
- Add the whisked eggs to a bowl and mix in salt and pepper.
- In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, paprika, salt and pepper until combined.
- Coat each steak, one at a time, in the egg mixture followed by the flour mixture until completely coated. Set aside on a cookie sheet tray or platter.
- Add enough oil until there is about a ½” covering the bottom of the pan, about 1 cup total. Turn the heat to medium.
- Cook the steak on each side for 3 minutes per side, or until browned and crispy. Drain on paper towels.
- Serve the gravy over top of the steak.
