Country-fried steak is one of those tried-and-true dinners around here.
It’s not new. It’s not revolutionary. I’m certainly not claiming I invented country-fried steak.
What I am saying is that I don’t make it very often.
Because this dinner is a labor of love.
It’s flour everywhere. It’s breading. It’s frying in batches. It’s gravy. It’s standing at the stove. It’s somehow using every dish you own. And by the time you’re finished, you’ve spent a good chunk of your evening making dinner.
But isn’t that how some of the best food in this world works?
Some meals are for getting everybody fed in 20 minutes because it’s Tuesday and we’re tired.
And some meals are country-fried steak.
This is the latter. 😂
In a Rush?
Then don’t cook this meal. 😂
Just kidding.
Kind of.
Unless you have approximately 85 minutes and are willing to spend a good portion of them standing in your kitchen flouring, egging, frying, gravy-making and questioning how you’ve managed to dirty this many dishes, save this one for another night.
Still here?
Perfect. Let’s make some steak nuggets.
The Quick Version
You’ll need about 1¾–2 pounds of cube steak, cut into nugget-sized pieces.
Put the steak pieces in a bag with enough milk to coat them while you get everything else ready.
For the seasoned flour, start with:
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
- 1 Tbsp garlic powder
- 1 Tbsp onion powder
- ½ Tbsp paprika
- About 1 Tbsp salt
You’ll also need beaten eggs for your egg wash and 2 sticks of butter for frying.
Yes.
Two sticks.
We’re moving on. 😂
Bread your steak pieces:
milk → seasoned flour → egg → seasoned flour again
Set the breaded nuggets on a rack while you finish the rest.
Set your oven to 350°F. Once it reaches temperature, turn it off. We’re making a warm holding spot, not continuing to cook the life out of our steak nuggets.
Melt the butter in a large skillet and actually let it get hot before you start frying. Fry the nuggets in batches, flipping once. Once my pan was properly hot, mine generally took around 1–2 minutes per side.
As each batch finishes, move it onto a baking sheet in the warm, turned-off oven.
When everything is fried, leave the nuggets in there while you make the gravy.
Once the gravy is ready, pull out your nuggets and give the whole batch a light sprinkle of about 1–2 teaspoons of salt.
Serve over mashed potatoes and cover the whole situation in gravy.
That’s the short version.
If you’re already holding a package of cube steak, go forth.
If you’re wondering why I voluntarily spent more than an hour doing this on a weeknight, keep reading.
Why Nuggets?
My biggest gripe with making country-fried steak has always been the full-sized cube steaks.
They take longer to fry. They’re harder to flip. And I have approximately zero patience for standing over a skillet wondering:
Is it ready?
Can I flip it now?
Is the middle done?
So this time, I cut the steaks into nugget-sized pieces instead.
THAT’S the part I’m excited about.
All the goodness of the country-fried steak I already know and love, but in little pieces that were easier for me to handle, quicker to fry once my butter was hot, and—possibly most importantly—gave me even more of that crispy seasoned coating.
Did turning them into nuggets suddenly make country-fried steak a quick weeknight meal?
Absolutely not. 😂
I started around 6:15, and we had dinner in our hands around 7:35.
This is still a commitment.
But when you finally pile those crispy steak nuggets over mashed potatoes, spoon homemade gravy all over the top, sit down and take that first bite?
Ohhhh. That’s why we do it.
There are dinners you make because everybody needs to eat.
And then there are dinners that remind you why feeding people can be an act of love.
This one takes longer. It uses an irresponsible amount of butter. Your kitchen is probably going to look like you’ve been through something when you’re finished.
But every once in a while?
Make the good stuff.
Country-Fried Steak Nuggets Recipe
Ingredients
For the Steak Nuggets
- About 1¾–2 lb cube steak (mine was 1.78 lb)
- Milk, enough to coat the steak pieces
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
- 1 Tbsp garlic powder
- 1 Tbsp onion powder
- ½ Tbsp paprika
- About 1 Tbsp salt
- Eggs, beaten, for the egg wash
- 2 sticks butter, for frying
- 1–2 tsp salt, for finishing
For the Gravy
- ⅛ cup strained butter from frying
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 cups milk, plus more as needed
- 1 Tbsp garlic powder
- About 1 Tbsp Dan-O’s Cajun seasoning
- Small sprinkle of thyme
For Serving
- Mashed potatoes
And yes, I used instant mashed potatoes.
This dinner already had me in the kitchen for over an hour.
I was not peeling potatoes to prove something to anybody.
Instructions
1. Cut and Soak the Steak
Cut your cube steak into nugget-sized pieces.
Put the pieces into a bag or bowl with enough milk to coat them and let them hang out while you prepare everything else.
And if nobody’s mama ever told you about soaking meat in milk before frying it, don’t worry.
Apparently somebody’s mama forgot to tell me some things about frying, too.
I’ve got a whole article about that.
2. Make the Seasoned Flour
Combine 3 cups flour, 1 tablespoon garlic powder, 1 tablespoon onion powder, ½ tablespoon paprika and about 1 tablespoon salt in a large bag.
Keep some additional flour nearby.
I used about 1.78 pounds of cube steak, and once you cut all that moist cube steak into little pieces, you’ve created a LOT of surface area for breading to stick to.
I ended up adding more flour toward the end and probably used somewhere around 3–4 cups total.
Don’t make yourself crazy trying to predict exactly how much you’ll need.
Start with three.
Keep the flour nearby.
You’ll know.
3. Bread the Nuggets
Beat your eggs in a bowl.
Take each steak piece from the milk and bread it:
seasoned flour → egg → seasoned flour
No breadcrumbs.
No separate second flour mixture.
Right back into the same bag.
Set your breaded pieces onto a rack while you finish the rest.
4. Make a Warm Spot for the Finished Nuggets
Set your oven to 350°F.
Once it reaches 350°F, turn it off.
Have a baking sheet ready for your finished nuggets.
As each batch finishes frying, you’ll move it onto that baking sheet and into the warm oven.
The goal here isn’t to keep baking them.
We’re just giving everybody a warm place to hang out while their friends finish frying and I make the gravy.
5. Fry the Steak Nuggets
Melt two sticks of butter in a large skillet.
And we’re not discussing the nutritional implications of that sentence right now.
We’re making country-fried steak. 😂
Give the butter time to get properly hot before adding your first batch.
I did not.
My first batch took longer.
Learn from me.
Once everything was properly heated, mine generally took about 1–2 minutes per side.
Work in batches so you don’t overcrowd your skillet.
As each batch finishes, transfer the nuggets to your baking sheet in the warm, turned-off oven.
Don’t rely on cooking time alone to determine doneness. Check your steak with a food thermometer. Beef steaks should reach 145°F internally and then rest for at least 3 minutes.
Once you’ve finished frying everything, leave those nuggets right where they are while you make the gravy.
They’re happy.
They’re warm.
They’ve done their part.
Don’t Throw Away That Butter
Because we’re making gravy.
Once you’re finished frying, carefully strain the leftover butter to remove the fried bits of breading.
I strained mine once.
Next time, I’ll probably strain it twice.
Take ⅛ cup of the strained frying butter and put it into a pan with ¼ cup flour.
Stir it together and let that flour soak up the butter until you’ve got a paste.
Add 1 cup of milk and stir, working out as many lumps as you can.
Then add your second cup of milk.
Season the gravy with:
- 1 Tbsp garlic powder
- About 1 Tbsp Dan-O’s Cajun seasoning
- A little sprinkle of thyme
And when I say a little thyme, I don’t think I used enough to even justify putting it in the recipe.
It was basically there for looks.
But we’re documenting history accurately here. 😂
Once everything is together, use your judgment.
Want thinner gravy? Add a little more milk.
Want it thicker? Leave it alone and let it do its thing.
You know what gravy looks like.
One Last Thing Before We Eat
Now that the gravy is ready, pull those steak nuggets out of their warm little oven hideout.
While they’re still warm, sprinkle about 1–2 teaspoons of salt over the entire batch.
You’re not trying to heavily season them again.
It’s just that last little sprinkle that lifts everything up.
Now we’re ready.
Build the Plate
Mashed potatoes.
Country-fried steak nuggets.
Gravy.
Some more gravy.
Done.
I normally overseason everything, but I actually seasoned the mashed potatoes less than I usually would for this meal.
The steak is heavily seasoned. We’ve got that finishing salt. The gravy has plenty going on.
The mashed potatoes don’t need to fight anybody.
Let them be the nice, quiet little bed underneath all this chaos.
And for the record, instant mashed potatoes are absolutely acceptable here.
After breading and frying almost two pounds of steak and making homemade gravy, I’m not peeling potatoes because the internet thinks I need to earn a merit badge.
About That Picture…
You may notice there’s a nice little bowl of mashed potatoes, steak nuggets and gravy pictured here.
That’s my second bowl.
Not because I thoughtfully plated a serving for the blog.
Absolutely not.
I made this whole dinner, sat down, started eating and got so excited about how good it was that I completely forgot I was supposed to take a picture. 😂
So naturally, I had to get seconds.
For journalism.
For you guys.
It was very important research.
Was I already full enough after the first bowl?
That’s between me and God.
But I needed the picture.
And if I happened to eat the entire second bowl after I took it, well…
Waste not, want not.
And yes, that’s a paper bowl.
I just spent approximately 85 minutes making country-fried steak nuggets and homemade gravy.
I’ve done enough.
The Husband Test
Now, you need to understand something about my husband and me.
I live to eat. He eats to live.
I am also extremely blessed in the husband department when it comes to dinner because this man will eat pretty much anything I put in front of him.
And I mean anything.
I’ve made some truly questionable dinners during our marriage, and that man has powered through.
There are certain things we don’t make anymore because they don’t agree with his stomach, and it’s easier for me to make one meal everybody can eat.
Other than that?
He’s not picky.
He’s also a man of few words.
And a man of even fewer dinner compliments. 😂
So when this man sat back after eating these Country-Fried Steak Nuggets and said:
“Wow. That was amazing.”
OH.
Do y’all understand what just happened here?!
I didn’t ask him if he liked it.
I didn’t stare at him across the table until he realized there was only one answer that would preserve our marriage.
This was an unprompted compliment.
From HIM.
That’s how I knew.
Top dog, dude.
Ten out of five stars.
This is gonna make you wanna smack your mama, your grandma, your auntie, your TT, whoever.
And before somebody comes for me about the amount of butter in this recipe, I’m not going to tell you how much butter you just consumed.
You can do math.
I believe in you.
What I will tell you is that it was worth it.
Jane’s Two Cents
Let the butter actually get hot. My impatient first batch took longer because I jumped the gun. Once that butter was properly hot, the rest went much faster.
Turn the oven off once it reaches 350°F. We’re not trying to keep cooking the nuggets while everything else gets finished. We’re just making them a nice warm holding spot while we fry the rest and make the gravy.
Keep extra flour nearby. Nearly two pounds of moist cube steak cut into little pieces can go through a surprising amount of seasoned flour. Start with three cups and add more if you need it.
Don’t skip the finishing salt. Once the gravy is done and the nuggets finally come out of the warm oven, give the whole batch that light sprinkle. It doesn’t need to be another heavy seasoning layer. It’s just enough to wake everything up.
Go easier on the mashed potatoes. I normally season everything like the seasoning cabinet personally offended me, but the steak and gravy are already loud. Let the potatoes be the quiet one in the relationship.
Use the instant mashed potatoes if you want the instant mashed potatoes. You just breaded and fried almost two pounds of steak and made homemade gravy. There is no trophy coming because you also peeled potatoes.
And most importantly:
Know what kind of dinner you’re getting into.
This isn’t my “everybody’s hungry and I need food on the table in 20 minutes” dinner.
Country-fried steak has always been a labor of love for me.
Turning it into nuggets solved one of the parts I find most annoying, but it didn’t magically turn the whole meal into fast food.
It still took me about an hour and twenty minutes from start to dinner-in-hand.
It still made a mess.
It still required frying things in batches.
And I’d still do it again.
Because everything good and holy in this world isn’t always quick.
Sometimes you spend the extra time.
Sometimes you use the two sticks of butter.
Sometimes you eat a second bowl in the name of journalism.
Sometimes your eats-to-live husband takes a bite, sits back and says:
“Wow. That was amazing.”
And sometimes that’s enough.
Unlike my chicken and dumplings.
Those haven’t been seen since 2019.
That’s another story.
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