Chicken-Fried Steak With Queso Gravy Recipe (2024)

I made this tonight, following the recipe in meticulous detail. My wife is a Texan, born and bred, so she is a good judge of authentic chicken-fried steak. This is a good recipe, with one glaring exception -- way, way too much cumin! A whole tablespoon of cumin in the seasoning overwhelms other flavors. Plus, there's also cumin in the gravy, magnifying the problem! I'd cut the cumin down by one sixth, and use only 1/2 t of cumin in the seasoning, and less in the sauce as well.

I grew up eating what we called "country fried steak" cooked by my dad. After I grew up, he brought it to my house when he visited, because he knew I loved it so much. We served ours with mashed potatoes or rice and with a brown gravy, not cream gravy. It was a treat in our house to have it for breakfast, with biscuits and grits. Even now, at 58, if I'm feeling a little homey, I'll cook up a batch and enjoy.

Wow. Pretty delicious, though definitely not a meal you'd want to get into the habit of eating. Still- wow. Belly full & soul happy.

I loved chicken fried steak as a kid growing up in the West. Here in SW Florida and elsewhere in the South, a poor substitute in restaurants is called called country fried steak. I believe restaurants buy them pre-breaded and then pour canned sausage gravy over them. Terrible.
Sam's recipe sounds great except for one thing. Can't be authentic if you shake them in a ziplock bag. You have to use a brown paper bag. :)

An Oklahoma classic. Mashed potatoes and cream gravy, please.

Delicious! I made it using cubed steak and it was very tender & flavorful. For a gravy I poured off the oil in the pan, added some butter, flour, chicken bouillon granules (Knorr's) & milk. Served it with sunny side eggs & home made hash browns ...now I feel like a happy pig.

This turned out SO well. It was really cool that the best chicken fried steak I ever had was the one I cooked myself. Bravo to Sam!

I dunno... Made this -- flavors good, but not sure chicken fried steak with nacho cheese sauce is my thing. Queso 'gravy' made a great dip for tortilla chips while watching football...

Part Two: Mashed potatoes are essential! Only real ones and mixed w/butter and cream. HOT. (Canned, evaporated milk is OK too, but do not over-thin.) They do not always need gravy; a dollop of butter is just fine.
I've made CF-S for unexpected guests and can serve in <60". Also excellent for non-pork eaters. I often use PANKO for last coat on pork but w/beef, just flour. That's just my way. Simple pepper gravy is my favorite but must be made right; No Mixes! Enjoy.

I thought queso meant cheese....

Delicious. I served it as shown, with mashed potatoes, pico de gallo, and the queso gravy. The pico de gallo is a must! It pulls everything together visually and is a good foil to the rich flavors of the queso and fried steak. I was worried about putting cheese sauce on fried steak, but the whole things comes together very well in the end. To those who complain about the cumin:this is not the traditional recipe, and that's the point! It's chicken fried steak with an over the top twist.

Online, the queso gravy is in separate recipe - search "queso gravy" by Sam Sifton. In the print edition they're presented together.

Make sure to use a wire rack set inside your baking sheet when keeping steaks warm in the oven. Otherwise, they’ll get soggy.

Missed this when you first published it so thank you for mentioning it again. I checked the comments section before cooking and cut down on the cumin as suggested by Chuck and used Velveeta because of the melt factor. We had extra gravy after the meal so we opened a bag of tortilla chips and used the chips to finish off the gravy. Nothing wasted! I know this is not a dish to add on a routine cycle, but for those days when comfort is required - this will be what I'll cook from now on.

We were surprised at how well the queso complemented the steak. Very good and we will make it again!

Instead of queso, make a roux of flower, oil, cumin red chile powder, hotness to your liking. (New Mexican if you can get it). Add chicken broth to make a gravy. When I moved back to New Mexico, I had this at least once a week in the UNM Hospital cafeteria. Less fat than queso, if you care. Also use pork cubed steak, so much more tender. I have never gone back to cream gravy. No cumin on the meat, and for heaven’s sake, no cayenne. The red chile gravy is plenty and more authentic.

Like others, I reduced cumin in steak rub to 1/2 tbsp. Added garlic powder and onion powder. Wow - what a flavorful breading! I used the low end of the timing: 1:30 side one (or until red juices visible), 3 min side two. Really good, very simple. Used a meat mallet with the tenderizing sides - make almost like a cubed steak.Queso was spot on as well. Yum!

I followed this recipe except I used chicken thighs, so it was chicken fried chicken (like at Cracker Barrel). It was yummy with the suggested queso gravy, mashed potatoes and roasted whole green beans, with thesehttps://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/valerie-bertinelli/sweet-and-savory-...I made my own cornbread batter, then followed the rest of the instructons.The plated looked pretty as a magazine photo.

Delicious. I served it as shown, with mashed potatoes, pico de gallo, and the queso gravy. The pico de gallo is a must! It pulls everything together visually and is a good foil to the rich flavors of the queso and fried steak. I was worried about putting cheese sauce on fried steak, but the whole things comes together very well in the end. To those who complain about the cumin:this is not the traditional recipe, and that's the point! It's chicken fried steak with an over the top twist.

I thought queso meant cheese....

Delicious! I made it using cubed steak and it was very tender & flavorful. For a gravy I poured off the oil in the pan, added some butter, flour, chicken bouillon granules (Knorr's) & milk. Served it with sunny side eggs & home made hash browns ...now I feel like a happy pig.

Hey Sam, four ounces of meat esp for this are one ounce too many. I believe three ounce servings of meat are recommended these days. Frankly, too much CFS makes me nauseous... but a piece of hard candy seems to restore some balance to the system. (Prob why the preferred drink co*ke goes well with this.. however I don't drink sugary co*ke..)

I dunno... Made this -- flavors good, but not sure chicken fried steak with nacho cheese sauce is my thing. Queso 'gravy' made a great dip for tortilla chips while watching football...

NYT, what happened to the print icon that once resided to the right of the red 'save' banner?

I made this tonight, following the recipe in meticulous detail. My wife is a Texan, born and bred, so she is a good judge of authentic chicken-fried steak. This is a good recipe, with one glaring exception -- way, way too much cumin! A whole tablespoon of cumin in the seasoning overwhelms other flavors. Plus, there's also cumin in the gravy, magnifying the problem! I'd cut the cumin down by one sixth, and use only 1/2 t of cumin in the seasoning, and less in the sauce as well.

Made this last night — it tasted ok, but I guess chicken-fried steak just isn't my jam. The queso sauce was tastier than I'd have expected.I think I'll be picking the breading off the leftovers and making hash it.

Online, the queso gravy is in separate recipe - search "queso gravy" by Sam Sifton. In the print edition they're presented together.