Gluten-Free Chicken Fried Steak. And Gravy.

Today we have a lesson in the ultimate in comfort home cookin’. Chicken fried steak. Typically a gluten laden meal, ours is entirely gluten-free and safe for our restricted diet. In fact, this is also corn free and soy free. And can even be made dairy free. Free of everything basically – except a full serving of YUM.

To begin, place a nice size frying pan on the stove and pour approx. 3/4″ of oil into it. Turn heat on to medium/medium high (or in between if you’re able) and let heat while preparing the steaks. If you have a splatter guard, you’ll want to pull it out for this meal. This is one messy fry-up and that guard is all the stands between a somewhat clean stovetop and a mile wide splatter of hot grease. Trust me on this one…

The key to a crisp and delicious chicken fried steak is a triple breading process. This begins with an initial dip into the breading mix (recipe below). You want to make sure the meat is coated well – this is the foundation of the breading and it’s this step that will help keep the meat inside the breading during the entire process – resulting in a thick and deliciously crisp outer shell.

Hmm… I should probably back up one step. You’ll want a nice cube steak from your butcher. This is typically already tenderized and ready to go. No special handling or processing required. Just open the package and it’s ready to go.

So once you’ve thoroughly coated your steak with the breading mix, you’ll want to move it to the egg bowl. I’m a big fan of buttermilk in fried food so I do a mix of eggs and buttermilk. However, if you’re looking to be dairy-free on this, you can skip the milk. Thoroughly dredge the steak in the egg, coating each side and all nooks and crannies. Use your fingers for this. It’s part of the process and the messiness makes for a better end result. At least that’s my opinion!

Remove from the egg mixture and place back in the breading mix. Again, you want to thoroughly coat the steak. Turn over and dust liberally with the flour blend until the breading is no longer moist.

Place back into the egg mix (this is the final time here) and flip over once or twice until nice and soaked. Then back again into the flour. This is the last time you’ll be visiting this so you want a nice, thick coating to finish up with. Set aside on waxed paper and let rest while you do a few more steaks.

Once you’ve done 3-4 pieces, place them into your frying pan. They should immediately sizzle and the sounds of frying should be almost immediate. If not, your oil is not hot enough. It’s too late now so you’ll have to continue – but remember for next time. You want a nice hot pan so these fry up quick. This is the final step to a super crisp breading.

Fry on each side until a nice brown color — approx. 5-7 minutes. Once the second side is done, place on a wire rack over a cookie sheet in an oven that is set to 185F. They’ll finish their last bit of cooking in here while you make the gravy. The crown jewel of this meal. Of course, if you were unable to cook all your steaks at the same time (if you have a large family like mine – this could take 3 or even 4 panfuls!) you can finish frying the remainder of your steaks while the finished ones cool their heels in the oven. Don’t worry – being in here even 30 minute won’t harm them and they’ll stay nice and crisp. Ready to be eaten.

Pour out all but 1/4 cup of so of oil once your last steaks are done. Add the seasoned mix (recipe for this gravy below) and stir with a wire whisk (using a non-stick pan? use a rubber scraper or wooden spoon) until the flour is absorbed. This will only take a few second. Dump in the broth/milk mix (directions for dairy free noted below) and stir with whisk (if you’re using non-stick, you might want to invest in a plastic whisk. It’s nearly impossible to make gravy without a whisk…) until mixture thickens and comes to slow boil. Add more broth/milk as needed to create a gravy that is the consistency you’d like.

Pour into a gravy boat and you’re ready. Serve with mashed or scalloped potatoes. If you do mashed spuds, you can pour gravy over the entire plate. And let’s face it – this meal isn’t about counting calories or carbs or even fat grams. This is all about eating until you have to loosen your belt or unsnap your pants. This is comfort food. And it is SO good.

I guarantee you can serve this to even the pickiest non-gluten-free eater and they’ll gobble it right up and then look at you in shock as you begin to eat your own serving… “but I thought you were gluten-free?!” It’s just that fabulously fantastic.

My dad, the original king of comfort food, had this the other day and gave it an 8 out of 10. Coming from him, that is high praise indeed. He is not gluten-intolerant and it was my first time ever attempting chicken fried steak – GF or not. I think with a bit more practice, I could get him to give me a 9 or even a 10. Then I can die happy.

Gluten-Free Chicken Fried Steak
this recipe makes 4 steaks – adjust accordingly

4 cube steaks, 3-4 ounces each
3 1/2 cups gluten-free flour
1 Tbl salt
2 tsp pepper
1 tsp powdered garlic
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp powdered sage (optional)
2 eggs (dairy-free? use 3 eggs)
1 cup buttermilk (dairy free? use 1/2 cup of water instead)
vegetable oil for frying

Mix all dry ingredients together in shallow bowl. I like to use a pie plate. Gives a good amount of surface area to work with.

Mix eggs and buttermilk (or water) in second pie plate and beat until well-combined.

Dip steaks into flour mix and coat thoroughly. Move to egg mix and dip both sides until nicely coated. Back to flour to coat – then egg again – then flour. Set on waxed paper when done and finish other steaks.

Fry according to directions above.

Gluten-Free Cream Gravy
dairy free? no problemlo!

1/2 cup flour mix
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups milk (dairy free? replace with water)
1/4 cup leftover oil

Leave oil in frying pan. When removing the extra oil, don’t take out the bits and pieces that have stuck to the pan or fallen off the steaks. You want these to stay in the gravy – they are little bits of YUM!

Whisk in 1/2 cup of the flour mix that you used for the steak coating. Don’t worry about any lumps or anything else – these will work themselves out and if they don’t, it just makes the gravy *that* much better.

Once blended, immediately pour in broth/milk (or water) mix and stir until thickened and smooth. Too thick? Add a bit more milk or broth.

Enjoy!