Spicy Herb Chicken Fried Steak

Why This Spicy Herb Chicken Fried Steak Works

During frying, the flour and egg coating forms a firm shell around the cube steaks. As the steaks hit the hot oil and butter, the outside browns and crisps up fast. That crust keeps the juices from running out too quickly, so the meat inside stays moist instead of drying out. The paprika, cayenne, thyme, and other spices are stuck right in that crust, so they stay on the steak instead of falling off in the pan.

While the steaks rest on the paper towels, the crust sets and stays crunchy. In the same pan, the browned bits left from frying mix with the chicken broth. As the broth simmers, those bits loosen and spread through the liquid. Once the heavy cream goes in and heats up, it thickens and turns into a smooth gravy. By the time it’s poured over the crispy steaks, there is a contrast between the crunchy coating outside and the tender meat and creamy gravy around it.

Mistakes To Avoid

Letting the pan get too hot before frying makes the crust brown almost instantly while the inside of the cube steak stays tough and undercooked. The outside looks done, so the meat comes out of the pan early, and the steak ends up chewy instead of tender with a crisp coating.

Skipping the second dip in flour after the egg wash leaves a thin, patchy crust. During frying, the coating slides off in spots, the meat touches the pan, and those areas turn hard and dry instead of having an even crunchy layer.

Crowding the skillet with too many steaks at once drops the oil temperature fast. The coating then soaks up the fat instead of crisping, so the steaks come out greasy and soft rather than light and crunchy.

Pouring out most of the fat and browned bits before starting the gravy leaves mostly plain liquid in the pan. The broth and cream then simmer into a thin, flat-tasting sauce that doesn’t cling well to the steaks and feels more like soup than gravy.