Copycat Cracker Barrel Country Fried Steak Recipe: How to Make It

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This Copycat Cracker Barrel Country Fried Steak Recipe is as Southern as it gets in your home kitchen in 45 minutes! Prepare the iconic Cracker Barrel Old Country Store chicken-fried steak with creamy country gravy in your kitchen!

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a platter, with 3 pieces of Copycat Cracker Barrel Country Fried Steak

Cracker Barrel Country Store is known for its traditional southern-style recipes. The famous Cracker Barrel Country Fried Steak recipe is consistently their top menu item of all time.

Country-fried steak, also known as chicken-fried steak here in the southern United States, is a seasoned and coated cube steak fried ’til golden brown, then topped off with a white sawmill gravy that’ll leave you smackin’ your lips for more!

I never considered posting copycat Cracker Barrel recipes until being asked for a method for country-fried steak for the hundredth time. I have been making this recipe for over 20 years, but never imagined the popularity of this iconic fried steak with readers until late.

Why will Cracker Barrel fans want to try this country-fried steak recipe? A super crispy cube steak (or hamburger steak) encrusted in (of all things!) crushed Saltines is the perfectly seasoned base for the cloud of cream gravy that garnishes it.

Oh, and if you’re a fan of Goodson’s or Texas Roadhouse, you’ll still want to have a gander at this method, as it is entirely close to both.

Do You Have What’s Needed to Make This Copycat Cracker Barrel Country Fried Steak Recipe? Check The List!

  • cube steaks
  • Kosher salt
  • black pepper
  • Saltine crackers
  • all-purpose flour
  • baking powder
  • cayenne pepper
  • milk
  • fresh eggs
  • canola oil or vegetable oil

A taste of true southern tradition, favorite dishes such as this sustained generations to where it endears today. Did I mention this is both easy AND economical?

Serve this copycat Cracker Barrel Country Fried Steak recipe with mashed potatoes and real butter, steak fries, country sides such as green beans or hashbrown casserole, and warm buttermilk biscuits. Pass extra white gravy at the table for those who need just that little bit of extra!

a platter, with 3 pieces of Copycat Cracker Barrel Country Fried Steak

So, What Is Country Fried Steak Anyway?

Fried steak is most often a tenderized cube steak covered with a well-seasoned coating of flour or cracker crumbs or both and is either deep-fried or pan-fried. 

When deep-fried using a technique similar to frying chicken pieces, “chicken-fried” has been a long used descriptive for the dish. The pan-fried version of the classic dish is more often referred to as “country fried steak.”

a hand pouring gravy onto 3 pieces of Copycat Cracker Barrel Country Fried Steak

What is the best way to tell them apart? Don’t try!

They’re for all intents and purposes exactly the same aside from the fry. The method I will teach today is a pan-fried method, hence my recipe for Copycat Cracker Barrel Country Fried Steak.

a platter, with 3 pieces of Copycat Cracker Barrel Country Fried Steak

How This Recipe Came About…

The detailed beginnings of country-fried or chicken-fried steak are murky, but it’s presumed the method has its roots in of all thing’s schnitzel. And this really does make so much sense when you stop to consider some facts.

Austrian and German immigrants to Texas hill country likely introduced their preparation methods for breaded cutlets of beef such as Wiener schnitzel and the rest is as they say ‘history.’

The Virginia Housewife, published in 1838 by Mary Randolph, has a recipe for veal cutlets that is one of the earliest recipes for a food like chicken-fried steak. This time period correlates with the dish popularizing in the American south, specifically Texas and Alabama, in the couple of decades following the publication.

You may recall me referencing The Virginia Housewife within my post for Shaker Chicken Pudding. The Virginia Housewife has been used historically to date and trace the origins of so many American food dishes, it’s unassuming pages rife with detail.

a platter, with 3 pieces of Copycat Cracker Barrel Country Fried Steak

Cube Steak Is Notoriously Tough – Should I Tenderize it?

You don’t need meat tenderizer for tender steaks. Cube steak is a fabulous cut of beef for certain recipes because it’s inexpensive and when prepared correctly, is falling apart, melt in your mouth, fork-tender!

Soaking meat in whole milk prior to cooking helps to break down the collagen and proteins. This one simple step helps to make a nice tender cut from an otherwise notoriously tough cut of meat.

What I like about using whole milk is that the milk is not discarded once the cube steaks have marinated. Instead, the milk is boiled right into the white gravy, no waste.

If you’d rather go the baking soda and water route, you won’t be disappointed with the results either. Simply dissolve 1 teaspoon of baking soda for every 12 ounces of meat in ½ cup of water.

I add the solution to a large plastic zipper bag and then drop the cube steaks in for at least 15 minutes but no more than 30 minutes.

During this time, I flip the bag at least two or three times to ensure all sides of the meat sit in the shallow solution at least temporarily.

Then remove, rinse, and cook. This method produces a seriously tender piece of meat. 

a close up of white gravy on fried food

How To Get That ‘Country-Fried CRUNCH?’

So, this is a fried dish. Fried means having HOT oil. The key is to test the oil to ensure it’s hot enough.

I specify the use of a thermometer to ensure your oil is registering 350°F BEFORE you drop the breaded steaks in.

If you drop the steaks into oil that is not hot enough, the breading will detach in clumps. Bye bye savory ‘crunch’ that makes country-fried steak country fried…

The best way to test if the oil is hot enough in addition to using a thermometer is to sprinkle a bit of flour onto the surface of the oil.

If the oil is hot enough, the flour will immediately sizzle. I do this in a couple places in the pan because the hard sizzle will also tell me if my pan is evenly heated. 

If the flour turns brown quickly however, this means the oil is too hot. Reduce the heat and test the oil again.

a close up of white gravy on fried food

How To Make Copycat Cracker Barrel Country-Fried Steak?

Prepping Your Workstation

Preheat your oven to 225°F. Grab a large heavy skillet (at least 12-inches and NOT non-stick) and also line a baking sheet with foil and insert a fitted wire cooling rack. You’ll also need either canola oil or vegetable oil for frying.

Tenderizing The Beef

Begin by popping the cube steaks into a plastic zipper bag with a cup of whole milk or a solution of baking soda and water. With the whole milk method, allow the steaks to tenderize for at least 1 hour and no longer than 3.

If using the baking soda and water method, tenderize for at least 15 minutes but no more than 30. With this method, you must rinse the steaks and pat dry once removed from the solution.

Salt and pepper the fully tenderized steaks and set aside.

The Seasoned Coating Is Key To This Cracker Barrel Country Fried Steak Recipe

Saltines are by far the ONLY cracker for this recipe. They are perfectly salted in EXACTLY the right measurement, so no additional salt is really necessary when using this cracker trick as your coating.

Crazy maybe but count out 38 Saltines and pulse them in your food processor several times until you have fine crumbs. Add in some flour, baking powder, black pepper, and a touch of cayenne and pulse again until all is combined.

If you used whole milk to tenderize your steaks, pour it into a measuring cup and add to it to equal 3/4 cups milk. Whisk this together with a couple of eggs.

Set yourself up a little assembly line with the steaks at the ready to coat steaks first in the cracker flour mixture, then the egg mixture, then once more in the cracker mixture. Place the coated steaks atop the prepared baking sheet with wire cooling rack and let sit for 15 minutes while you heat the oil.

The premise behind the wire cooling rack is to allow air to circulate on all sides, drying the egg and the cracker mixture and helping it to adhere to the steak. Think I’m crazy? Martha Stewart uses this same trick in MANY of her paillard and cutlet methods.

Frying Country-fried Steak

Add 3 to 3/12 cups of oil to your large skillet and heat over medium-high heat until a thermometer reads the oil to be between 350°F to 360°F.

Reduce heat SLIGHTLY and fry the steaks in the hot oil for 10 minutes. Always, ALWAYS use kitchen tongs and lay the steak away from you! This prevents the oil from splashing towards you! 

If the oil begins to smoke, reduce heat SLIGHTLY again until there is no smoke.

Turn the steaks carefully so as not to dislodge the breading and cook for an additional 4 to 5 minutes. Steaks will be a beautiful golden brown.

Remove to the wire rack atop the baking sheet once again. Repeat with any remaining steaks and place into the preheated low heat oven to keep warm while you assemble the sawmill gravy. Dispose of all leftover oil.

a brown plate, with rice and chicken
Crispy Chicken with Herbed Carolina Gold Rice & Scratch Pan Gravy

Making The All-Important Sawmill Gravy for This Cracker Barrel Country Fried Steak Recipe

Use a measuring spoon to save out 1 to 2 tablespoons of the hot pan drippings from the steak. Use a wad of paper towel to wipe the skillet mostly clean. I always make sure to leave quite a lot of cooked bits UNLESS they are more burned than cooked.

Add the reserved drippings back to the skillet and place over medium heat. In a large bowl, whisk together 4 cups of milk with some flour, salt, and black pepper.

Pour the milk mixture into the skillet with the drippings and any cooked bits and increase the heat to medium-high. Whisk constantly for 10 to 12 minutes until the mixture begins to thicken.

Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue to whisk until the sawmill gravy has thickened considerably. At this point, taste for the need for any seasonings. Keep in mind that Saltines coat the steaks, so treat lightly if planning to add salt.

Plating the Country-fried Steaks and Sawmill Gravy

Get ready to load up the big person plates!

You’ll want to serve a country-fried steak alongside a bed of buttermilk mashed potatoes (add 1 cup buttermilk and 1/4 cup real butter before mashing), sauteed green beans, baby carrots, corn muffins and heaps of sawmill gravy atop the steak and potatoes.

I pass extra gravy at the table just in case my eaters mop it all up before they actually finish their steaks! I also offer hot sauce just in case somebody feels the need to get their zip on.

featured image for Cracker Barrel Country Fried Steak
4.76 from 79 votes

Copycat Cracker Barrel Country Fried Steak Recipe: How to Make It

This Cracker Barrel Country Fried Steak Recipe is as Southern as it gets in your home kitchen in 45 minutes!
Prep: 20 minutes
Cook: 25 minutes
Total: 45 minutes
Servings: 4 servings
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Equipment

  • 12-inch cast iron or clad skillet do not use a non-stick pan for this method, as the non-stick coating on most cookware is not meant to withstand such high temperatures for such a long duration
  • sheet pan fitted with oven-safe wire rack
  • heavy gauge aluminum foil
  • large, zippered plastic bag
  • instant-read thermometer

Ingredients 

  • 4 4 to 5 ounce cube steaks
  • 4 ¾ cups whole milk, divided; may substitute all but 3/4 cup of whole milk with 2%
  • 2 ¼ teaspoon Kosher salt, divided
  • 1 ¾ teaspoon black pepper, divided
  • 38 Saltine crackers, NOTE: Saltines come two ways; regular and with unsalted tops. I purposely seek out the unsalted tops for a less salty finished steak. The Saltines with unsalted tops still contain salt.
  • 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, divided
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon cayenne
  • 2 large eggs
  • 3 to 3 ½ cups vegetable or peanut oil, for frying

optional for garnish and for serving

  • parsley, fresh, chopped
  • favorite hot sauce

Instructions 

for the Country Fried Steaks

  • Place the cube steaks into a zippered plastic bag and pour 3/4 cup of whole milk into the bag. Seal and jiggle around so the milk is coating all surface area of the meat. Place into the refrigerator for at least 1 hour and no more than 3, flipping bag over several times.
  • Remove the steaks from the milk, allowing them to drip, and set on a platter. Reserve all of the milk and add to it as necessary to measure 3/4 cups. Combine 1/4 teaspoon of Kosher salt and 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper together. Lightly sprinkle the fully tenderized steaks on both sides with the mixture. Set aside.
  • In a shallow bowl, whisk together the reserved 3/4 cups milk with the eggs.
  • In the barrel of a food processor, add the Saltines, 1 cup of the flour, baking powder, 1 teaspoon of the Kosher salt, 1/2 teaspoon of the black pepper, and the cayenne. Pulse until the Saltines are fine crumbs, about 8 to 10 pulses.
  • Preheat oven to 225°F. Line a baking sheet with heavy gauge aluminum foil and fit with a wire rack. You may spray with non-stick baking spray if you like, however it is not necessary.
  • Arrange an assembly line with a shallow bowl with the egg mixture, another shallow bowl with the Saltine mixture, and finally the prepared baking tray.
  • Coat steaks first in the cracker flour mixture, then the egg mixture, then once more in the cracker mixture. Place the coated steaks atop the prepared baking sheet with wire rack and let sit for 15 minutes while you heat the oil.
  • Add 3 to 3/12 cups of oil to your large skillet and heat over medium-high heat until a thermometer reads the oil to be between 350°F to 360°F. Reduce heat SLIGHTLY and fry the steaks in the hot oil for 10 minutes. If the oil begins to smoke, reduce heat SLIGHTLY again until there is no smoke. Turn the steaks carefully so as not to dislodge the breading and cook for an additional 4 to 5 minutes. Steaks will be a beautiful golden brown. NOTE: ALWAYS use kitchen tongs and lay the steak away from you! This prevents the oil from splashing towards you! 
  • Remove to the wire rack atop the baking sheet once again. Repeat with any remaining steaks and place into the preheated low heat oven to keep warm while you assemble the sawmill gravy. Dispose of all leftover oil, but reserve 1 to 2 tablespoons of the drippings and any cooked bits. Use a wad of paper towels to wipe the skillet mostly clean and add the reserved drippings back to the skillet.

for the Sawmill Gravy

  • Whisk together the remaining 1/4 cup flour, 1 teaspoon Kosher salt, 1 teaspoon black pepper, and the 4 cups of remaining milk. Pour this mixture into the reserved drippings and cooked bits in the skillet. Whisk constantly over medium-high heat until the gravy begins to bubble, about 10 to 12 minutes.
  • Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue to whisk until the sawmill gravy has thickened considerably. At this point, taste for the need for any seasonings. Keep in mind that Saltines coat the steaks, so treat lightly if planning to add salt.
  • Garnish with fresh chopped parsley and offer a bottle of your favorite hot sauce at the table to pass.

Notes

Please Note that table salt and iodized salt are NOT substitutions for Kosher salt. Do not use table salt or iodized salt in any of the recipes you find on Not Entirely Average UNLESS specified otherwise.
Alternate Method for Tenderizing Steaks dissolve 1 teaspoon of baking soda for every 12 ounces of meat in ½ cup of water. Add the solution to a large plastic zipper bag and then drop the cube steaks in for at least 15 minutes but no more than 30 minutes. Remove, rinse, pat dry, and continue with directions in recipe card as directed.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 596kcal | Carbohydrates: 65g | Protein: 20g | Fat: 28g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 10g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 128mg | Sodium: 1777mg | Potassium: 575mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 15g | Vitamin A: 713IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 416mg | Iron: 4mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American
Servings: 4 servings
Calories: 596
Keyword: best chicken fried steak recipe, chicken fried steak, country fried steak gravy recipe, Cracker Barrel country fried steak
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About Jenny deRemer

I am a Charleston, South Carolina-based culinary novice, an ardent authority on all things travel, a designer by trade, and the creator of Not Entirely Average. I have a weakness for farmers' markets, delight in adventures way off the beaten path, enjoy documenting my many moods through photography, and have been known to conquer the occasional yard sale with gusto!

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42 Comments

  1. My great grandparents were German immigrants settled in the Texas Hill Country to farm. She loved to make Chicken Fried Steak — haven’t had hers in more than 4 decades, but yours really hit that nostalgic spot just right! And the soaking in milk tip — yes!5 stars

  2. Decided to make this for my mom and we both absolutely enjoyed it! The crunch was just amazing and the gravy pairs really well with the entire dish! Can’t wait to cook this for my husband and let him try it!5 stars

  3. The steak had just the right seasoning and fried to a beautiful golden brown, while the gravy turned out wonderfully creamy. Plus, despite the crispy coating, the meat inside stayed tender. Those tips really came in handy!5 stars

    1. Danica, I am a big fan of kitchen tips, so it makes me happy to know that they came in handy for you!!! Jenny

  4. What I loved the most about this recipe is the gravy. It complements the crispy steak well and has a deep, savory taste. It takes the dish to a whole new level!5 stars

    1. Shane, thank you for taking a moment to talk up this gravy – it’s a ‘southern thing’ so not everybody has tasted the complexity for themselves. It’s seriously underrated, so I am grateful you mentioned it! Jenny

  5. The cube steak was perfectly seasoned and the crushed Saltines gave the steak a unique crunch. Served it with steak fries and it was so delish!5 stars

  6. I loved that the cube steak was golden and so crispy. The sawmill gravy was so creamy exactly what I want on country-fried steak. Served it with mashed potatoes and it was definitely a comfort food.5 stars

    1. Megan, the steak does become so absolutely AMAZING and crispy, doesn’t it? Who would have thought Saltine crackers to get this result??? Jenny

  7. Thanks so much for sharing your awesome post with us at Full Plate Thursday 679. We sure enjoyed featuring your post this past week! Hope you are having a great week and come back to see us real soon!
    Miz Helen5 stars

  8. Stopping in from Senior Salon Pit Stop, and letting you know that I have featured your recipe on Juggling Midlife. Have a wonderful week!

  9. Oh my word, this crunch seems to be out of the world.
    Thanks so much for participating and sharing at SSPS 294. See you again next week!5 stars

  10. Oh my goodness, this looks amazing. My husband’s grandfather used to love Cracker Barrel and this one was always one of his absolute favorites. Making this will definitely bring back fond memories. Visiting you from Senior Salon Pit Stop, and definitely pinning this one!