Country Fried Steak (Cracker Barrel Copycat)

Country Fried Steak is a mouthwatering Cracker Barrel Copycat recipe that’s topped with a homemade version of their creamy sawmill gravy! Slide this delicious steak onto the table for breakfast OR dinner in just one hour!

Make it a meal by serving this fried steak up with the Best Mashed Potatoes and these 6-ingredient Buttermilk Biscuits!

Bring Cracker Barrel flavor to your kitchen by making this easy copycat recipe for Country Fried Steak! Serve it up with a potato and vegetable for dinner or with bacon, hash browns, and eggs for breakfast!

Cube steak, bacon, buttermilk, and saltines combine with pantry staple ingredients in this recipe for country-fried steak! The flavor and texture of this homemade version will have you skipping the restaurant to make it at home every time!

All About Cracker Barrel Country Fried Steak

Taste: Country Fried Steak is known for being big on flavor! The breading is seasoned with smoked paprika and coarse black pepper, while the gravy adds incredible flavor from its foundation of steak and bacon pan drippings.

Together the two make for a bite of steak that’s totally unforgettable!

Texture: Since the breaded steak is fried up in canola oil, it has a wonderful golden brown exterior with a satisfying crunch covered in creamy gravy. Under all of the creamy, crunchy goodness is a juicy steak that is soaked in buttermilk to become perfectly tenderized.

Recipe Tips For The Best Country Fried Steak

• Tenderize The Meat – The cube steak is soaked in buttermilk to tenderize the meat in this recipe. Buttermilk’s high acidity level breaks down the tissue in the meat while simultaneously moistening it as well. Leaving you with meat that practically melts in your mouth!
• Saltine Crackers – To crush the saltines for the breading, you can simply use a food processor and pulse until fine crumbs form. However, if you don’t have a food processor, you can also just toss them into a large Ziploc bag, squeeze the excess air out of it, and then seal it. Afterward, roll over the bag using a rolling pin until fine crumbs form.
• Dredging Station – Prepare yourself with an organized dredging station so that this process goes as quickly and cleanly as possible! In one bowl, place the flour, cornstarch, and salt. In another bowl, have the egg and buttermilk mixture. Lastly, in the third bowl, combine the saltine crumbs, pepper, and paprika.
• Chilling – After each piece of meat is breaded, place it onto a baking sheet and store it in the fridge as you continue dredging the other pieces. Chilling the meat while continuing to work helps the steak hold its shape and makes the breading stick better while frying. When you go to fry up the meat, use the steak that’s been in the fridge the longest to allow the newest one time to chill.
• Warming – Prepare a baking sheet with a wire rack on top and place it into the preheated oven at 200 degrees F. This way, the steak will stay warm and crisp as you continue to fry the remaining steak and cook up the cream gravy.

Sawmill Gravy

If you’ve never had sawmill gravy before, then you’re in for a real treat! This homemade gravy really knocks the country friend steak out of the park!

The secret to the flavor in this gravy is found in the drippings! Once the steak has been fried, 1 tablespoon of the drippings is reserved to be used in the gravy.

The flavor then builds by cooking bacon in the leftover steak drippings. After the bacon is removed, the gravy is completed using ingredients such as minced garlic, flour, buttermilk, and whole milk.

Wondering where that delicious bacon goes to? The bacon is mainly used in sawmill gravy for its tasty drippings. Therefore, you can save the cooked bacon to serve it with the steak or crumble it up to add it to the gravy itself at the end.

If you’d rather not cook the bacon just for its drippings, you can actually purchase bacon grease online. Duck fat would also work and can be found online or right at Walmart.

Amazing copycat recipes such as this one are the perfect way to enjoy restaurant flavor for less in the comfort of your own home! You truly can make all of your favorites at home, from the popular Panda Express Orange Chicken to Longhorn’s Wild West Shrimp.

Even your kid’s favorite Chick-fil-A Nuggets can be made at home, complete with a copycat recipe for their famous Chick-fil-A Sauce! Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about us, Moms!

For us, we have the best Starbucks copycat recipes! My favorite is the Pink Drink and Iced Caramel Macchiato!

Chicken Fried Steak FAQs

Can I Make This Recipe Using Chicken Instead?

Yes, you can use this recipe to make chicken fried chicken! I would recommend using boneless skinless chicken breasts and pounding them with a kitchen meat mallet to thin them out a bit first.

Can I Leave The Steak In The Buttermilk For Longer Than 30 Minutes?

Yes, you can leave the steak in buttermilk to tenderize for up to 24 hours! The more time spent in the buttermilk, the more tender the meat will turn out.

To Fry Up More Than 2lbs Of Cube Steak, Should I Double The Recipe?

Yes, if you plan to make more than 2 lbs of steak, you will need to double or even triple this recipe, depending on how many pounds you’ll be making.

Let’s Connect!

If you’ve tried this recipe, please let me know how you liked it in the comments below and leave a review. I love hearing from you!

Don’t forget to tag me – @sugarandsoulco – on Instagram and Pinterest with your photos or join our Sugar & Soul Show-offs Community and share them there, where you can join our recipe challenges!