Follow our easy, step-by-step, recipe to learn how to make Country Style Steak. This comfort food is an old Southern Classic. Onions and gravy are optional.
Country Style Steak, sometimes called Cubed Steak or Smothered Steak, is an old Southern favorite comfort food. It’s easy to make, and we include pan gravy and onions to make it that much better.
I realize that I call a lot of foods “my favorite” here on Taste of Southern. I guess it’s because most all of the recipes that we share are the foods I grew up with, the foods like Mama cooked, and the foods I enjoyed and still enjoy to this day.
I also refer to them as “comfort foods” because they all just sort of warm up your soul when you have them. Either because they are just that good, or because they transport you back in time and fill your mind and heart with lots of great memories.
Country Style Steak is one of my all time favorite comfort foods. It warms my soul. Smile. Mama cooked it often for us throughout her years. She’d serve it with a big bowl of her homemade mashed potatoes and I always seemed to eat more than my fair share. I love this stuff. Smile.
Cubed Steak still turns up as being a good buy most of the time in the grocery store. They take tougher cuts of meat, run them through a machine that “tenderizes” it by cutting into it, then packaging it in large family packs for purchase.
Mama would use the edge of a thick saucer to pound out some cuts of beef to make it more tender. And, you can buy meat mallets that help do the same thing, but what you purchase already tenderized in the grocery store is pretty much ready to go.
Thankfully, I found a smaller package since I’m now cooking for one, but you could even cook this, then freeze it for serving later if desired.
You’ll find this on the menu of just about any Diner or Mom and Pop restaurant throughout the South. Most everyone seems to love it and I hope you will too once you give it a try.
Ready to find out? Alright then, lets head on out to the kitchen, and… Let’s Get Cooking!
Country Style Cubed Steak, you’ll need these ingredients.
I do include onions in the recipe, but because our Vidalia Onion wasn’t dressed and ready for this photo, we had to move on without it. Thankfully, it showed up just when we needed it below. Smile.
I also like to use these beef granules. You can use beef broth if you prefer. I find these little bottles of granules are much easier to keep on hand for when some additional flavoring is needed.
Just leave the cubed steak right on the tray it comes in. Add a bit of salt to both sides.
And, sprinkle some black pepper on both sides.
Place a cup or so of flour in a small bowl or container. Dip each piece of the cubed steak into the flour, pressing the flour into the meat on both sides until it’s fully coated.
Gently shake off any excess flour
Place the coated pieces of steak right back on the tray and let them just rest for about 15 minutes. This helps the flour to stay on the meat a bit better and also helps bring the meat up to room temperature for more even cooking.
Place a skillet over Medium heat on your stove. When the pan is heated, add some cooking oil. You only need a thin layer of oil, enough to coat the bottom of the pan good.
When the oil gets hot, gently place the coated cubed steaks in the hot oil.
Cook the steaks for three minutes, then use some tongs to flip it over. Both sides need to brown for three minutes. We’re not looking to cook the meat until it’s done at this point, just searing the meat on both sides and letting it brown a bit.
After the steaks have browned on both sides for three minutes each, remove the steaks from the skillet and place them on a paper towel lined plate to drain.
Leave the browned bits in the bottom of the skillet, but remove any excess oil above about three Tablespoons. You’re just eyeballing the amount, but you don’t want a lot of oil or grease left in the pan.
Now, sprinkle 3 Tablespoons of flour into the hot oil.
Quickly stir the flour into the oil, scraping the bottom of the skillet to loosed the browned bits that might be sticking. Let flour cook and brown for one minute. If it’s cooking too fast, reduce the heat as needed.
Gradually start adding the broth. I’ve mixed 2 heaping teaspoons of the beef granules into two cups of warm water and stirred it together to make the broth. You could use the broth in the carton if you prefer. Not much difference.
Add it slowly and continue to stir the entire time. If the gravy starts to look lumpy, and it will, just continue to stir until the lumps dissolve and it all smooths out.
Add the onions if desired. I’m using one small onion that I sliced thin. I think they add great flavor to the dish but you can leave them out if you prefer. Yes, this just happens to be the time of the year where fresh Vidalia onions are available. I just didn’t include them in the photo of ingredients.
Place the cubed steaks back in the skillet with the onions and gravy. The gravy should almost cover the steaks so you could add more broth if needed.
Cover the skillet and let the steaks simmer on Medium-Low for 20 minutes.
The onions should be translucent at this point and the steaks will be nice and tender.
Enjoy!
