Name: Air Fryer Chicken Fried Steak
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 1 lb Cube Steak (Cut into 4 portions); 1/2 cup All-purpose flour (gluten free if needed); 1 tsp Garlic powder; 1/2 tsp Onion powder; 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt; 1/4 tsp Black pepper; 1/2 cup Buttermilk; 1 egg (large); 2 tbsp Unsalted butter; 2 tbsp Flour; 3/4 cup Milk; 1/4 tsp Kosher salt (plus more to taste); 1/4 tsp Black Pepper (plus more to taste); dash Hot sauce (optional)

Air Fryer Chicken Fried Steak with a creamy, peppery, country gravy is a traditional Southern dinner, made healthier and with less mess using your favorite kitchen appliance.

Chicken fried steak with creamy gravy with sides of mashed potatoes and butter and green beans, on a white plate.

AIR FRYER CHICKEN FRIED STEAK RECIPE

Tender cube steak is given a flavorful makeover in this air fried chicken fried steak recipe. This is the same delicious, comfort food meal you remember, but better.

The air fryer lets us "fry" foods using a very small amount of oil. For a dish like chicken fried steak, that's usually fried in oil in a pan, that means that we're saving a ton of fat and calories with this meal!

Air Fryer Chicken Fried steak is also much easier to clean up than it's traditional alternative, and it's ready in less than 20 minutes.

Finally, you are going to flip for the creamy, traditional country gravy recipe included here. It's a total classic and makes our Chicken Fried Steak in the Air Fryer just as amazing as anything you've had in a restaurant or your grandma's kitchen.

Blog Post Contents

AIR FRYER CHICKEN FRIED STEAK RECIPE
INGREDIENTS FOR CHICKEN FRIED STEAK AIR FRYER
MORE AIR FRYER RECIPES

Ingredients for making air fryer chicken fried steak, all in separate bowls on a marble countertop

INGREDIENTS FOR CHICKEN FRIED STEAK AIR FRYER

Cube Steak - You need one pound of cube steak, cut into 3 or 4 portions. If you're not familiar, cube steak is a cut of beef that's been pounded for tenderization. You can find this in your grocery store meat case.

Flour - We'll use a simple flour coating to create the crispy outside of this fried steak. Any all-purpose flour, including gluten-free, will work.

Garlic Powder - This is my favorite flavor adding ingredient!

Onion Powder - Adding onion powder gives the flavor of sweet, slow cooked onions, without the fuss.

Salt and Pepper - To season the flour.

Buttermilk and Egg- These two add a liquid component to the breading, helping the flour to stick to the meat. Substitute regular milk for buttermilk in a pinch.

Butter - To make a country gravy, we'll start with melting unsalted butter and mixing it with flour.

Milk - This is a creamy, white gravy. Milk is the key! I suggest using whole or 2% milk for best results.

Hot Sauce - Just a dash adds the perfect amount of flavor to the gravy.

photo collage showing 8 steps needed to make air fryer chicken fried steak.

HOW TO MAKE CHICKEN FRIED STEAK IN AIR FRYER

Preheat the Air Fryer. For this recipe, we want the machine to be hot before we add the meat. It takes about 10 minutes for my air fryer to pre-heat properly.
Mix the dry ingredients for the breading (flour, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper) together in a shallow bowl.
Then, whisk the buttermilk and egg together in a second shallow bowl.
Dip each piece of steak into the flour mixture.
Then dredge through the buttermilk mixture, allowing any excess to drip off.
Finally, press in back into the flour mixture, ensuring each piece of steak is fully coated.
Place the cube steaks in the air fryer in a single layer. Spray with cooking spray or oil. Cook as directed in the recipe card below
Flip over halfway through cooking time, spray with more oil and continue cooking until fully cooked.

photo collage of four steps needed to make country gravy

HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY STYLE GRAVY FOR CHICKEN FRIED STEAK

Melt butter in a small saucepan set over medium heat.
Slowly whisk in the flour, and cook for a few minutes until combined.
Whisk in milk, salt and pepper.
Cook until thickened, then remove from heat, stirring in hot sauce to taste. Serve with cooked steaks.

to dinner plates of chicken fried steak, potatoes and green beans, next to an air fryer.

WHAT TO SERVE WITH AIR FRYER CHICKEN FRIED STEAK

For an absolutely amazing country style dinner, I like to serve air fryer chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and a veggie like green beans.

The great part about this dish is that it has simple, classic flavors and will go with almost any side dishes that you like!

To keep the Southern comfort food theme going, you can make Air Fryer Cornbread or Air Fryer Hushpuppies. Air Fryer Green Bean Casserole or Air Fryer Creamed Corn Casserole would also taste amazing with this crispy steak.

Make things a bit healthier by serving with a simple green salad with oil free salad dressing or your favorite steamed veggies.

crispy fried cube steaks in an air fryer basket

WHAT IS CUBE STEAK?

Cube steak gets its name from it's appearance. When tenderized from a butcher, a cut of steak gets a square pattern on it from the tool or machine that's used.

Cube steak is generally a top round steak or top sirloin steak, which is inexpensive. Tenderizing it manually makes it more tender and enjoyable.

If you don't find cube steak already prepared, you can purchase one of those cuts and tenderize it yourself with a good meat mallet. I have this one, and it's a really fun kitchen tool!

HOW DO I GET REALLY CRISPY AIR FRYER CHICKEN FRIED STEAK?

There are a few tips that I can share that helped me get this super crispy coating on my chicken fried steak in the air fryer.

Dry the meat with paper towels before breading. This will remove any extra moisture.
Spray liberally with oil both before air frying and after flipping the meat at the half way point.
Don't crowd the air fryer basket. I can fit one pound of thin cube steaks in my Cosori air fryer without overlapping, but if your basket is smaller, cook these in two batches.
Clean up easily by lining your air fryer basket with a parchment paper round or square. These have holes in them to allow air flow, but keep your air fryer nice and clean!

CAN I MAKE CHICKEN FRIED CHICKEN IN THE AIR FRYER?

Sure! Use a meat mallet to pound out chicken breast cutlets to about ¼ inch thickness. Then follow the recipe to create a delicious country fried chicken! Remember to cook chicken to at least 165°F.

This recipe will also work with lean fresh hamburgers or turkey burgers!

HOW DO I KNOW IF CHICKEN FRIED STEAK IS DONE?

Cube steak is generally cooked to well done. Use a meat thermometer to check that the steak is at least 145°F in the center. Add a few minutes of additional cooking time if it's not done at the end of the recommended cook time. All air fryers cook a little bit differently!

a plate of chicken fried steak with creamy gravy. a slice has been cut and pierced with a fork, showing the inside of the meat, cooked well done.

This recipe was made in a Cosori Air Fryer with a Basket. The recipe should work in other air fryers.

Keep in mind that each air fryer runs differently, it is important to check your food often.

If you have a Cuisinart Air Fryer Oven or a Ninja Basket Air Fryer, both of these units seem to run "hotter" than most air fryers. That means you will need to LESSEN the cook time.

MORE AIR FRYER STEAK RECIPES

Steak in the air fryer is easier than you might think! You can make a simply seasoned Air Fryer Cube Steak or even cook Steak in the Air Fryer.

My favorite are these Air Fryer Steak bites. they cook up quickly and taste amazing!

Go healthy and summery with a Steak Pasta Salad too.

Image of air fryer chicken fried steak with text overlay

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Air Fryer Chicken Fried Steak

Air Fryer Chicken Fried Steak with a creamy, peppery, country gravy is a traditional Southern dinner, made healthier and with less mess using your favorite kitchen appliance.

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time20 mins

Total Time30 mins

Course: Dinner, Main Course

Cuisine: American

Diet: Gluten Free

Keyword: air fryer chicken fried steak, chicken fried steak in air fryer

Servings:

Calories: 399kcal

Cindy - Air Fryer Eats

Equipment

Air fryer
2 shallow bowls
Meat thermometer
Whisk
Saucepan

Ingredients

For Chicken Fried Steak

1 lb Cube Steak Cut into 4 portions
½ cup All-purpose flour gluten free if needed
1 tsp Garlic powder
½ tsp Onion powder
½ tsp Kosher Salt
¼ tsp Black pepper
½ cup Buttermilk
1 egg large

For Country Gravy

2 tbsp Unsalted butter
2 tbsp Flour
¾ cup Milk
¼ tsp Kosher salt plus more to taste
¼ tsp Black Pepper plus more to taste
dash Hot sauce optional

Instructions

Chicken Fried Steak

Preheat the air fryer to 400 degrees F for 10 minutes.
In a shallow bowl, whisk together the flour, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper.
In a second shallow bowl, whisk the buttermilk and egg.
Dip each piece of steak into the flour mixture
Then dredge through the buttermilk mixture, allowing any excess to drip off.
Press it back into the flour mixture, ensuring it is fully coated.
Place the steaks in a single layer in the air fryer, spraying lightly with cooking spray. Air fry for 8-10 minutes, then flip.
Spray the other side with cooking spray, then cook for another 8-10 minutes, until fully cooked.

Gravy

Melt butter in a small saucepan set over medium heat.
Whisk in the flour, and cook for 2 minutes until well combined.
Slowly whisk in the flour, milk, salt, and pepper.
Cook until thickened then remove from heat, stirring in hot sauce to taste, if desired.
Serve over cooked steaks.

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Video

Notes

If you don't have buttermilk, you can use regular milk instead. Any plant based milk will work as well.
This recipe is gluten free if you use a GF all purpose flour for both the breading and the gravy.
Don't overcrowd the basket. Do two batches if needed.
Pro Tip: This recipe can be made in the air fryer unit with a basket or the air fryer oven. If you are using the air fryer oven, use the middle rack and select the "Air Fry" function.
Pro Tip: Check your food as it cooks. Each air fryer runs a bit differently. Sometimes airfying is a trial and error process. Check your food as it cooks to learn your air fryer better! When cooking a new recipe or food items be sure to check your food often to help avoid over/under cooking.

Have oven recipes that you’d like to convert to an air fryer recipe? Use our Air Fryer Calculator to help you estimate cooking times and temps! Calculator here: https://airfryereats.com/air-fryer-conversion-air-fryer-calculator/

Nutrition

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Air Fryers can vary greatly. Please take the time to learn your specific air fryer. You may need to adjust times and temperatures based upon your air fryer. All though this website attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, the information should only be considered an estimate. Varying factors such as different product types, different brands, etc. can change nutritional information. It is your responsibility as a consumer to read all labels to make sure the ingredients fit your dietary needs as well as calculate your own nutritional information as a double check.

MORE AIR FRYER RECIPES