Country Fried Steak on the Blackstone

Crispy griddle country fried steak made on the Blackstone with a triple-crunch dredge of flour, panko, and saltines. A Southern comfort food classic done griddle-style.

country fried steak with gravy and mashed potatoes on a plate

There’s a handful of dishes that just hit different when your grandmother made them, and for me, cube steak is one of ’em. I don’t even know what beef cut it technically is – go to the store and it’s just labeled “beef cube steak” – but I grew up on it, and on the griddle it turns into something special.

This recipe came from a restaurant trip where I saw a country fried steak sandwich on the menu and never even got to order it. Spent the whole meal thinking about it, so I came home and built my own version. Today we’re talking about the steak itself – how to season it, dredge it, and fry it up golden and crunchy on the Blackstone. This is Southern comfort food, griddle-style, and it doesn’t get much better than a hot, crispy piece of country fried steak fresh off the flat top.

using a spatula to remove a piece of country fried steak from a griddle

Ingredients

beef cube steak – This is what it should be labeled as in the grocery store meat case. Most are already tenderized, which you can see from the small holes/circles in the surface of the meat.
Worcestershire sauce – Just a few dashes per piece of beef, as a binder.
Spice That – Or use your favorite all-purpose seasoning.
Extra black pepper – I like my chicken fried steak to be a bit peppery, so I add extra black pepper to taste – adjust based on the seasoning blend you are using.
Oil for shallow frying – Vegetable, avocado, or your favorite frying oil. I actually used a combination of ghee and beef tallow for frying, because I had some extra on hand.
Flour – All purpose flour for the dredging station.
Eggs and hot sauce – This is the egg wash that will help the breading stick. I like to add a few dashes of hot sauce for extra flavor.
Panko breadcrumbs and saltine crackers – The combination of the two provide a great crunchy crust for your country fried steak.

Setting Up Your Dredging Station

This is the key to most shallow-fried foods – a good batter that doesn’t slide off during the frying process. To start, you want three wide-bottomed bowls lined up in a row. A bowl that is fairly wide on the bottom gives you the necessary room to actually work the steak around in the coating, not just drop it in and hope for the best.

Bowl 1 is plain flour – This first coat gives the egg wash something to grip onto – egg doesn’t stick well to bare, wet meat, so the flour acts as the glue.

Bowl 2 is your egg wash – Eggs whisked up with a little hot sauce for a subtle kick. This is what turns your dry breading into a coating that actually clings to the steak instead of falling off in the fryer.

a piece of cube steak coated in an egg mixture for breading

Bowl 3 is where the crunch happens – Flour, panko, crushed saltines, black pepper, and salt, all mixed together. Notice that this final bowl has flour in it too – that’s your double flour. You’re not just breading with crumbs alone. The flour mixed into the crumb coating helps everything bind tighter to the egg wash underneath, so you get a coating that stays put instead of shedding off in the oil. It’s a small move that makes a big difference in how clean your fry turns out.

Work each piece of cube steak through the stations in order – flour, egg, breading – and once it’s coated, set it on a wire cooling rack while you finish the rest. Don’t stack them or let them touch; you want air around each piece so the coating doesn’t get gummy before it hits the griddle.

*Saltines for Frying? Yes! We first used this method when making the Indiana classic, Fried Pork Tenderloin sandwich. The saltine crackers add a great crunch, without actually tasting like a cracker. We love mixing them with some panko breadcrumbs.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Salt brine the steak. Set the cube steak pieces on a wire rack over a sheet tray. Salt one side of each piece with kosher salt, then refrigerate uncovered for 2-4 hours. This draws moisture out and then pulls it back in, seasoning the meat all the way through and tenderizing it in the process.

*NOTE – If your cube steak is not already tenderized, then take a meat mallet to each piece before brining. Some people also like to tenderize their beef a few extra times, even if it comes pre-tenderized.

Season the meat. Add a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce to each piece – this acts as a binder for the seasoning. Season with Spice That or your favorite all-purpose blend, plus a bit of extra black pepper if you like it peppery. Set the seasoned steak aside.

seasoning pieces of cube steak with Spice That seasoning

*TIP – We believe in seasoning the actual meat instead of seasoning the flour. Keep the seasoning in the dredge simple – salt and pepper only – because then you’re not wasting any of your rub or seasoning blend in the flour that you don’t use.

Build your dredging station. Set up your three bowls as described above – flour, egg wash, and the flour/panko/saltine breading mixture.

Bread the steak. Coat each piece in flour, then egg wash, then the final breading mixture, pressing gently so the coating adheres. Transfer each piece to a wire cooling rack once coated, and then allow to rest for 10 minutes or so.

Heat the griddle. Get your Blackstone up to medium heat, right around 375–400°F.

Add oil and shallow fry. Pour on enough oil to shallow fry – this isn’t a light sear, you want the oil coming partway up the sides of the steak. Give the oil a few seconds to heat up before laying the steak down.

frying pieces of flour-coated chicken fried steak on a Blackstone griddle

Fry until golden, then flip. Use your spatula or scraper to pull extra oil back toward the steak as needed to keep the fry even. Once the first side is deep golden brown, flip and cook the second side the same way.

Rest and serve. Pull the steak off once both sides are golden and crispy, and let it rest on a cooling rack for a few minutes before serving.

frying country fried steak on a Blackstone griddle

Recipe Tips

Watch your griddle zones. Every griddle runs a little different across the surface – some spots hotter, some cooler. If yours runs unevenly, keep an eye on which pieces are browning faster and rotate them so nothing burns before it’s cooked through. If needed, adjust one knob to low for a cooler zone.
Manage your oil as you go. On a flat top, the oil naturally wants to drift towards the grease trap. Use your scraper to pull it back toward the steak so you’re getting a consistent shallow fry on every piece, not just the ones sitting in a puddle.
Clean up burnt bits between rounds. If you’re frying in batches, loose flour and crumbs will start to burn in the oil. Pull the oil back, scrape up the burnt bits, and keep things moving so your next batch doesn’t pick up a burnt taste.
Let the coating set before frying. Resting the breaded pieces on a wire rack for a few minutes while the griddle heats up helps the coating firm up so it holds together better once it hits the oil.

Frequently Asked Questions

What cut of meat is cube steak?

Cube steak is usually a tougher cut – often top round or top sirloin – that’s been mechanically tenderized, leaving that distinctive “cubed” pattern on the surface. It’s sold pre-tenderized at most grocery stores, which is exactly what makes it a great candidate for breading and frying.

Can I use a different breading instead of panko and saltines?

Sure – this combination gives a great crunch, but you can lean more toward panko alone, crushed crackers alone, or your own favorite breadcrumb mix. Just keep the ratio of dry coating similar so it holds up to the fry.

What if I don’t have a griddle – can I make this in a skillet?

Absolutely! We prefer this recipe on the Blackstone griddle, because the large surface area allows us to fry multiple pieces at one time, and we have the ability to manage oil and heat zones across a wide area. However, a cast iron skillet works just as well.

Why do you use flour in both the first coat and the breading?

Double flouring gives the coating something extra to grab onto. The flour in the final breading bowl helps bind the panko and cracker crumbs tightly to the egg wash underneath, so you end up with a coating that stays on the steak instead of flaking off in the oil.