Nicholas Gavin is the Culinary Creative Director of ChefSteps, where he develops recipes and is responsible for making all the food look beautiful. Nick has worked at ChefSteps for over a decade; he and ChefSteps co-founder Grant Crilly worked together at Modernist Cuisine. Nick has worked in professional kitchens both in the United States and abroad, most notably at Mugaritz in San Sebastian, Spain.

Nicholas Gavin

Chicken-fried steak is what happens when you let your intrusive thoughts win. “Sure, nothing beats fried chicken, but what if I really want to eat steak? And what if I want a creamy gravy poured all over it, too?” Our version is a refinement of the Southern classic, with super crispy and super beefy breaded and fried steaks served up with a <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/pepper-gravy">Creamy Pepper Gravy</a>. Instead of the run-of-the-mill minute steaks—typically top round cuts that have been run through a cuber to tenderize them—we use big, beefy chuck steaks we tenderize ourselves. And the crust gets a similar upgrade, so it stays crispy even after it’s been plated, and it’s got texture for days because of crushed saltines and a few other crisp-maxing ingredients in the dredge. We’ve tackled variations on the dish before, of course: We’ve got a <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/air-fried-chicken-fried-steak">Chicken-Air-Fried Steak</a> and a <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/crispy-and-juicy-chicken-fried-turkey">Crispy and Juicy Chicken-Fried Turkey cutlet</a>. But we’ve never done the real thing—until now!

Perfect Chicken-Fried Steak