Chicken fried steak is crispy, smothered, and Southern to its core-but the side dishes? That's where legends are made. Mashed potatoes, creamed corn, fried okra, biscuits dripping with gravy… this is comfort food with attitude, and I've got 81 ways to load your plate (including dessert!).
This round-up of the best sides for chicken fried steak includes easy, family-favorite recipes (like my creamy jalapeno cheese grits!) that take comfort food to a new level. Chicken fried steak isn't just supper, it's therapy with a side of carbs-and therapy is always better with gravy.
Table of Contents
❤️ Why chicken fried steak owns my heart (and my gravy boat)
Chicken fried steak is cheap beef made glorious-breaded, fried, smothered in cream gravy, and eaten with reckless abandon. Texas even gave it its own holiday (October 26, because of course we did). This isn't just dinner, it's a declaration: "Yes, I will deep fry cheap beef and make it taste better than any $50 steakhouse ribeye." The steak may be the diva but the sides are the gospel choir that makes the whole thing sing.
🥦 Let's talk sides
If you think you're getting away with plain mashed potatoes and a sad bag of frozen peas, you're in the wrong kitchen. These sides bring crunch, cream, and carbs in quantities that'll have you swearing you'll never eat again-until dessert shows up. Fried okra that crackles louder than your mama's gossip, collard greens that could raise the dead, and macaroni salad straight from the church basement. This is Southern balance: one green bean per three pounds of starch.
- Southern creamed corn
- Corn on the cob
- Corn pudding
- Green beans and potatoes
- Southern green beans
- Roasted green beans
- Maple-roasted carrots
- Mashed potatoes
- Smashed red-skin potatoes
- Baked potatoes
- Potato salad
- French fries
- Hash brown casserole
- Crispy fried potatoes
- Roasted sweet potatoes
- Mashed sweet potatoes
- Squash casserole with stuffing
- Crockpot collard greens
- Creamed cabbage
- Steakhouse creamed spinach
- Coleslaw
- Three-bean salad
- Old-fashioned macaroni salad
- Baked beans
- Black-eyed peas
- Succotash
- Fried okra
- Scalloped tomatoes
- Okra and tomatoes
🥖 Bread: the only reason gravy exists
You can't call it supper if there isn't bread on the table, period. Biscuits so fluffy you'll consider smacking someone, cornbread that crumbles just enough to soak up the gravy, and Texas toast that doubles as a plate scraper. Bread is how we measure love down here, and if you don't leave the table with gravy in your biscuit layers, you've done it wrong.
- Easy buttermilk biscuits
- Easy sourdough bread
- No-fail Amish white bread
- Honey buttermilk bread
- Garlic bread
- Hatch chile cheese bread
- Garlic knots
- Homemade potato rolls
- Texas toast
- Hush puppies
- Cornbread
- Cornbread casserole
- Corn muffins
🍰 Bonus round: pies, cocktails, and family secrets
Technically not sides, but listen-every Southern gathering ends with pie, booze, or both. Sweet potato pie that'll make you forget your own name, a bourbon punch that gets Grandma confessing who really stole the silver, and cakes that show up with more drama than your cousin's third wedding. Call them extras, but don't you dare skip them.
Desserts
- Pineapple upside-down cake
- Red velvet poke cake
- Hummingbird cake
- Vintage buttermilk cake
- Pecan pie
- Old-fashioned banana pudding
- Southern buttermilk pie
- Coconut creme pie
- Lemon meringue pie
- Sweet potato pie
- Peach cobbler
- Blackberry cobbler
- Banana pudding pie
- Beignets
- Honeybuns
- Southern fried apples
Beverages
- Vodka strawberry lemonade
- Mint Julep cocktail
- Merlot
- Gin Fizz cocktail
- Zinfandel (if you prefer sweeter wine)
- Beaujolais
- Alabama Slammer cocktail
- Texas Mule cocktail
- Rum Runner cocktail
- IRA Whiskey shot
- Peach Whiskey Mule
- Pinot Noir
- Mississippi Bourbon punch
- Wine coolers
- Bourbon peach tea
- Cava or champagne (goes surprisingly well with hearty fried steak)
Condiments
- Tabasco sauce
- Fresh-cracked black pepper
- Panera pickled onions
- Fresh herbs, like parsley, chives, or dill
- Cowboy Candy (candied jalapenos)
- Extra gravy (everyone always wants more of it!)
- Hot pepper vinegar
💭 Tips from someone who's been burned by hot grease more than once
For the best chicken fried steaks, start with a good recipe (this Texas-style chicken fried steak recipe is my favorite.) Then, be sure to follow these authentically-Southern, tried-and-tested tips.
- First things, first: safety! Don't get distracted when cooking with hot oil-and, make sure to kick the kids and pets out of the kitchen while you're frying, just in case.
- For extra tender steaks, pound them out with a mallet to break down the tough, muscle-y fibers. If you don't have a mallet, use a rolling pin.
- I like to use a baking sheet or two as my breading station to keep things organized and neat. Shallow bowls or plates also work fine.
- My favorite frying oil is peanut, but you can use any kind that has a relatively high smoke point.
- Use a large skillet and only fry as many pieces as you can fit without crowding or overlapping them.
- Experiment using an air fryer or deep fryer, if you have one.
- Set cooked steaks on a wire rack. Place the rack in the oven at a low temperature to keep them warm while the rest cook.
- Chicken fried steak is best enjoyed hot and fresh, but you can store leftovers in an airtight container for three or four days.
- When making gravy, room-temperature (or warmer) milk works best. I prefer whole milk because it adds richness, but any milk is fine.
- Don't wipe out all of your pan drippings-they make really flavorful gravy!
🍽 Other dinners that love these sides too
Mashed taters and creamed corn aren't monogamous, sugar. They'll sidle right up to pork chops, fried chicken, or Salisbury steak without a blink. Keep these recipes in rotation and you'll never hear "what's for dinner" uttered in your house again.
- Buttermilk Brined Roast Chicken isn't fried, but its crisp skin and juicy, tender meat goes great with these Southern sides.
- Fried Pork Chops and Gravy are cooked to a delicious golden brown and make a great Southern main dish.
- Cracker Barrel Hamburger Steaks (sometimes called Salisbury steaks) are hearty, filling, and so flavorful.
- Crockpot Salisbury Steaks are my super easy version of the diner special!
At the end of the day, chicken fried steak isn't just dinner-it's a whole Southern state of mind. Cheap beef turned glorious, breaded, fried, drowned in cream gravy, and surrounded by sides that could hold their own at any church potluck. Pile your plate with mashed potatoes, sneak in some fried okra, don't forget the biscuits, and yes-bring pie if you're feeling fancy.
Chicken fried steak deserves only the best, and now you've got 81 sides to prove it. So go ahead, tie on that apron, pour yourself a sweet tea (or bourbon, I don't judge), and make supper the kind of meal people will still be talking about long after the gravy boat's been licked clean.
What's your favorite thing to serve with chicken fried steak? Leave a comment and let me know.
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