One Pound Of Ground Beef And One Packet Mix Is The Start Of A Classic Southern Skillet Dinner

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

Modern work schedules and shrinkflation can limit the time and money available to prepare elaborate dinners. But modernity has also brought us prepackaged and premade food products that help us make a worthwhile dinner at home with less time and effort. You can also add a creative twist to classic Southern chicken fried steak and gravy with a packet mix and a pound of ground beef.

Traditional, diner-style chicken fried steak has you pound a cube steak into oblivion, then coat it in breading and fry it like chicken. But ground beef is a cheaper, easier protein you can turn into thin burger patties without the elbow grease. Plus, you can add all manner of seasonings to ground beef for Southern flair. You'll essentially make a burger patty, dredge it in a milk-and-egg mixture, coat it in seasoned flour, and fry it in a hot skillet with oil to create a perfectly crispy chicken-fried steak. A packet mix does all the work for the gravy, and you can fry the burgers in a skillet while you mix the gravy in a pot for faster prep. All the gravy mix needs is water and a few minutes to simmer and thicken. Gravy brands like McCormick and Southeastern Mills offer classic Southern-style country gravy that's meant to accompany a chicken-fried steak.

Ground beef is the foundation for chicken-fried steak burgers, but the seasonings in both the patties and the dredging mixtures are up to you. Use this culinary freedom to add complementary flavors to the mix. Salt and pepper are essential, but garlic powder and a dried herb blend add an aromatic boost. Use a buttermilk and hot sauce mixture for the wet dredge to create a tangy, spicy breading. Replace some of the dredging flour with cornmeal and season with cayenne, paprika, and garlic salt.

Serve these easy chicken fried steak burgers and gravy over mashed potatoes, allowing the mash to soak up all the extra gravy that spills over. Sides like collard greens, candied yams, or your favorite macaroni and cheese recipe would also be great options to round out a Southern-style dinner. Buttermilk biscuits are another famous pairing for white gravy — and you can make it easy on yourself by using convenient, delicious canned biscuits for yet another shortcut. You could even make chicken fried steak sliders by adding them to biscuit halves with some pickled jalapeños or caramelized onions. You can also use the "steaks" as burger patties to assemble the ultimate Southern-style burger. For example, you can swap the Southern gravy mix for an onion gravy mix for a zestier, aromatic flavor. Onion gravy-smothered chicken-fried steak burgers also taste great on a soft potato bun with pickles, pimento cheese, and crispy fried onions.