You’ve probably heard of chicken fingers, but have you ever heard of steak fingers? In my take on this popular Idaho recipe, tender pieces of steak are coated in spicy gluten-free breading and air fried until they’re perfectly crisp. Brush on some more hot sauce, then dip them in creamy dill pickle dip to tone down the heat.

This post was sponsored by the New York Beef Council.

Two Nashville Hot Steak Fingers with coleslaw in a rectangular dish; a platter of steak fingers is in the background.

What you’ll love about this recipe:

Quick and Easy. This recipe is incredibly easy to make, taking only a few minutes to prepare and less than 10 minutes to cook.
A Healthier Option. This air fryer version is a much healthier option than traditional deep fried steak fingers. They’re also gluten free!
Budget-Friendly. This recipe is an affordable option for anyone who wants a delicious and satisfying meal without breaking the bank.

The Ultimate Guide to Making Crispy Air Fryer Finger Steaks

Chicken fingers have been a staple on dinner tables across the country for decades, but it turns out that our friends in Idaho have been holding out on us. All this time, they’ve been eating steak fingers (also known as finger steaks)!!

Well, I’m on to their secret now and there’s no looking back.

If you’re looking for a fun new finger food, you definitely need to give steak fingers a try!

Finger steaks are new to me, but apparently they’re super popular across Idaho and can be found at almost any local restaurant. I recently had the opportunity to attend a virtual event with Idaho ranchers Wyatt and Christie Prescott where they shared some information about their business and taught us their family recipe for finger steaks.

I always love events like this because it’s great to get an inside peek at where our food comes from. I’ve visited more New York farms than I can count, but this was my first time learning about the beef industry in a different region. It was so interesting to get to know the Prescott’s and see some of the regional differences in how beef was raised.

In particular, I was fascinated to learn that their cattle are raised on pastures that they lease from the federal government. Multiple herds graze on the same pastures, with different ranchers sharing the same space. That concept is so foreign to me here in New York where our farmers keep their herds on their own property, but it seemed so efficient!

Fun beef fact: Idaho has 2.5 million heads of cattle compared to NY’s 1.42 million. While the population of Idaho and NY (minus NYC) are roughly the same Idaho has about 65% more geographic area. That’s so much space for the cattle to roam!

But back to those steaks…

Ingredients for making air fryer finger steaks: cube steak, eggs, almond flour, and spices

What are Idaho Finger Steaks?

Finger steaks are Idaho’s answer to fried chicken, and are similar in many ways to the chicken fingers that we all know and love.

There are countless family recipes for finger steaks but, at their core, they’re thin strips of tender steak that are breaded and fried until they’re golden brown, then served with sauce for dipping.

The Prescott family recipe uses crushed saltine crackers as breading, which was really delicious, but you know I had to change things up and put my own spin the finger steak concept!

We’re been watching our carbs lately, so for this recipe I coated our steaks with spicy seasoned almond flour. I air fried them until they were crisp and golden brown, then brushed them with a super-spicy hot sauce inspired by Nashville hot chicken!

These spicy finger steaks are really simple to make and are such a fun and unique meal.

The photos showing the steps for breading steak fingers in seasoned almond flour.

How to Make Air Fryer Steak Fingers

To make this finger steak recipe, you’ll start by breading strips of cube steak in almond flour seasoned with cayenne pepper, garlic powder, and paprika. A little brown sugar helps balance out the heat.

What is cube steak?

Cube steak is a cut of beef that has been tenderized by pounding it flat. The name comes from the cube-shaped indentations left behind by the tenderizer!

In the package, cube steak looks a little like ground beef, but the pieces are still solid and hold together. They’re super tender and easy to bite, which makes them great for recipes like these finger steaks! You definitely want a tender piece of beef that you can easily pick up and bite — no knife required!

You can buy cube steak in most major grocery stores or butcher shops. If you have trouble finding it, you can also use the spikey side of a meat mallet to pound top round or top sirloin until it’s about 1/4-inch thin.

My cube steaks were pretty small, so I cut each one in half to form finger-like strips.

an overhead view of an air fryer backer with three Nashville hot steak fingers inside, ready to be cooked.

Carb conscious breading for finger steaks

To make the delicious breading for these finger steaks, I combined almond flour with cayenne pepper, garlic powder, paprika, salt, and pepper. I made mine pretty spicy (we definitely appreciated the cool, creamy dip to cool things down!) so you can use less cayenne if you prefer.

Put a few tablespoons of plain almond flour in a shallow dish, two beaten eggs in a second dish, and the seasoned flour in a third dish.

To bread the steaks, first pat each strip dry with a paper towel and season it with salt and pepper. Next, dip it in the plain almond flour. You’re just looking for a light dusting of flour here — it will help the egg stick.

Now, dip the strip in the beaten egg, making sure both sides are coated.

Finally, dredge the steak in the seasoned flour mixture. Press the flour into the meat, making sure each piece if thoroughly coated.

(Note: If carbs aren’t and gluten aren’t a concern for you, you can use all purpose flour instead of the almond flour!)

Dipping Sauce for Finger Steaks

Finger steaks are delicious straight from the pan (or in this case, the air fryer) but they’re even more fun when you pair them with dipping sauce!

Popular options include country gravy (think chicken fried steak in finger food form!), Ranch dressing (make it with homemade buttermilk ranch seasoning powder!), or steak sauce.

Since my air fryer steak fingers recipe was inspired by Nashville hot chicken, I created a dill pickle dip to go along with them! It’s made from a combination of sour cream, milk or heavy cream, and chopped dill pickles. It has a fantastic cooling effect that goes so well with the spicy steak!

I served these steak fingers with a side of creamy mayo-free coleslaw, but fries, onion rings, or a green salad would all be great options as well.

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