How a Lasagna Became These Country Stars’ Favorite Christmas Tradition

Published: December 17, 2024

How a Lasagna Became These Country Stars’ Favorite Christmas Tradition

By Movieguide® Contributor

Country stars Trisha Yearwood and Garth Brooks have an unusual, but delicious, holiday tradition.

“Garth walked into our kitchen one morning and said, ‘Hey, Miss Yearwood, could you make a lasagna for breakfast?’ I tell my husband (yes, that Garth) he can call me Trisha; after all we’ve been married for almost 17 years, but if it’s not ‘Miss Yearwood’ it’s ‘the queen,’” Yearwood said in a Guideposts story. “Anyway, he’s doing the suggesting, but I know I’ll be doing the cooking.”

“‘I’m not talking about a casserole,’ Garth said, ‘but a real lasagna with noodles and breakfast things on the inside.’ Yes, I could do that, especially since breakfast was a favorite meal in our house served anytime, day or night,” she recalled.

Cooking is Yearwood’s second passion, next to singing. Her mom taught her and her sister Beth how to cook. The sisters jotted down their favorite recipes over the years and eventually made them into a cookbook.

Now, Yearwood has 17 seasons of her Food Network show, TRISHA’S SOUTHERN KITCHEN, under her belt.

“So I got to thinking about Garth’s breakfast lasagna request. This was going to be very different from the casserole my mom served on Christmas morning,” she said.

“I grew up on a farm in the small town of Monticello, Georgia, where Christmas felt like something out of a storybook. Beth and I would go with Daddy to chop down the perfect cedar tree in the woods. Without fail, we’d discover we had picked one that was way too tall and we always had to drag the tree back out to the carport to trim it down,” she said. “I guess measuring would have taken the fun out of the ritual.”

Yearwood’s mama made her famous casserole on Christmas Eve so that she could place it in the oven in the morning. Yearwood can still remember the heavenly smell of sausage, egg and cheese as she unwrapped presents.

“Even though she’s gone, my mama is always with me,” Yearwood said. “As I got to work on Garth’s lasagna, pulling out my pots and pans and writing down measurements, I felt her guidance. The hearty cheese sauce she made for almost everything would stand up well to the breakfast meats Garth liked — sage-flavored sausage and, of course, bacon.”

“Chopped spinach, pimentos and shallots offered a nice counterpoint,” she continued. “I layered the ingredients just like a traditional lasagna, whisked six eggs and poured them over the top, then added one more layer of cheese. Forty-five minutes later the lasagna bubbled to a golden brown.”

When she called in her “taste tester,” Garth was as happy as ever.

“‘It smells amazing in here,’ Garth said. I cut a piece of lasagna and slid it onto his plate. He dug in and let out a big mmm…mmm. ‘Miss Yearwood, you did it!’”

“This recipe ticked all the yummy boxes. You can customize it with spicy or maple-flavored sausage, and different veggies and cheeses. Garth and I decided the lasagna would be our new Christmas morning tradition. I put it in the fridge the night before so I’m set to celebrate the day when love seems to come so freely.”

“I hope the kindness we show one another this season is a practice we can all carry throughout the year,” she shared. “Each of us has the essential ingredients to do that, in our own unique way. Love one another.”

Some of Yearwood’s other holiday recipes include Fruitcake Cookies, Baked Ham with Brown Sugar-Honey Glaze and frosty little Meringue Snowwomen.

Brooks recently opened up about their family’s “misfit Thanksgiving” this year.

“She does what we call a misfit Thanksgiving, Ms. Yearwood does, because we have a lot of people in that town that’s in for the industry only,” Brooks said. “Their families are somewhere else, so they’re alone on Thanksgiving, so she opens up her doors.”

This year, they hosted 20-25 people in their home.

Brooks said he wouldn’t be doing any cooking this year as he doesn’t “want to get in the way of perfection.” But joked he’ll be there to assist with “clean up.”