Trisha Yearwood shares her skillet cheddar cornbread recipe for Thanksgiving

A Thanksgiving spread isn't complete without some stellar cornbread, and Trisha Yearwood has got you covered this year.

The singer, chef and bestselling author, who released her latest cookbook, "Trisha's Kitchen: Easy Comfort Food for Friends and Family," in September, shared the recipe for her skillet cheddar cornbread exclusively with "Good Morning America."

She said it's really easy to make and it will be "the best cornbread you ever have." It's also quickly become a favored dish in her household.

"This is one of my new favorite things," she shared. "And apologies to my grandmother, but we have replaced her cornbread with this cornbread for Thanksgiving. It goes on the table and also goes in our traditional cornbread dressing that we make."

Yearwood said she and her sister, Beth, developed the recipe after having a really good, cheesy cornbread at a restaurant.

"We were like, 'Let's see if we can figure this out,'" she shared. "We love it so much that she and I both probably over-tested it for the new book because we were like, 'Let's make the cornbread again because it's the most fabulous thing ever.' And then I thought that it might be really good in our traditional cornbread dressing for the Thanksgiving table."

"I did do a version of it before the holiday to make sure that it was acceptable to put on the table in dressing, and it works great," she added. "It actually keeps the dressing really nice and moist. So this is now the new cornbread forever in our house."

Yearwood described Thanksgiving in her house as "joy."

"My favorite part of Thanksgiving is when everybody shows up -- my house is a family, it's loud and friends who don't have a place to go on Thanksgiving will come to my house. I love that feeling of knowing that the food is cooked, and if it's not all quite done -- this is family. These are people that I love and who love me, so it's relaxed and it's just joy."

Here is the full recipe:

Ingredients:

10 tablespoons (1¼ sticks) butter, cut into 1-inch slabs

2 cups self-rising buttermilk cornmeal mix (see Tip)

2 tablespoons sugar

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

8 ounces extra-sharp cheddar cheese, finely grated

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

1½ cups milk

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit, with a rack set in the middle.

2. In an 8-inch cast-iron skillet, melt the butter over medium heat, swirling the pan to coat the sides. Once the butter has melted, remove the pan from the heat and let cool for 1 to 2 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, stir together the cornmeal mix, sugar and pepper to combine. Add the cheddar and Parmesan and toss to evenly disperse them throughout the dry mixture. Add the melted butter, leaving a good slick of butter in the skillet. Add the milk and stir to just combine. Add the eggs and stir to form a thick batter.

4. The skillet should still be a little warm and coated with butter, so use oven mitts when handling. Pour the cornbread batter into the skillet and place on the center rack of the oven. Bake for 25 to 28 minutes, until warm, golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cornbread comes out clean. Let the cornbread cool for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

Trisha's tips:

If you don’t have self-rising buttermilk cornmeal mix, make your own by mixing 1¾ cups finely ground cornmeal, 6 tablespoons all purpose flour, 2 tablespoons baking powder and ½ teaspoon kosher salt. Measure out 2 cups of the mixture. Stick with extra-sharp cheddar cheese (grate it yourself instead of buying it pre-grated). Extra sharp cheddar is drier than mild or medium cheddar. More moisture in the other cheeses will cause you to lose the light, fluffy texture of this cornbread, as will pre-grated cheese.

If you're in need of some more inspiration for your Thanksgiving table, you can find her grandma's sky-high biscuits recipe here.

Reprinted with permission from "TRISHA’S KITCHEN: Easy Comfort Food for Friends and Family" Copyright © 2021 by Trisha Yearwood with Beth Yearwood Bernard. Photography © 2021 by Ben Fink. Reproduced by permission of Mariner Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.