Carrot Top Pesto

Share With Friends!

Carrot Top Pesto- What can you do with the tops of carrots? I love finding ways to reduce kitchen waste, and use all of something rather than throwing half of it away. Whether you grow your own carrots or buy them with the tops on, if you have thrown the tops away in the past, this is the time to stop doing that! With this recipe, I am going to show you how to reduce kitchen waste while making an easy homemade pesto!

We all buy carrots at one point or another, and they usually come in a plastic bag. It’s so easy to forget that carrots grow with lovely green tops, and they can be eaten! If you have never tried carrot tops, I think pesto is one of the best places to start. I love finding ways to use fresh produce, and that is a big part of what this blog is all about. 

I’m really passionate about homemade food using farm fresh ingredients, and working on a farm really helped me to appreciate what our farmers do for us on a daily basis. I’m glad you’re here, and I am excited to share this recipe with you! 

What Does Carrot Top Pesto Taste Like?

I think the first question to ask is what do carrot tops taste like? They have a mild carrot-like flavor that is really quite pleasant!

Are There Other Uses For Carrot Tops Aside From Pesto?

Oh yes! I like using them in salads as an addition to other greens. You can add them to stocks as well. In fact, the carrot top stems and the carrot ends that will be left after making this dish can be saved to put in your homemade chicken or vegetable stock.

Carrot Top Pesto Ingredients

Carrot Tops- Try to select bunches of carrots with tops that are a vibrant dark green color that are not wilted with a lot of browned leaves. There may be little bits of brown leaves which is ok, just pull those off and don’t use them. 

You’ll need the tops from about two bunches of carrots. Most markets sell carrots with tops in bunches of five or six tied together, so you will need the tops of 10-12 carrots to get enough pesto for this recipe, and you may even have some left over.

Use just the leaves and not the stems from the tops in the pesto. It not only tastes better but the pesto will be smoother.

Parmesan Cheese- You can use pre grated or block parmesan that you grate yourself, but use the best quality parmesan you can find. Your pesto will thank you!

If you want to make this dish vegan, you can simply leave out the cheese.

Walnuts- Pine nuts are a classic pesto ingredient, but I use walnuts here because they are much easier to find and a lot more budget friendly. You can usually find them in the baking aisle of almost any grocery store. The nice thing about buying them in the baking aisle is that they are cheaper than buying them in the snack aisle, and they are unsalted.

Avocado Oil- You can certainly use another mild flavored oil here such as light olive oil or sunflower seed oil. 

How To Make Carrot Top Pesto

Carrot Top Pesto is pretty easy to make, it is a very similar procedure to most any other type of pesto. This is easiest with a food processor. I toss in everything but the oil and get everything ground up a bit, then slowly add the oil until it makes a smooth paste. You could always add a few fresh basil leaves to this as well.

If you don’t have a food processor, I recommend getting an inexpensive one at least. They are useful for more than just making pesto. You could try using a good quality blender, but it would need to be one that can grind nuts. 

If you don’t have these options, you can use a knife to chop the carrot tops and place the nuts in a freezer bag and use a rolling pin to pulverize the nuts, then place all the ingredients in a bowl and slowly stir in the oil.

You will not get as good a result with a blender or using a rolling pin. If you don’t have a food processor I can’t say enough about how useful they are! They are a great investment.

Uses For Carrot Top Pesto

I love using this as a sauce for roasted carrots! Just simply toss the carrots in the pesto when they come out of the oven. So good! 

This is a great sauce for a hot pasta dish or cold pasta salad as well. You can also spoon it on top of some vegetable soup or as a spread on a vegetable sandwich.

Other Easy Pesto Recipes To Try

Don’t worry, I have got some other great pesto recipes for you to try right here on the site! 

• Classic Basil Pesto
• Red Pepper Pesto
• Oregano Pesto
• Garlic Scape Pesto

Thank you so much for visiting me here at The Copper Table! I hope you love this carrot top pesto, and that you try some other recipes too! If you made this recipe I’d love to hear from you. Just leave a rating or a comment, and while you’re here don’t forget to sign up for my email newsletter! Happy Cooking!

Print