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This easy Carrot Top Pesto recipe is made with carrot greens, garlic, and lemon juice for a sauce or spread that is good enough to eat with a spoon! Transform an often discarded food scrap into your new favorite pesto.
Today we’re talking food scraps, and how to utilize them to make nutritious and tasty dishes + save money and help the environment! Don’t miss the recipes, photos, and video below!
This post was originally published on November 2, 2018. It was updated with new recipe information on April 11, 2024.
Carrot Top Pesto is a savory green pesto that is perfect on roasted carrots, pasta, or pizza, or served as a dip with crackers or vegetables. I’m passionate about teaching others how to use food scraps and how to make produce last longer. About 50% of all produce goes to waste each year in the United States (source).
In 2017, I was a guest on the awesome A&E TV show Scraps with Joel Gamoran. Being on the show helped me realize that I could be doing more than composting my scraps at home.
Carrot tops can be used in a variety of ways. You can stir them into soups, toss them with salad greens, use them in place of herbs, add them to veggie burgers, or blend them into smoothies or green juice. One of my favorite ways to use them is to make this carrot top pesto recipe with toasted pumpkin seeds, garlic, and extra virgin olive oil.
For more recipes using ingredients that are often discarded, try my watermelon rind relish, simple vegetable broth, or banana peel tacos.
Ingredients
Carrot Tops: Carrot tops or carrot greens with or without stems are the main ingredients in this recipe. They are high in beta-carotene, potassium, calcium, and vitamin K, and even have more vitamin C than the carrots themselves. They have a slight bitterness like most greens and a unique earthy flavor similar to parsley.
Toasted Pumpkin Seeds: Toasting enhances the natural flavor of the pumpkin seeds, also known as pepitas. The seeds add the best crunch to this carrot tops recipe. If you don’t have seeds from a fresh pumpkin, look for pumpkin seeds in the produce section of the grocery store.
Garlic: Garlic is a staple in pesto recipes because of its robust flavor. Peel and trim the garlic before using.
Lemon Juice: Freshly squeezed lemon will offer the best refreshing citrus flavor. The juice balances the slight bitterness from the greens.
Sea Salt: A sprinkle of salt enhances the taste of this dish, add more to taste after blending.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Smooth, peppery, and rich extra virgin olive oil balances the bitterness of the greens and the tartness of the lemons and offers a rich mouthfeel and flavor.
How to Make Carrot Top Pesto
- Blend the pesto. Place carrot tops, pumpkin seeds, garlic, lemon juice, and salt in the food processor. Blend until combined.
- Add the olive oil. With the food processor running, slowly pour the olive oil in. Continue to blend for a few more seconds. The carrot pesto should have some texture and not be a smooth puree.
- Season with additional lemon juice and salt. If desired, season with additional fresh lemon juice and salt.
Recipe Pro-Tips
- Wash the greens well. Start by washing the greens and stems. Use your fingers to remove any dirt and debris from the growing process and then dry the greens well with a tea towel. This will help the flavor and texture of the pesto.
- Scale the recipe as needed. If you don’t have enough carrot tops to make the full recipe, you can make a half batch of the pesto. To use more than a bunch of greens before they wilt, double or triple the recipe, making in batches if needed, and freeze.
- Blanch the carrots if using thicker stems. If your carrots have thicker stems or you prefer less texture in your pesto, you can blanch the stems and greens before blending to soften them. To blanch, add the greens to a large pot of boiling water for 3 minutes, then transfer them to a bowl of ice water, using a slotted spoon, to stop the cooking process. Dry well before using
- Scrape down the sides of the food processor. Scrape down the sides of the food processor with a spatula before adding the olive oil, or as needed. This helps the ingredients blend to a consistent texture, especially if you have a smaller food processor.
- Chop ingredients by hand if you don’t have a food processor. If you don’t have a food processor, you can chop all the ingredients thoroughly by hand and mix them together.
Recipe Variations
Pesto from carrot tops has several mix-in options that can add texture or flavor, and variations that will help you maximize the use of food scraps. Try one of these to change up this recipe:
- Swap some of the greens: Replace some of the carrot tops with the same amount of fresh basil leaves or spinach. This is a good option if you only have a few carrot tops on hand.
- Mint mix-in: Add ⅛ – ¼ cup of fresh mint leaves for a hint of mint.
- Add toasted nuts instead of seeds: Basil-based pesto is commonly made with pine nuts; many nut varieties are delicious in homemade pesto. In place of the pumpkin seeds, try making this recipe with pine nuts, walnuts, pistachios, or cashews.
- “Cheesy” protein variation: For cheesy flavor, add 1-2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast with the greens. Doing so adds a little protein too.
Serving Suggestions
Serve this recipe for carrot top pesto as a sauce, dip, spread, or basil pesto replacement.
- Spoon over my roasted carrots
- Use as a dip or spread with vegan naan with spelt flour or crackers
- Mix with chickpea pasta, quinoa, or other grains
- Use as the sauce for vegan black bean crust pizza
As a substitute for pesto in any recipe, like my sweet potato & lentil buddha bowl
Storage Directions
- Refrigeration: Leftovers keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
- Freezing: Vegan carrot top pesto freezes well in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months and defrosts quickly in the refrigerator or at room temperature.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, carrot tops can be enjoyed raw, just like other greens such as cilantro or parsley. In addition to this carrot greens pesto, use greens as you would salad greens, or chop them to use whenever you’d use parsley on top of vegetables, buddha bowls, or tacos.
Every part of a carrot is edible! Carrot top greens are slightly bitter and taste similar to other savory greens such as parsley, but with a faint carrot flavor.
If you’re wondering what to do with carrot tops, they are perfect for adding flavor to homemade vegetable stock. I love using a variety of would-be food waste including onion, mushroom, celery, and carrot scraps, to make a nutrient-packed stock. See my post, Money-Saving Homemade Vegetable Broth for one of my favorite carrot top recipes.
More Vegetable Recipes
- Fall Squash Recipes
- Gochujang Oven Roasted Carrots
- Perfect Air Fryer Green Beans
- Chili Lime Glazed Sweet Potatoes
- Creative Cauliflower Recipes
Carrot Top Pesto
Ingredients
- 1 bunch of carrot greens
- ½ cup toasted pumpkin seeds, or pepitas
- 1 clove garlic, peeled and trimmed
- 1-2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 2-4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Place carrot tops, pumpkin seeds, garlic, lemon juice, and salt in the food processor. Blend until combined.
- With the food processor running, slowly pour the olive oil in. Continue to blend for a few more seconds. The carrot pesto should have some texture and not be a smooth puree.
- If desired, season the pesto with additional fresh lemon juice and salt to taste. Serve immediately or refrigerate for 1-2 hours to let the flavors marinate.
Notes
- Refrigeration: Leftovers keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
- Freezing: Vegan carrot top pesto freezes well in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months and defrosts quickly in the refrigerator or at room temperature.
- Wash the greens well. Start by washing the greens and stems. Use your fingers to remove any dirt and debris from the growing process and then dry the greens well with a tea towel. This will help the flavor and texture of the pesto.
- Blanch the carrots if using thicker stems. If your carrots have thicker stems or you prefer less texture in your pesto, you can blanch the stems and greens before blending to soften them. To blanch, add the greens to a large pot of boiling water for 3 minutes, then transfer them to a bowl of ice water, using a slotted spoon, to stop the cooking process. Dry well before using.
- Scrape down the sides of the food processor. Scrape down the sides of the food processor with a spatula before adding the olive oil, or as needed. This helps the ingredients blend to a consistent texture, especially if you have a smaller food processor.
- Carrot Roasting Directions: Toss 2 bunches (1.5 lbs) of whole peeled carrots with 3 tablespoons of oil and 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper until combined. Add to a silicone mat or parchment paper-lined baking sheet and bake in an oven preheated to 450°F for 30 minutes, or until cooked through and tender.
When you say a “bunch” of carrot tops, about how much might that be? Some bunches have a lot and some have less. If I am pulling carrots and their greens out of the garden, no idea how much constitutes the right amount to go with the measurements of the rest of the ingredients.
I like to use fresh radish tops. I wash them really well and chop to add in with my other greens I’m cooking. Radish tops add a nice peppery flavor to blander greens like chard, as well as a nice texture.
I’ve used carrot tops in vegetable soups before. Sometimes they work out better than parsley.
It would probably be a good idea to freeze some of the
Loved your post. Best wishes from my side.
Speaking of food waste, I have a boat load of sweet potatoes. The Inspiralized web site has a great recipe for sweet potato rice. The sweet potato rice is so much better for you then everyday rice. Also, sweet potato rice holds up better then cauliflower rice and really adds to the flavor of Asian stir fries. Give it a try.
Fabulous tip! I love riced sweet potato too 🙂
I agree with your comments about food waste. I work at our local Farmer’s Market. If there are unsold vegetables that they can’t sell the next Saturday due to spoilage, they either feed their hogs with the vegetables or throw them away. At the end of the day at the market, I get as many salvageable tomatos I can get my hands on. I cut off the bad spots. Then I roast the tomatoes, let them cool and peel off the skins. Usually, I can them in quart jars to make spaghetti sauce or salsa when my supply runs low. I now have about 15 quarts of canned tomatoes for future use or I give the finished products, spaghetti sauce or salsa, to a local orphanage.
Wow! I love that you do that with the tomatoes. So inspiring!! I bet that sauce/salsa is delicious 🙂