Simple No Waste Carrot Top Pesto

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Can you eat carrot greens?

Yes, you sure can. Carrot greens are safe to eat. They aren’t just something to throw away, but a nutritional powerhouse you can use to make Carrot Top Pesto. These tops are often overlooked but contain many key vitamins and minerals like Beta-Carotene (turns in Vitamin A in the body), Vitamins C and K, potassium, calcium, iron, and magnesium. Plus, they may have some antioxidant benefits.

Hopefully, we can bring you more carrot top recipes in the future, but for now, let’s get you making some Carrot Top Pesto.

What is Pesto?

Pesto is a spread/sauce most often made with Basil, Pine nuts, and a harder cheese. All of these items are interchangeable with other ingredients. Basil can be replaced with almost any leafy green you enjoy, like kale or spinach, and pine nuts can be substituted with any softer nuts, like walnuts or pistachios, and the cheese can either be left out (like in my recipe), or you can use cheeses like parmesan or asiago.

In this particular recipe, I left out the cheese because I was planning to use the pesto for a dish that already had plenty of cheese included. Feel free to add it to yours, but if you are dairy-free this recipe works for you too.

How do you make carrot top pesto?

Ingredients:

• 2 Cups packed cleaned green carrot tops, deveined
• 2-3 cloves of Garlic (grow your own garlic)
• 1 cup Walnuts
• 3/4-1 cup Olive oil
• 1tsp Lemon juice
• 1 tsp Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese (optional)

Instructions:

1. Remove carrot stems from leaves and throw stems in compost.
2. Add carrot tops, garlic, olive oil and lemon juice to a blender cup.
3. Pulse until reduced in size by half so you will have room to fit the nuts and cheese in (if your blender cup is large, you may be able to fit it all in at once)
4. Add in nuts, cheese, salt and pepper
5. Blend until smooth, or desired consistency (for me it takes about 30 seconds)
6. You can eat it now or freeze for later (I like to freeze my pesto in ice cube trays and store in the freezer for easy use).

Remove carrot stems from leaves, and throw stems in compost. Add carrot tops, garlic, olive oil and lemon juice to a blender cup.

Pulse until reduced in size by half so you will have room to fit the nuts and cheese in (if your blender cup is large, you may be able to fit it all in at once).

Add in nuts, cheese, salt and pepper.

Blend until smooth, or desired consistency (for me it takes about 30 seconds).

You can eat your carrot top pesto now, or freeze for later (I like to freeze my pesto in ice cube trays and store in the freezer for easy use).

Notes:

• Carrot top pesto is super versatile – you can use it to top steak, noodles, rice, toast, salad, or even eggs. My favorite way to use pesto is on grilled cheese sandwiches.
• Pesto is very forgiving; you can always add/take away/change ingredients.
• Use whichever nuts you have on hand, or mix two kinds- pine nuts, pistachios, walnuts, etc.
• I prefer to use parmesan when I add cheese but try out your favorites and see what works for you.
• Add more olive oil if you like your pesto runnier or less oil if you like it chunkier.
• We love garlic so I usually lean towards 3 (or more) cloves.
• You can use avocado oil if you prefer instead of olive oil.
• Add cayenne or red pepper flakes for a spicy kick to your pesto.

Use this pesto in Cheesy Pesto Pasta or Grow your own carrots! Or try making Salsa Verde for another fun recipe from the garden.