Don’t throw away those carrot tops! Make this delicious pesto with carrot tops to toss with pasta, beans, or eat straight up as a dip.
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While carrots are available year-round, spring is the best season for carrots, and springtime is often the time to find carrots with their feathery green tops still attached.
If you happen to buy carrots with carrot tops, I urge you to think twice before throwing away the carrot tops! You paid for them, and while they’re still fresh and green, you might as well use them, right?
Carrots belong to the same family (Apiaceae) as parsnips, coriander, fennel and parsley. Unsurprisingly, the carrot greens taste a lot like parsley!
A little bitter, a little carrot-like. The green of younger carrots is milder than that of older carrots.
Carrot tops are high in vitamin C, vitamin K, and potassium. Use them like parsley or instead of parsley in recipes. Strip the leaves from the tough stems, add them to broth or soup, add them to salads or make chimichurri.
Or make this Carrot Top Pesto. I promise you this pesto will change the way you think about carrot greens forever.
Because carrot tops are slightly bitter (like parsley), we use equal amounts of baby spinach and tops for this pesto. You can also substitute carrot tops for some of the greens in other pesto recipes.
How do you use carrot top pesto? Like any other pesto. Mix it with pasta, serve as a dip, add to baked mashed potatoes, toss with kidney beans, or toss with carrots and serve as a spread over roasted baby carrots.
Carrot Top Pesto
ingredients
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1 Cup packed up carrot top green (approx. 40 g), hard stalks removed
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1 cup packed baby spinach (Above 40G)
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1 big clove garlicroughly chopped
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1/2 cup (63G) roasted unsalted cashew nuts
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1/2 teaspoon sea-salt
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1/4 teaspoon black pepper
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1/2 cup (118ml) Extra virgin olive oil
special equipment
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food processor
method
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Prepare carrot tops:
Rinse the carrot top greens to remove dirt. Pick and discard any dry, yellowed, or otherwise unappetizing-looking leaves. Discard hard stalks.
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Legumes, garlic, cashew nuts, salt, pepper in food processor:
Place carrot greens, baby spinach, minced garlic, roasted cashews, salt and pepper in a food processor. Pulse repeatedly. Scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula.
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Slowly add olive oil:
With the food processor running, slowly pour in the olive oil in a steady stream. Scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula. pulse until smooth.
