Carrot Top Pesto
Prep Time: 15 min
Yields about 10 servings (2 1/2 cups)
If you're throwing out those bright green, bushy carrot tops every time you buy carrots, you're missing out! Carrot greens are not only safe to eat — they're packed with nutrients and earthy flavor. This pesto is a great way to use up the big, leafy greens that come with carrots every summer — but it can also be done with any leafy greens you have around!
This ratio makes the perfect pesto, and it's a great way to inject vegetables into one of our favorite Italian condiments. The recipe makes about 2 1/2 cups of pesto, which is perfect for batching and using for the rest of the week in your pastas, pizzas, bowls, toasts, and sandwiches.
Carrot top pesto acts, tastes and looks just like traditional Italian pesto, but it has an extra kick of micronutrients and color because of the carrot tops that we add to the mix. Plus, that makes this pesto recipe low-waste!
Carrot greens contain an impressive list of nutrients, including significant amounts of vitamin A, dietary fiber, vitamin C, calcium, and iron. These greens also contain vitamin K and various phenolic compounds and carotenoids, along with trace amounts of other antioxidants.
Leafy carrot tops aren’t always available, so this recipe’s ratios also work well when you swap in spinach, kale or arugula. The ratio itself is fool-proof. You can always scale it up or down as you prefer, based on what you have lying around. As pesto lovers, we always turn to this Carrot Top Pesto whenever we have a few extra greens to use up!
Making a pesto with leafy greens in it is a bit different than traditional pesto. The greens need a bit more time and care so they can fully break down into the sauce. We to add them to a food processor along with the basil and pulse a few times to begin chopping up the herbs. From there add a stream of olive oil, while pouring run the food processor continuously. This makes it so that the herbs and leafy greens are fully chopped up before you mix the rest of the pesto. This gives your pesto the best texture, and alleviates any headaches you might have if you try to mix everything at once. Leafy greens can be stubborn, so it’s best to get them chopped up first before you start the rest of the recipe.
With this pesto specifically, you can make it as thick or as thin as you’d like. This recipe makes a thicker version, so it can be used as a spread. When using this pesto as pasta sauce, thin it out using pasta water.
INGREDIENTS
4 cups carrot tops (125 grams)
3 cups fresh basil (100 grams)
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 small lemons for both zest and juice
1/4 cup pine nuts or slivered almonds (60 grams)
3/4 cup freshly grated parmesan (90 grams)
Kosher salt to taste
INSTRUCTIONS
Wash the carrot tops and basil. Add them to a salad spinner and dry them well.
Add the carrot tops and basil to a 5-cup food processor (or larger). Pulse until the basil and carrot tops become roughly chopped. Then process continuously while streaming in the olive oil, this will help continue to chop up the basil and carrot tops.
Zest in half of a lemon, then squeeze in the juice from both lemons (about 5 tablespoons).
Add in the nuts and pulse to combine. Once the nuts are broken up, add in the parmesan and pulse again. Season with a teaspoon of salt, then taste and season to taste.
Add more olive oil to get to your desired consistency, then transfer the pesto to an airtight container and store in the fridge. This will keep for up to 7 days in the fridge, and up to 6 months in the freezer.
NOTES
The carrot tops can also be replaced with spinach, kale (stems removed), or arugula!
This recipe provides weight measurements since anything “leafy” can be hard to accurately measure. Firmly packed? Loosely packed? It can get tricky! Use the cup measurements if you would like, but using weight measurements makes the recipe easier to follow accurately!
photo and recipe credits to Justine Snacks
