Carrot Top Pesto

Don’t throw away those fresh carrot tops, make Carrot Top Pesto (with Garlic Scapes)!  It’s delicious added to pasta, salads, soups and spread on sandwiches!

Have you ever wondered what to do with fresh carrot greens?  Make pesto!  Yes, that’s right, Carrot Top Pesto is a thing, and it’s delicious.

A great way to use fresh carrot greens!

Whenever I buy fresh carrots from the Farmers’ Market I always feel bad cutting off the tops and tossing them into the compost bin.  I hate food waste, so doing this is really hard to wrap my head around.  So I decided to find a way to use even a small amount of these greens, and made Carrot Top Pesto.  And I don’t regret it one bit.

Carrot Tops and Garlic Scapes are the stars of this pesto!

This recipe is basically the same as my Basil Pesto Recipe (minus the nuts), but instead of basil I used carrot tops and a garlic scape.  On a side note, have you ever had garlic scapes?  They’re delicious…and the mild garlic flavour is perfect in this Carrot Top Pesto! Don’t worry if you don’t have garlic scapes, you can use regular garlic cloves instead.

How to Use Carrot Top Pesto:

• Toss pesto with cooked pasta.
• Stir some pesto in with steamed vegetables like green beans or potatoes.
• Use as a spread on sandwiches.
• Add as a topping to soups and stews.
• Use it to make pasta salads.
• Add it to a Caprese Salad.

Carrot Top + Garlic Scape Pesto Recipe Tips:

• If the pesto tastes a bit bitter (sometimes the carrot tops can be bitter), just add 1/4 tsp or more, of sugar.
• You can keep this in the fridge for up to a week.
• If the pesto is too dry, just add more oil.

Carrot Top Pesto

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Don’t throw away those fresh carrot tops, make Carrot Top Pesto!  It’s delicious added to pasta, salads, soups and spread on sandwiches!

• Author: Jo-Anna Rooney
• Total Time: 5 minutes
• Yield: 1 cup 1x

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 2 cups fresh carrot tops
• 1/2 to 1 fresh garlic scape (if you don’t have a garlic scape, feel free to use 1 – 2 cloves garlic instead)
• 1/2 – 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• salt and pepper to taste

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Instructions

1. Using a food processor, blend together the carrot tops, garlic scape (or cloves) and Parmesan cheese, until it is a rough paste.
2. Then while the processor is running, slowly pour in the olive oil (through the tube), until combined. The pesto should be a semi-thick paste.
3. If the pesto is too dry, just add more olive oil.
4. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

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