Wondering what to do with carrot tops? Make pesto! If you’ve made it before and thought “Hmm, that’s resourceful, but I wouldn’t make it again,” we urge you to give this version a try! Thanks to a little help from fresh basil, it’s just mildly earthy and worthy of saving in your recipe box!
It adds an herby brightness to pasta, quinoa, roasted carrots, potatoes, chicken, and much more. Bonus? It’s dairy-free and comes together in just 5 minutes in a food processor or blender. Let’s make pesto!
Adapted from our Easy Vegan Pesto, this carrot top version brings just enough basil on board to balance the earthiness of the carrot tops. Pine nuts add richness, lemon juice brightness, garlic a little kick, and sea salt rounds it all out.
It all swirls around in a food processor or blender with olive oil for sauciness and water to keep it from being heavy while encouraging blending. The result is creamy, dippable pesto that adds instant flavor to your meals!
We can’t wait for you to try this carrot top pesto! It’s:
Vibrant
Herby
Zesty
Lemony
& SO delicious!
Next time you have carrot tops around, make carrot top pesto and you’ll be doing your part to change the world with your waste-free ways 🙌! Bonus? It tastes good and pairs well with everything from pasta to quinoa, roasted carrots, potatoes, chicken, and more!
More Herby Dips & Sauces
- Easy Green Goddess Dressing (Plant-Based!)
- Super-Green Vegan Kale Pesto
- Herby Green Tahini Sauce (5 Minutes!)
- Magic Green Sauce (10 Minutes!)
If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag a photo @minimalistbaker on Instagram. Cheers, friends!
The BEST Carrot Top Pesto
Ingredients
- 1 cup loosely packed carrot tops, tough stems removed (~1 small or 1/2 medium bunch yields ~1 cup or 20 g)
- 1 ½ cups tightly packed fresh basil leaves, large stems removed
- 1/3 cup pine nuts (or sub walnuts, pistachios, or cashews)
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
- 2 medium cloves garlic, peeled
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil (plus more as needed)
- 1-2 Tbsp water (plus more as needed)
FOR SERVING optional
Instructions
- Remove the carrot greens from a bunch of carrots, rinse them, and choose the freshest looking greens. Discard the rest (or save for bunnies — they love them!).
- Add all your pesto ingredients except the water to a food processor (or small blender) and process until it's broken down into a chunky mixture. Add water 1 tablespoon (15 ml) at a time until creamy and dippable, keeping in mind water will dilute the flavor, so avoid adding too much (we used 2 tablespoons total).
- Taste and adjust as needed, adding more olive oil for richness, lemon juice for brightness, basil if too thin, or water to reach desired consistency.
Video
Notes
*Loosely adapted from our Easy Vegan Pesto.
April Leigh Shular says
I am in the process of making this pesto. I await the delivery of the nuts but I have tasted it thus far and it is so good! I am going to add it on top of my fresh picked tomatoe (from this morning’s harvest). I looks beautiful and tastes exquisite already. I can hardly wait to see what extra dimension of flavour is added after the nuts added.
We’re so glad you enjoy it, April! Adding it to freshly picked tomatoes sounds amaaazing :) Thank you for sharing! xo
Emily says
This pesto was even more delicious than a regular pesto and love that it’s even healthier! My kids all loved it as well. Thank you for this recipe!
Amazing! We’re so glad it was enjoyed by all! xoxo
Gee says
Stunning recipe – first time making pesto and it worked a treat! Thanks for posting this 😊
Yay! We’re so glad your first time making pesto was a success :) Thank you for sharing, Gee! xo
Corelia says
This is DELICIOUS!!!!! I have a ridiculous amount of carrot tops from thinning out the carrots in the garden along with basil I had to prune, so I doubled this recipe and it came out AMAZING!! So good! :) The only tweaks I made were that I used cashews instead of pine nuts (roasted lightly for a few minutes in a small pot), went a little scant on the salt, & ended up adding a little more water. It amazes me how many parts of vegetables that are actually edible get thrown away, so I love how this recipe uses carrot tops, something most people just discard! I’m sure I will be coming back to this recipe again & again- thanks MB! :)
You’re welcome, Corelia! We’re so glad you enjoy the pesto. Thank you for sharing your experience and modifications! xo
Edith says
Pro tip: take an ice cube tray that has a cover, spoon unused pesto into the cubes, slide the cover on and freeze. I use 1 cube per person – the cubes should pop right out. They usually thaw enough in the serving bowl while the pasta is cooking, that all I need to do is spoon some pasta water in and mix to desired consistency.
Thank you for sharing, Edith!
Quimperle Kitty says
I make all sorts of pesto to have in the winter as I can only grow basil in the summer months. I freeze my soft herb in ice-cube trays then decant into bags – chopped in olive oil (coriander/basil) they go a little darker when frozen, but the fresh taste in winter is a real bonus for me. My question is (I expect you’ve already guessed it!) can I freeze it without changing the taste please?
Hi, it will lose some of its bright green color, but the flavor shouldn’t change much!
Kacy says
I had a lot of carrot tops but was a bit shy on basil, so I went out in the garden (in the rain and the dark) and collected some re-growth of parsley from last year. I ended up with a full food-processor container of greens. Pesto came out great! I did toast the cashews on the stove for a few minutes. I also over estimated how much olive oil to use, but a little extra olive oil on pasta is a bonus. Thanks!
Amazing! Thank you for sharing, Kacy! xo
Ellie says
This pesto is so good! I just harvested a ton of carrots and happy I can use the tops! I added in a bit of fresh cilantro because I had that, too, and used cashews in place of pine nuts. Also added a Tbs or so of nutritional yeast. I went a bit heavy on the lemon so it’s a bit more zippy than I like, but that is my fault! Thanks for the great vegan recipe!
We’re so glad you enjoyed it, Ellie! Thank you for sharing! xo
Jennifer J Whitaker says
Absolutely delicious. We had a decent harvest of carrots and I want to use as much as possible. This recipe is a keeper!!
Yay! We’re so glad you enjoyed the recipe, Jennifer. Thank you for sharing! xo
Danni says
I used the walnut substitution but just couldn’t get it to taste right. Don’t recommend it.
We’re so sorry you didn’t enjoy it, Danni. Is it possible the walnuts were old/rancid? Did they taste fine on their own?
Brenna says
I added a little extra lemon as instructed. Lovelt!
Angel Kisses!
Yay! Thank you for the lovely review, Brenna! xo
Tara McCabe says
is there a subsitute recommendation for the nuts? We have a nut allergy in the house.
Yes, you can use sunflower seeds!
Brittney says
My toddlers and I make the quick pesto weekly but this week we picked up carrots from our farmers market and decided to try this one out. It’s my favorite pesto so far! For anyone who hasn’t tried fresh carrot tops, they’re so yummy and this recipe is perfect for them. Thank you!
We’re so glad you enjoyed this one even more, Brittney! Thank you for sharing! xo
Maria says
I made this today and love it’s!!! Used half walnuts half hazelnuts WoW! Hazelnuts really made a difference only thing I put lil extra salt by mistake 🤷🏻♀️ See how I’ll tone it down!?
Definitely a keeper👍🏼
Yay! We’re so glad you enjoy it. Maria. You could add more basil/lemon to try to tone done the salt!
Jen says
Had a ton of carrot tops and started w this. It’s excellent! I used far less basil as I didn’t want to strip my plant, haha, and it tempered the greens so nicely and wasn’t basil forward. I added some lemon zest and nutritional yeast (think it’d be fantastic as written without, too) and used pistachios. Thanks for another keeper!!
We’re so glad you enjoyed it, Jen! Thank you for sharing! xo
Pam McNab says
Made with walnuts instead of pine nuts. I was a little shy on the lemon juice so I added a bit of the pulp that came out on my juicer and it was delicious. This is easy and a great way to make use of those carrot tops. Absolutely delicious. Will be making it any time I have carrot tops to use!
Love your creativity, Pam! Thank you so much for sharing! xo
Sheila says
Delicious and easy! I used cashews instead of pine nuts. I used the stems too and just ground it more.
Amazing! So glad you enjoyed it, Sheila. Thank you for the lovely review! xo
Karen S says
Is there anything I can substitute for the basil? Both basil and mint give me reflux, but I love the idea of using my carrot tops.
Hi Karen, you could sub more carrot tops, but it will have a more earthy flavor.
Olivia says
Try parsley!
karen w says
Hi
I was wondering what you can use instead of garlic as I have an allergy to it or can I leave it out.
You can leave it out! To compensate you may need to add a bit more salt or lemon juice. If you can have shallots, a little bit of shallot might be nice in place of the garlic. Hope you enjoy, Karen! xo