One of my favourite vegetables to grow in my garden is carrots. White ones, yellow ones, purples ones and plenty of orange varieties. 2026 is my fourth year of growing them and I’m still rubbish at knowing when they are ready. Homegrown carrots are so much better than ones you buy, I can’t even begin to explain the hows and whys. Start growing your own and you’ll never willingly purchase a sad bag of flavourless, cracked, on-the-verge-of-going-bad things from the supermarket in summer and autumn ever again. Trust me.
Did you know you can make pesto from the tops? (that’s the green leafy parts)
Makes: about enough for a 300ml jar
Prep: 10 minutes, if that
Lasts: 2 weeks in the fridge, 3 months in the freezer (longer if you vacuum seal)
Ingredients
- Carrot leaves and stems – a large bunch (maybe 150g or so) washed
- Parmesan – 60g, finely grated (don’t tell the food fascists, but Grana Padano works too, as does generic hard Italian cheese)
- Pine nuts, walnuts or cashews – 50g, toasted if you like
- Extra virgin olive oil – 150–200ml (cold-pressed rapeseed oil works too)
- Lemon juice – to taste
- Coarse kosher salt – a good pinch
- Black pepper – to taste
Equipment
- A food processor or pestle & mortar
- A sterilised jar
- A grater or microplane
- A frying pan if you’re toasting your nuts
A food processor will pull everything together faster and will give your pesto a smoother texture. A pestle and mortar gives you more control over the texture and won’t heat the leaves, arguably giving a better colour and a fresher flavour.
Method
- Get your nuts toasted over medium heat for 2–3 minutes until just golden. Shake the pan often- they will catch fast. Set them aside to cool completely when they’re done.
- Wash the carrot tops well and dry them thoroughly. Wet leaves will water the pesto down.
- Add the carrot leaves and stems, cooled nuts, grated parmesan, lemon juice and a good pinch of salt to your processor. Pulse until roughly broken down.
- With the motor running (or your arm giving it some welly), drizzle in the olive oil gradually until you hit the consistency you want. That could be loose and glossy if you’re after something sauce-like, or thicker if you’re going to spread it.
- Taste it and add salt, pepper and lemon if required. Blitz (or stir) once more and you’re done.
- Transfer your delicious carrot top pesto to a sterilised jar. Pour a thin layer of oil over the top to seal it, then securely fasten the lid and get it into the fridge.
Enjoy your carrot top pesto as you would a standard basil pesto or a wild garlic pesto.
You could use the tops of carrots you buy, if you can find them with the stem and leaves still intact. Can’t imagine they’re any more flavourful than the disappointments they’re attached to, mind. Befriend someone with an allotment plot if you can’t grow your own.
