Delicious baby carrots are roasted to intensify their natural sweetness and topped with a vegan dairy-free pesto made from their green tops.
I love carrots. Raw, roasted or steamed they are an amazing budget friendly vegetable that almost everyone always has in their fridge.
My favourite way to eat carrots is raw, in salads, but roasted carrots are definitely a close second. Roasting them intensifies their delicious natural sweetness and adds a wonderful, lightly caramelised flavour.
When roasting I like to go for baby carrots which are sweeter, and less woody than their adult counterparts, and you’ll usually find them with their tops still attached, which is where this lovely carrot top pesto comes in.
While myths abound that carrot tops are poisonous they aren’t, and what I love about this pesto is that something that so many of us simply trim off and throw in the rubbish turns into something so delicious that you’ll soon find yourself buying baby carrots simply for their delicious leafy tops! Yay for less food waste!
So tell me, do you eat carrot tops? What are your favourite ways to eat them?
Roasted Carrots with Carrot Top Pesto
Ingredients
- 1 bunch of baby/Dutch carrots with their tops
- 2 tsp olive oil
- salt and pepper
- 2 cups rocket leave arugula
- PESTO
- 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
- 1 1/2 cups carrot tops
- 3/4 cup flat leaf parsley
- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp heaped dijon mustard
- 2 cloves garlic
- zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 1 cup olive oil
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 celsius (350 Fahrenheit). Wash the carrots well and leave the skins on unless they are particularly grotty. Trim the tops and add to a roasting dish and toss with the oil and salt and pepper. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the carrots are tender. The exact timing will depend on the size of your carrots so check after 25 minutes to gauge how they are doing.
- While the carrots are roasting place a frying pan over a low heat and add the sunflower seeds. Toss or stir every couple of minutes until they are lightly golden and smell nutty. Place 1/4 cup of the seeds aside to sprinkle over before serving.
- To make the pesto place all of the ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth. Taste and adjust the seasonings as necessary. If this is your first time making a parmesan free pesto you will need to add a lot more salt than you would normally to counteract the fact the naturally salty parmesan is replaced by the nutritional yeast.
- When the carrots are ready you have a choice. You can serve them hot or leave them to cool. I personally prefer to let the carrots cool to room temperature and eat this as more of a salad, but the choice is yours. When you are ready to serve place the rocket (arugula) on a large serving dish and top with the roasted carrots and dollops of the pesto before adding a final sprinkling of the reserved sunflower seeds.
Nutrition
Jay says
This was fantastic, massive hit with adults and children alike. It’s hard to find nutritional yeast in the UK so I used a teaspoon of marmite and a chunk of soy hard “cheese” (alternative to parmesan) which is widely available in supermarkets instead. Worked really well!
Arianna says
Too good these carrots. And congratulations for the beautiful blog
The Clever Carrot says
Hey Jennifer! What can I say, I’m all about my namesake. LOL. But I will say, though I’ve used the tops for soups, I’ve never tried them to make pesto! And I LOVE the idea of adding Dijon. I even have nutritional yeast on hand so this is going right on my list to make. Thanks for sharing!
Simone says
I love carrots. Roasting them is definitely wonderful but I also adore them in juices, or grated as pancakes and the list goes on! I do prefer baby carrots usually as I find them tastier. This looks amazing!
Nicole @ Delicious Everyday says
Aside from being sweeter I also find baby carrots less woody. 🙂
Grating carrots for pancakes is quite interesting, thanks for the idea, Simone!
Tania | My Kitchen Stories says
Carrots are my absolute favourite and I don’t are f they are raw or cooked but these little baby ones would be what dreams are made of.
Nicole @ Delicious Everyday says
Thanks, Tania!
kankana says
I like to take a similar route when I get some of these stunning baby carrots! Just not pretty, always tasty.
May EatCookExplore says
Love the idea of using carrot tops. Shame, we don’t see carrots sold like this in the shops, only from the markets, sometimes.
Dani @ Dani California Cooks says
What a fun and creative idea! I love the concept of using the whole vegetable! So glad I stumbled upon your blog today 🙂
Nicole @ Delicious Everyday says
Thanks Dani 🙂
Jenn @ A Toast to the Good Life says
what a great idea! love this recipe. certainly a must-try. beautiful photos as well! the dish looks delicious.
Nicole @ Delicious Everyday says
Thank you so much Jenn. 😀
Shannon says
I love chopped up carrot tops added into a green salad with celery tops!
Nicole @ Delicious Everyday says
Yes, I use carrot tops and celery tops too 🙂 It’s always wonderful whenever you can use the whole vegetable.
Laura (Tutti Dolci) says
What a delicious side dish and I love the idea of carrot top pesto! Perfect way to use the entire vegetable.
Sonya says
I love recipes which show how to use the whole vegetable! It annoys me to see discarded carrot tops, broccoli stems, beetroot leaves and the like. Love the idea of a pesto 🙂
Nicole @ Delicious Everyday says
Me too Sonya! Pesto is a great way to use up veggie scraps as is stock. 🙂
Sarah | Well and Full says
I love repurposing ingredients that would otherwise be thrown away! Carrot tops are one of my favorite greens…. to me, they taste like parsley infused with carroty flavor! 😀
Nicole @ Delicious Everyday says
Mine too! I’m so glad I’m not alone 🙂
Rosa says
They look delicious! This is such a great idea. Roasted vegetables have so much flavour.
Cheers,
Rosa
[email protected] says
What a delicious and healthy salad! Presentation looks amazing too.:)
Nicole @ Delicious Everyday says
Thanks Kat! I love a good salad 🙂