You can reduce some waste in your kitchen with this vegan pesto from carrot greens. With just a few ingredients and about 10 to 15 minutes of your time, you can mix up a delicious batch of pesto.
Lately I’ve been trying to be more mindful of minimizing my food waste and unnecessary waste. That means I’m experimenting with “zero waste recipes” and methods to reduce waste. I’m now trying to pay more attention to foods that I used to see as inedible waste. As it turns out, this isn’t always a case for the feed bin. Carrot leaves or carrot greens are definitely great for making a delicious healthy carrot leaf pesto. Unfortunately we can only use the tender leaves as the stalks are quite bitter, but every bit helps. Plus, this carrot pesto is naturally gluten-free, grain-free, refined, sugar-free, soy-free, and can also be vegan when using yeast flakes as a vegan Parmesan alternative.
I love pesto and include it in many of my recipes. Experimenting with new varieties is also fun. Not only is homemade pesto super delicious, but it’s also great for having 100% control over how much oil, cheese, or no cheese goes into the recipe.
Pesto is definitely not one of the super healthy recipes and we’re not going to pretend it is. But pesto is delicious and nutritious, so let’s ignore the fact that it’s also quite high in calories. After all, nutrition = calories and we need them to survive. 😁
How do you make vegan pesto from carrot greens?
The absolute best thing about this carrot leaf pesto is that it’s no more complicated than any other pesto recipe. Basically, the ingredients are pretty much identical to my other favorite pesto recipes: cashew, nutritional yeast (or Parmesan for the NoVegan version), olive oil, and spices. In addition, of course, there is the carrot greens.
This recipe can be adjusted to your liking by adding a handful of basil or other herbs. You can also experiment with nut choices. For example, swapping out the cashews for pistachios or walnuts will give you fantastic results.
Add all the ingredients to your food processor and blend until you get the consistency you want. The general rule is the longer you blend, the smoother the pesto will be. Don’t be too careful, however, because then the pesto will warm up and lose its flavor. That’s why traditional pesto is also prepared in a mortar.
If you find the carrot green pesto a little too thick for your taste, you can add a little more oil or water.
If you like our vegan carrot greens pesto, you might also be interested in these dishes:
- Broccoli Chickpea Pesto Bowl
- Make your own coriander pesto
- vegan parsley pesto
- Eggplant basil filled ravioli with walnut pesto
- vegan cauliflower korma with tofu
- Hasselback beets with coriander pesto
What can you use carrot green pesto for?
You can keep this pesto in the fridge for 3 to 5 days and use it in various recipes. You can toss pasta or gnocchi in it. Serve with your favorite oven-baked vegetables and spread on a sandwich. Basically, you can use it like any other pesto.
If you’re making a lot of pesto or want to bulk up, you can also freeze individual servings of this Carrot Green Pesto in ice cube trays. This will keep in the freezer for up to six months and when you need some, just take out a cube or two and let thaw at room temperature.
Looking for inspiration for using your carrot leaf pesto? How about these oriental baked carrots on lentil salad, Casarecce al Pesto or on vegan zoodles ?
vegan pesto from carrot greens
Equipment
Ingredients
- 40 grams carrot green
- 1 clove of garlic
- 125 ml native olive oil*
- 1 tbsp. nutritional yeast* or 70g parmesan
- 30 grams Cashews*
- ½ tsp Sea-salt*
- Pepper* from the mill
Instructions
- Roast the cashew in a pan without adding fat. Set aside to cool.
- Wash the carrot greens, shake dry and pluck the fine leaves. Discard coarse stalks.
- Peel and coarsely chop the garlic.
- Now put all the ingredients in the blender or blender and puree coarsely .
Nutrition
Pin this vegan Carrot Green Pesto recipe on Pinterest to cook later
