Crunchy Carrot Top Pesto

Name: Crunchy Carrot Top Pesto
Total time: 15 min
Yield: 8 serving(s)
Ingredients: 1 pound rotini pasta; ¼ cup sunflower seeds; ¼ cup pumpkin seeds; 1 cup chopped carrot greens; 1 cup fresh basil; 2 cloves garlic; ¼ cup olive oil; 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided

Dani McReynolds

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Don't throw away those carrot tops! The leaves are filled with nutrients, and contain six times as much vitamin C as the carrots themselves. Their taste is slightly bitter, so here we've combined the leafy greens with the classic combination of crunchy sunflower and pumpkin seeds, basil, garlic, olive oil and grated Parmesan cheese. Toss the savory sauce with rotini pasta, which is perfect for coating with pesto thanks to its many grooves and ridges. With the help of your food processor or blender, you've got a delicious vegetarian, no-waste dinner on the table in 15 minutes.

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Directions

Mealthy Tip

It's not only carrot tops that deserve the pesto treatment. Try other leafy greens such as arugula, kale, beet greens or even dandelion leaves. Experiment with different nuts in place of the pumpkin and sunflower seeds, like walnuts, almonds or cashews.

Nutrition Facts

Per Serving: 249 calories; 13g fat; 24.2g carbohydrates; 9g protein; 11mg cholesterol; 482mg sodium.

Full nutrition

Amount Per Serving
Calories 249		Calories from Fat 120
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 13g		21%
	Saturated Fat 3g	16%
	Trans Fat 0.1g
	Polyunsaturated Fat 2.6g
	Monounsaturated Fat 6.4g
Cholesterol 11mg		4%
Sodium 482mg		20%
Total Carbohydrate 24.2g		8%
	Dietary Fiber 3g	13%
	Sugars 1.2g
Protein 9g

Vitamin A 108%		Vitamin C 10%
Calcium 12%		Iron 8%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs:

		Calories:	2,000	2,500
Total Fat		Less than	65g	80g
	Saturated Fat	Less than	20g	25g
Cholesterol		Less than	300mg	300 mg
Sodium		Less than	2,400mg	2,400mg
Total Carbohydrate			300g	375g
	Dietary Fiber		25g	30g

Calories per gram:

Fat 9 • Carbohydrate 4 • Protein 4

Tagged:

Ready In 30 Italian Fusion Quick And Easy Blender No Meat Lunch Pumpkin Seeds Sunflower Seeds Parmesan Cheese Immersion Blender

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5.0out of 5 Stars

(5 Reviews)

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What others are saying

Jessica Scott says:

I saved my carrot tops just so I could make this recipe. This made a delicious pesto, very flavorful. I tossed them in noodles with olive oil. So good!

Laura Griffin says:

It's not often that I have carrot tops, but the few times I did, I saved them to make this recipe. It was really delicious! I tossed it in linguine noodles, so light and easy!

Jordan Clark says:

Rarely do I buy carrots with the tops but I went to the farmers market this past weekend and picked up carrots with the leafy greens still attached. Perfect opportunity to make this delicious pesto! Ordinarily, I would have just tossed it in the trash. This was really tasty, it had a great flavor and went perfect with this ginger pasta I made.

Sheila Long says:

Made kale pesto instead of carrot top because I couldn't find any. Definitely a bummer, but the kale pesto turned out really delicious.

Jenny J says:

In addition to the carrot top pesto, we topped the noodles with an Italian herb pan seared chicken and added roasted cherry tomatoes. It was really delicious, well-rounded weeknight meal.