March 12, 2026

What To Make With Carrot Tops

If you’ve ever bought a bunch of carrots and immediately chopped off the leafy tops, this is your sign to pause. Here are three easy ways to turn carrot tops from something that’s compost-bound to something genuinely delicious.

jump to reviews

If you’ve ever bought a bunch of carrots and immediately chopped off the leafy tops, this is your sign to pause. Carrot tops are wildly underrated: herbaceous, a little bitter (in a good way), and perfect for adding depth to sauces, soups, spreads, and anything that needs a hit of green. They’re not exactly parsley and not exactly carrot, they live in their own slightly scrappy, very useful category. And if you’re already washing and prepping the carrots, you might as well give the tops something to do, too. Here are three easy ways to turn carrot tops from something that’s compost-bound to something genuinely delicious.

Carrot Top Pesto
Vegan Carrot Top Soup
Carrot Top Hot Sauce

Carrot Top Pesto

Carrot top pesto is something that I absolutely love making in a big batch and then using throughout the week. It acts, tastes and looks just like traditional Italian pesto, but it has an extra kick of micronutrients and color because of the carrot tops that we add to the mix. Plus, you can put it on sandwiches, thin it out with vinegar to make a dressing, stir it into soups, or make quick tuna salads or pasta salads. Everyone loves a good, flexible pesto.

Carrot Top Pesto

Carrot top pesto is a great way to use up the big, leafy greens that come with carrots every summer, but it can also be done with any leafy greens you have around! This ratio makes the perfect pesto, and it's a great way to inject vegetables into one of my favorite Italian condiments. This recipe makes about 2 1/2 cups of pesto, which is perfect for batching and using for the rest of the week in your pastas, toasts, and sandwiches.

Check out this recipe

Vegan Carrot Top Soup

This vegan carrot soup is great for using both the carrots – and the tops. It’s thick, creamy, lightly spicy and filled with cozy fall flavors. Plus the tops make a crispy, crunchy, no-waste garnish that is actually delicious to eat (I credit some salt and olive oil for that!). This soup builds flavors through roasting in the oven, utilizing caramelization from the carrots, onion and olive oil as well as flavors from the aromatic ingredients in the recipe.

Vegan Carrot Top Soup

This soup uses allllll of the carrot, including the tops to make a crispy, delicious topping for this creamy delicious fall staple soup.

Check out this recipe

Carrot Top Hot Sauce

Carrot top hot sauce is one of my favorite ways to use up the leafy greens that usually get tossed. If you’ve ever bought a bunch of carrots and wondered what to do with the tops, this is a great place to start. It acts, tastes, and pours just like your favorite bright, tangy hot sauce, but it has an extra boost of color and micronutrients thanks to the carrot tops blended right in. If you don’t know what recipe to start with – I vote you start with this. It’s the lowest commitment of ingredients, and the highest reward.

Carrot Top Hot Sauce

I feel like I am always at a loss on how to use my carrot tops – and there are only so many carrot top pestos that I can make in a given month. This is the perfect answer to my problem. It's a versatile hot sauce that is vibrantly green, fast to make and just gets better as you let it sit in the fridge.

Check out this recipe

And that’s it for the 3 ways to use carrot tops! As someone who loves low-waste recipes and ideas, I hope this gave you some inspiration.

If you make any of them, please let me know on Pinterest or Instagram, I’d love to hear what you think.