Carrot Pesto

A small glass jar of orange pesto with loose baby carrots in the background.

Easy to make roasted carrot pesto is a delicious dip or spread. It's also fantastic stirred through pasta. With the natural sweetness of carrots it's the perfect blend of sweet, salty and savoury.

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Course: Dips Dressings Sauces

Cuisine: New Zealand

Keyword: carrot pesto, roasted carrot pesto, roasted carrot dip

Diet: Egg Free, Gluten free, vegetarian

Servings: servings

Calories: 161kcal

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Ingredients

200 grams carrots
4 cloves garlic
½ cup cashews 70 grams
½ cup olive oil
50 grams parmesan
salt and pepper

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius (360 F).
Top, tail and peel the carrots roughly chop and place on a roasting tray
Roast the carrots in the preheated oven for 10 minutes
Add the garlic cloves (in skin) to the tray and roast for a further 5 minutes
Add the cashew nuts and roast for a further 5 minutes
Remove from the oven and let the garlic, cashews and carrots cool.
Pop the roasted garlic out of their skins. Place all the ingredients in a food processor
Pulse until the pesto is finely chopped. (You don't want it to be a puree, it's nicer with a little texture).
Season with salt and pepper
Optional (A squeeze of lemon can really enhance the flavour of the carrot pesto).

Notes

Roast the carrots until they are a little blackened in places. This adds a lovely umami flavor to the pesto
I only toast the cashews for a few minutes as I like them toasted but still blond in this recipe.
Store your carrot pesto in an airtight container in the fridge for up to two weeks.
Carrots: Many carrot pesto recipes are made with carrot greens so they are in fact carrot top pesto. Not this recipe though. This is a sweet orange pesto made with roasted carrots.
Garlic: I like to roast the garlic with the carrots. It gives the garlic a milder taste.
Cashews: I use natural cashews and roast them with the carrots, you could use roasted cashews and skip the roasting step but be careful if you use salted nuts as it may make the dip very salty. The cashews can be substituted for walnuts, sunflower seeds, almonds or pine nuts if you prefer.
Olive oil: I like to use extra virgin olive oil in this recipe, but you can choose a milder oil if you prefer.
Lemon juice: Orange juice is also a lovely alternative.

Nutrition