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Crispy Carrot Tops

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Thinning or harvesting your carrots and getting loads of green tops left over? Well, don’t chuck them away; they are actually delicious when cooked properly.

Find out how I cook my crispy carrot tops!

Thinning Carrots
Thinning Carrots

I have been out in the allotment thinning my carrots, and to many people, these above would be a waste product to be chucked on the compost heap.

But I look forward to this harvest because the carrot tops are actually a delicacy in our house.

When cooked as below, they are, for me at least, a better version of the crispy seaweed you get from a Chinese takeaway.

The Recipe

Slic the carrots off from the greens. You can leave the stem or remove it all, it does go a little stringy, but I tend to leave it on as I don’t like waste!

The Carrots
The Carrots
Slice The Carrots Off
Slice The Carrots Off

Now I get a few cloves of garlic and chop them up nice and small.

Dice Some Garlic
Dice Some Garlic

Then add this garlic to a large frying pan with lots of olive oil.

Cook the garlic until it just starts to yellow up. At that point, add all of your carrot tops to the frying pan.

Add The Carrots And Fry
Add The Carrots And Fry

Fry them for 7-10 minutes with lots of olive oil. Keep stirring and moving the tops around.

You can fry them for one or two minutes and have them as a sauteed green – almost like spinach.

I keep frying them until they go really crispy – just like crispy seaweed from the takeaway.

Fry Until Crispy
Fry Until Crispy

And here they are, the crispy carrot tops.

Add some salt and serve.

They are simply delicious, and if you like to order some crispy seaweed when you get your Chinese,, you will love them.

They are good enough for me that I often contemplate growing carrots purely for the greens as a catch crop.

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