23
Mar

Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs

A tray of naturally dyed Easter eggs in hues of blue, yellow, orange and red.

Easter is upon us, and that means we get to crack out our favorite traditions like sunrise services, easter egg hunts, easter baskets, and egg dyeing! I'm excited to share this Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs recipe with you.

I can think back to growing up and dyeing eggs in my kitchen with my siblings and parents all suited up in an apron and sometimes even rubber gloves so my  hands didn’t turn crazy colors. Back then, we used standard food dyes that you would find at a grocery store. Specifically the ones you probably don’t want in your kitchen anymore after studies have shown consuming these dyes can cause hyperactivity amongst other reactions.

That said, I wanted to bring you some fun dyes colored with natural ingredients that you can find in the produce or spice section at your local grocery store. While you may not always get the same results each time you dye eggs, I’ve come to love the natural more muted colors that are created when dyeing naturally! And my kids absolutely love seeing how ordinary vegetables and fruits can make pigmented dyes.

Click to See my Instant Pot Hard Boiled Egg Recipe!

Below you’ll find a little guide for Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs which will outline what produce/spice will equal what color. It’s a pretty simple process of simmering the ingredients with water and then soaking the eggs in the dyeing liquid. Again, it’s great to keep in mind that you may get slightly different variations of the “color wheel” below. For instance, if you use purple cabbage, it may turn out super green more blue (which is really fun for the kids to see, considering the dye is a bright purple color!). It really varies based on each individual produce item, and how concentrated the dye is.

Beets: Red

Yellow Onion Peels: Orange 

Purple Cabbage: Green/Blue

Turmeric: Yellow

Red Onion Peels: Reddish Brown

Frozen Blueberries: Grey/violet

Another thing to keep in mind is that the colors will change based on what kind of egg you use anyhow many times you dip and dry it. If you use brown eggs the colors will have more of a well.. brownish hue. If you use white eggs, the colors will show up more pure since it’s working with a white background. If you make the purple cabbage dye and are hoping for a green hue, use a brown egg, but if you’re looking for more of a true blue, use a white egg. We found that we liked the colors better using white eggs.

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Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs



AUTHOR:

SERVES: 24

Cuisine: American

Category: Breakfast & Brunch

PREP TIME: 20 mins

COOK TIME: 30 mins TOTAL TIME: 50 mins

Ingredients:

Hard Boiled Eggs (See my Instant Pot Method here)

Beets: Red

  • 2 beets, peeled & grated, about 5 cups of grated beets
  • 5 cups water
  • 5 T distilled white vinegar

Yellow Onion Peels: Orange 

  • 3 yellow onions, peeled, about 1 1/2 cups onion skins
  • 3 cups water
  • 3 T distilled white vinegar

Purple Cabbage: Green/Blue

  • 1 small head purple cabbage, grated, about 5 cups grated cabbage
  • 5 cups water
  • 5 T distilled white vinegar

Turmeric: Yellow

  • 1 tablespoon ground turmeric
  • 2 cups water
  • 2 T distilled white vinegar

Red Onion Peels: Reddish Brown

  • 3 red onions, peeled, about 1 1/2 cups onions skins
  • 2 cups water
  • 2 T distilled white vinegar

Frozen Blueberries: Grey/violet

  • 1 cup frozen blueberries
  • 2 cups water
  • 2 T distilled white vinegar

Instructions:

  1. Place the prepared produce/spice in a sauce pan with the water and bring to a boil then simmer covered for approximately 30 minutes. Increase the simmer time if you want even deeper hues.
  2. Strain the liquid through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl (label your bowl with which produce you used so you know what color to expect).
  3. Add the vinegar to the solution and let cool to room temperature before coloring eggs.
  4. To dye the eggs, place the hardboiled eggs in the dye solution in the fridge for 1 hour, or overnight for rich hues.
Tips-
  • For the produce that requires grating, I suggest grating them in a food processor for easier clean-up.
  • For the onion skin dyes, make sure you peel the dry flakey skins off and use that rather than the fleshy part of the onion.
  • We found that the colors intensified if we let them sit for an hour, took them out and let them dry, and then let them soak again. Some of the more richly colored eggs in the photos were dipped, dried, and dipped again up to 3 times through. Play around and experiment! 


Keywords: breakfast, dairy free, gluten free, keto friendly, nut free, paleo, scd, snacks, vegan, vegetarian, whole30, Easter, spring


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