When I was little my mother hated us to dye the eggs we would later be eating with the food dyes from the store. She claimed the food dyes would seep through the egg shell and we would be eating unnecessary chemicals. Therefore, dyeing Easter eggs wasn’t a huge pastime of my family’s. That is until now. I recently discovered a niche in Easter egg dyeing: using natural foods to dye eggs! Now you too can dye your eggs with the same food you eat in order to stay away from unnecessary food dyes and keep your family happy AND healthy this Easter!

* Remember to hard boil eggs first and keep them in the fridge until ready. It is not recommended to hard boil the eggs (in order to cook them through) in the same pot as the natural-dyes; therefore, hard boil the eggs the night before and have them ready to go in the fridge!

This is a great project to do with the children as it can easily turn into a science experiment. Trying to figure out how to make different colors and the quantity of each food to dye with can be a science experiment for the whole family, and fun for family members of all ages! Just be careful with the boiling water around children.
Natural Food Dyes:
Pink: Mix 1 cup strained juice from canned beets, ½ teaspoon vinegar, and 3 cups water. Soak cooled eggs in the dye for ½ hour. You can throw all the beets into the mix for added color, let mixture sit for a while, and then strain them out before you dip the eggs.
Purple: Mix 1 cup purple grape juice, ½ teaspoon vinegar, and 3 cups water. Soak cooled eggs in the dye for ½ hour.
Orange: Boil 1 cup yellow onion skin, 1 teaspoon vinegar, and 3 cups water. Boil for ½ hour and let cool in pot; strain out the onion skins. Add the previously made hard boiled eggs and soak them in the dye for ½ hour.
Light Blue/Teal: Boil 1 cup red cabbage leaves, torn and loosely packed, 1 teaspoon vinegar, and 3 cups water. Boil for half an hour and let cool to room temperature; strain out the cabbage leaves, then add the hard boiled eggs and soak them in the dye for ½ hour.
Yellow: Boil 1 teaspoon turmeric, 1 teaspoon vinegar, and 3 cups water.
Boil for half an hour and let cool to room temperature; strain out stray turmeric grains, then add hard boiled eggs and soak them in the dye for ½ hour.
Some other ideas:
CD = cold dye; just soak the previously made hard boiled eggs in the dye.
BD = boiled dye; boil the food just like the recipes for orange, light blue, and yellow and then when dye is cooled, soak the hard-boiled eggs.
Blue: Canned Blueberries (CD), Red Cabbage Leaves (BD), Purple Grape Juice (CD)
Brown: Strong Coffee (CD), Instant Coffee (CD), Black Walnut Shells (BD), Black Tea (CD)
Yellow Green: Yellow Delicious Apple Peels (BD)
Red: Lots of Red Onions Skins (BD), Pomegranate juice (CD), Canned Cherries, with syrup (CD), Raspberries (BD)
Yellow: Orange or Lemon Peels (BD), Carrot Tops (BD), Chamomile Tea (CD), Celery Seed (BD), Green tea (CD), Ground Cumin (BD)

To make the eggs have a design or pattern, before dyeing the eggs, draw on them with crayons or a piece of wax. The wax won’t absorb the color so the designs will show through. Using a crayon, simply draw a design onto your eggs and then dye as you would any other Easter egg.

Happy Dyeing!
Olivia March Dreizen, © butyoudontlooksick.com