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Multi colored Easter eggs in a pink egg carton

Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs – Make your Own Food Dyes with Real Foods!

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Naturally dyed Easter Eggs using completely safe food-based products. These DIY food colorings are safe for kids and fun for the whole family.

Ever since I saw a food network show dye frosting with blueberries, I’ve been dying to try it. I’m pretty sure food dye is most commonly found in frosting, and I just don’t make that much frosting. I’m gonna go ahead and call that a good thing, but I needed to find a different place to use these real food colorings. 

Multi colored eggs for Easter in a pink egg carton
These natural food coloring made from food also makes it easier to maintain a detoxed life-style, cutting out most of the unnecessary preservatives and fillers in food and skin products. 

It felt like a long time coming, and these Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs arrive just in time for the upcoming Easter holiday! 

Brown or White Eggs?

Either brown or white eggs will work for this recipe. White eggs will be brighter after coloring and brown eggs will maintain an earthy brown hue.

Growing up we always had white shelled eggs and artificial dyes, so the eggs were very bright. Now, my go-to eggs tend to be brown as I always choose pasture-raised eggs. I didn’t even think about how the brown tinted shells would impact the dye until I’d already purchased two dozen.

A brown egg in purple dye in a white bowl

But I’m glad I went with the usual brown because they give the finished product an earthy, natural look that I love!

But I’m glad I went with the usual brown because they give the finished product an earthy, natural look that I love!

I imagine these dyes would be even more intense on standard white shelled eggs or in whipped coconut frosting like the one I use on this lemon orange scone cake.

The Natural Dyes made from Real Foods

I went into this mini-experiment with the intentions of finding the best natural dye. Some of the outcomes were expected and obvious, but others were surprising. For example, I already expected turmeric and beets to be great dyes. I also expected spirulina to lend much brighter and richer green than it did. 

Here are some things I didn’t expect:

  • Parsley doesn’t dye anything green. Neither does Cilantro
  • Despite how intensely green Spirulina Powder is, it doesn’t transfer pigment very well. It took a while for the green to soak into the eggs, and it worked better when mixed with oil than when mixed with water.
  • Blueberries and blackberries are the best natural food dyes!
Another somewhat unrelated lessons learned: don’t soft-boil eggs and neglect to tell the consumer. Apparently, when biting into something you expect to be solid, liquidy egg yolk is not pleasant, and borderline terrifying. Sorry, J! Completely natural and easy Blue, Yellow, Red, Pink, and Green Natural Food Dye Recipe for Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs. No artificial colors.

Making the Natural Food Coloring Mixtures:

Blue: Blackberries and Blueberries

  • Mix 1/2 cup each of blueberries and blackberries in 1 cup water in a small soup pot
  • Boil on medium-high for about 15 minutes, then let cool

Yellow: Turmeric OR Yellow Onion Peels

  • Mix 1 tbsp Turmeric Powder or 1 handful of yellow onion peels with 1 cup water in a small soup pot
  • Boil on medium-high for about 15 minutes, then let cool

Red: Beet Puree

  • Boil 2 beets for 30 minutes until cooked
  • Juice the beets and reserve the juice in a bowl

Pink: Beet Water

  • Boil 2 beets in water for 30 minutes or until cooked
  • Reserve the beets for something else, like the red dye above or beet dandelion flatbread
  • Let the beet water cool to use as a dye

Green: Spirulina and Oil

 
Fingers grabbing a yellow dyed Easter egg over a white bowl full of natural turmeric yellow dye
Green food coloring dripping off of a spoon onto an Easter Egg in green dye in a white mug.


How to Dye Easter Eggs with the Natural Food Coloring

  • Make the food dyes following the recipes above and let them cool
  • Hard boil eggs:
    • Place eggs in water and turn heat to medium-high. Once boiling, boil eggs for 12 minutes for soft boiled or 15 minutes for hard-boiled eggs
    • Run cool water over the eggs until the water is lukewarm, then set aside to let cool.
  • Paint coconut oil into shapes or letters on the egg to block the dye and create designed eggs
  • Pour the dyes above into small, deep bowls. Dip eggs in the natural dyes and let sit until dyed, about 30 minutes. I soaked these eggs for about 15 minutes on one side and then flipped them to dye the other side. 

Have fun!

Then don’t forget to make a tasty egg salad kale wrap with radishes and these colorful eggs after the egg hunt!
Naturally dyed Easter eggs made with homemade food coloring made from Real Food.

About Alicia

I love cooking almost as much as I love eating so I try to make sure I feel good about what I'm eating. I believe it's always a good occasion for some bubbly and I also love feeling healthy and being outdoors. I try to buy, cook and eat whole nutritious foods that promote a fun active lifestyle.

15 Comments

  1. […] full post on this naturally dyed eggs is here: Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs. Find out how to use onion peels, cabbage, beets, and berries to dye eggs […]

  2. I have been trying out various natural dyes for playdough! I’m going to try your blue dye and see how it goes…

    1. That’s such a good idea! Playdo is such an easy and fun make at home activity. Good luck with the dye- let me know how it goes or tag me on Instagram with photos!! @eatyourwayclean

  3. OMG the last time I ever dyed my own eggs…… Maybe when I was like 12! I wanna change that – lol!

    1. Haha- that was me too! It was so much fun 🙂

  4. This is so great! Thanks for testing these all out Alicia. I must say that I shouldn’t be too surprised about the berries – I’ve stained far too many things purple with blueberries! 🙂

    1. Haha- me too. Have to be careful when cooking with berries. It was a fun little experiment!

  5. Beautiful! We’re coloring ours naturally in a couple days and I never thought of the coconut oil to write on them!

    1. Yes! Way better than buying a clear crayon since i always have coconut oil on hand.

  6. I love how these are all natural and use food for dyes. Great idea!

    1. Thanks Chrystal! I figure if you are going to be eating something that is dyed, you might as well dye it with something you feel ok eating. 🙂

  7. Yeah thank you for this!! I was actually wondering about doing eggs this year and finding ways to skip all those weird dyes!

    1. Yay!! So glad i could help. 🙂

  8. Natural is the best way! Less vibrant, but real and safe!

    1. Couldn’t agree more 🙂

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