How to Create a Rainbow with Natural Easter Egg Dyes
on Mar 15, 2024
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Curious about natural Easter egg dyes? The natural colors you can get from food waste or common kitchen items is so much fun! See how easy it is to create a rainbow with natural Easter egg dyes!
Table of Contents
How to Create a Rainbow with Natural Easter Egg Dyes
While the natural egg dyes look a little different from commercial powders, dyeing eggs naturally is one experiment to do with your kids this year! By opting for natural ingredients like fruits, vegetables, and spices you get interesting colors and minimize exposure to synthetic chemicals.
Dyeing liquids made from natural ingredients are eco-friendly and let you experiment with lots of colors and textures. Beets, purple cabbage, turmeric, and red onion skins are just some of our family favorites for making natural Easter egg dyes.
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Materials for Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs
A lot of the materials you need for creating lovely Easter eggs are already in your kitchen or can be foraged from your yard.
- wide mouth jars
- slotted spoon or tongs
- strainer
- white vinegar
- beets
- yellow onion skins
- turmeric
- red cabbage
- grape juice
What Kind of Eggs are Best for Natural Dyes
Use blown eggs or hard-boiled eggs – whichever you prefer. If using blown eggs, weigh the eggs down in the dye to keep them from floating.
White eggs or brown eggs work equally well. White eggs will yield a more vibrant color, but the moody colors of brown eggs are also pretty. Experiment with both and see which you like better!
We also used duck eggs which resulted in a pretty speckled color!
How to Dye Eggs Red Naturally
- RED: Beets
In all honesty, I had the most difficulty with red and purple. We tried both fresh beets and canned beets. I thought the fresh beets yielded a much nicer color. The eggs soaked overnight in canned beet juice yield a light brownish color.
Even though the boiled dye was a rich red and stained my fingers and counter, it didn’t do a nice job with the eggs.
How to Dye Eggs Orange Naturally
- Orange: Onion skins
To dye lovely orange eggs, you’ll need the skins from at least six yellow onions. Bring them to boil with 4 cups water and 1 tablespoon white vinegar. Boil for 30 minutes, then let cool to room temperature.
For a rich orange color, soak a white egg overnight. For a peachy color, soak for up to two hours.
Another natural dye to try for orange is paprika. I have not tried this personally so your results may vary.
How to Dye Eggs Yellow Naturally
- Yellow: Turmeric
I thought yellow eggs were another of the easiest to dye. We mixed 6 tablespoons dried turmeric powder in 4 cups of water + 1 tablespoon white vinegar. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the turmeric. I found it didn’t dissolve all that well, honestly, but I liked the designs the thick resulting thick liquid left on our eggs.
Soak eggs for up to 2 hours for a paler yellow or overnight for a more vibrant yellow.
How to Dye Eggs Green Naturally
Green can be tricky to achieve with natural dyes, but there are two possible ways to go about it. The first way is to dye a white egg blue, then dye it yellow to get fun shades of green. Alternate times in each dye bath to achieve different hues.
The second way to get a greenish color naturally is to dye a brown egg blue. Again, you will have to experiment with the timing to see what you end up with!
How to Dye Eggs Blue Naturally
Aside from yellow, I think blue eggs are the easiest to get using natural egg dyes. Simply cut up a red cabbage and boil it in four cups of water with one tablespoon white vinegar. Let the dye cool to room temperature and then pour it in a wide mouth jar.
You can soak white eggs for as few as 15 minutes to overnight to get lovely blue shades.
Using blueberries is supposed to be another way to get blue eggs. I have not tried this, but if you do, please let me know how it works!
How to Dye Purple Eggs Naturally
Purple: grape juice + vinegar
Aside from the red, the purple proved most challenging for us. We did end up accidentally with a few greys that could pass for lavender – but unfortunately, we did not end up with a rich purple color like I read is possible.
Another combo I have heard is possible is using hibiscus tea. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any during our eggs-perimenting, so I will try next time.
Other Natural Dyes to Try for Easter Eggs
Brown / Black Eggs:
Coffee beans, Black walnuts – I have not tried this combo, but we have a never ending supply of black walnuts, so I might give it a try one of these days.
Gray Eggs: You can end up with gray eggs by leaving the eggs in grape juice too long, or mixing the eggs in lots of different color combos.
Cranberries + vinegar: I tried this combo and it was fun listening to the cranberries pop as they boiled, but the color was a little disappointing.
Pomegranate + vinegar: Given how badly pomegranates stain my fingers when we eat them, I had high hopes for pomegranates leaving a nice red dye behind. Sadly, that didn’t happen. The eggs were even lighter gray than the using cranberries.
How to Create a Rainbow with Natural Easter Egg Dyes
Experiment with food scraps and common spices to create beautiful, naturally dyed easter eggs!
Materials
- white vinegar
- beets
- yellow onion skins
- turmeric
- red cabbage
- grape juice
Tools
- strainer
- wide mouth jars
- slotted spoon or tongs
- strainer
Instructions
If you’re using your own farm fresh eggs, let the eggs soak in water and a few tablespoons white vinegar overnight to remove the protective layer of bloom from the egg. If you’re using eggs from the store, you can skip this step.
Collect one cup of dye material per color that you wish and bring it to boil with two cups of water. Simmer for 30 minutes. Then cool to room temperature, then strain out the material. Pour the water in a wide mouth jar.
Place hard boiled or blown out eggs eggs carefully in the prepared dye water. If using blown-out eggs, you will need to weigh them down to keep them submerged. We found a shot glass filled with a bit of water worked quite well.
Natural dyes take much longer to soak up on the eggshells than those little dye tablets you can buy at the store. Soaking overnight will yield the richest colors, but you can soak for as few as 15 minutes before you notice color. I’d recommend checking after 15 minutes, then at the one hour, then at the two hour mark. If you’re still not satisfied with the color, let the eggs soak overnight.
Notes
Play around with adding vinegar or leaving the vinegar out - creating fun color combos by soaking eggs in multiple colors. Feel free to draw designs on your eggs with crayons before dyeing.
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