Dyeing eggs with natural substances doesn’t take much more time than if you used commercial coloring kits – and it’s alot more fun! You can be very creative with what is in your kitchen already and your Easter eggs can come out very unique. I’ve also included how to blow eggs for those who are very creative and would like to make all-natural dyed Easter eggs as a gift.
Getting Natural Colors from Safe Sources
These natural dyes are either a spice, fruit, or vegetable that will color your Easter eggs in a very safe way. Terrific for kids, pregnant moms, and those living a natural lifestyle.
Lavender
- 1 cup grape juice and 1 tablespoon vinegar
- Violet Blossoms plus 2 tsp Lemon Juice
- Red Zinger Tea (Celestial Seasonings)
- Soak eggs in turmeric dye for 30 minutes, then red cabbage dye for 30 minutes.
Violet Blue
- Violet Blossoms (these are an edible flower, not all flowers can be eaten)
- Small Quantity of Red Onions Skins (boiled)
- Hibiscus Tea
- Red Wine
Blue
- Canned Blueberries
- Red Cabbage Leaves (boiled)
- Purple Grape Juice
- Red Cabbage (4 cups chopped and boiled)
- Light blue: Soak eggs in red cabbage dye for 30 minutes.
- Royal blue: Soak eggs in red cabbage dye overnight.
Bluish-Gray
- Mix 1 cup frozen blueberries with 1 cup water. Bring to room temperature. Remove blueberries.
Green
- Spinach Leaves (boiled)
- Liquid Chlorophyll
Greenish Yellow
- Yellow Delicious Apple Peels (boiled)
- Carrot tops and peels from Yellow Delicious apples produce a yellow-green.
Chartreuse
- Soak eggs in turmeric dye for 30 minutes, then beet dye for 5 seconds.
Yellow
- Remove the peel from 1 orange. Add peel to 4 cups boiling water. Stir in 2 tablespoons vinegar. Let cool to room temperature. Remove orange peel.
- Saffron makes a bright yellow when eggs are soaked overnight. Use about 1/4 teaspoon saffron threads for four eggs.
- Carrot Tops (boiled)
- Celery Seed (boiled)
- Ground Cumin (boiled)
- Ground Turmeric (boiled)
- Chamomile Tea (boiled)
- Green Tea
Golden Brown
- Dill Seeds
Mahogany Brown
- Red beet skins make a beautiful mahogany brown. Roast fresh beets at 350 degrees in oven until soft (about one to two hours, depending on size). Peel off the skin and about 1/8″ of the beet. Reserve beets for eating (they are delicious roasted!) and add the skins to the dye pot. Use about one egg-size beet per egg. Allow to soak overnight. Grape juice produces a beautiful sparkling tan. You could try using coffee dye instead of Grape juice.
Brown
- Strong Coffee
- Instant Coffee
- Black Walnut Shells (boiled)
- Black Tea
Orange
- Yellow Onion Skins (boiled) 4 cups (skins of about 12 onions)
- Cooked Shredded Carrots
- Chili Powder
- Paprika
Salmon
- Soak eggs in turmeric dye for 30 minutes, then beet dye for 30 minutes.
Pink
- Beets
- Cranberries or Juice
- Raspberries
- Red Grape Juice
- Juice from Pickled Beets
Dark Pink
- Cut 1 medium beet into chunks. Add beet to 4 cups boiling water. Stir in 2 tablespoons vinegar. Let cool to room temperature. Remove beets.
- Lots of red onion skins, cranberry juice, or frozen raspberries.
Red
- Lots of Red Onions Skins (boiled)
- Canned Cherries with Juice
- Pomegranate Juice
- Raspberries
- 3 cans of beets in cranberry juice (instead of water) – produce a dark reddish hue
Dyeing Directions Using the ‘Hot’ Method
- Place the eggs in a single layer in a non-aluminum pan. Add water until the eggs are covered.
- Add 2 TBLS of white vinegar per quart of water to help the color adhere to the eggs.
- Add the natural dye. Use more dye material for more eggs or for a more intense color, most spices produce a rich color when 3 TBLS of the powdered spice is used.
- Bring water to a boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Note: longer cooking will make eggs tough.
- If you are pleased with the color, remove the eggs from the liquid.
- For more intensely colored eggs, temporarily remove the eggs from the liquid. Strain the dye through a coffee filter (unless you want speckled eggs). Cover the eggs with the filtered dye and let them remain in the refrigerator overnight.
- Naturally-colored eggs will not be glossy, but if you want a shiny appearance you can rub a bit of cooking oil onto the eggs once they are dry.
Dyeing Directions Using the ‘Cold’ Method
- The cold method is the same as the hot method with the following exception…
- Once ingredients have simmered 20–30 minutes (depending on desired shade).
- Lift or strain the ingredients out of the water and allow the water to cool to room temperature. Optional: you may wish to leave the ingredients in the colored water to give the egg more texture as the dye will become concentrated in areas where the vegetable touches the egg.
- Submerge the eggs until the desired color is achieved. You may keep the eggs in the solution overnight as long as it is refrigerated.
- The longer the egg stays in the dye, hot or cold, the deeper the hue will be. Using vinegar will also help the color deepen.
Decorative Designs for Your Easter Eggs
- Shapes, Words, or Pictures: use a wax crayon (or a piece of wax) to draw them on the egg shell before dyeing. Wax doesn’t absorb colors, and the designs will not be colored.
- Tie-dyed Eggs: can be created by using rubber bands. Different sizes of rubber bands, wrapped around the eggs, can give a tie-died look. When the egg shell is the color you want, remove from the dye. When the color has dried, pull off the rubber bands.
- Natural Paints: use fresh and frozen berries as paints to create a mottled coloring scheme. Simply crush the berries against dry boiled eggs.
Tips
- It’s a lot faster to boil the dyes and eggs together, but you will use several pans if you want to make multiple colors. Dyeing the eggs after they have been cooked takes as many dishes and more time, but may be more practical.
- Using canned produce produce paler shades.
- Some natural dyes need to be boiled to impart their color (specified above).
- Some fruits, vegetables, and spices can be used cold. To use a cold natural dye, cover the boiled eggs with water, add your chosen dyeing materials, about a teaspoon of vinegar, then let the eggs remain in the refrigerator until the desired color is achieved. In most cases, the longer you leave Easter eggs in the dye, the more deeply colored they will become.
Additional Tips for Successful Results
- Use filtered or distilled water. Chlorine and other chemicals will work against the dye, making it less intense. Buy distilled water or use your own filtered water.
- For deeper colors, use more dyestuff or let the eggs soak longer.
- For even coverage, cook eggs in a pot large enough to hold enough water and dyestuff to completely cover the eggs, even after some of the liquid has evaporated during the 15 minute of boiling.
- Again, for even coverage, if you continue to soak the eggs in the refrigerator after cooking, make sure the eggs are completely covered with the dye liquid.
- Blot the eggs dry or allow them to air dry, as for some colors the dye will rub off while still wet. On the other hand, if you wish to make a white pattern on the egg, you can rub off some of the dye for some colors immediately after cooking.
- Make sure eggs of different colors are completely dry before piling them up in a bowl together, as wet dye from one egg can transfer to another.
How to Blow Out Eggs
- Wash eggs.
- Using a sewing needle, gently prick a small hole into each of the egg’s two ends. Poke a hole in the yolk (use a thin skewer if necessary).
- Leaning over a bowl, gently blow into the top hole, expelling the yolk and white out the bottom end, into the bowl.
- Lay hollow eggs on paper towels to dry.
- Paint or dye the shells or decorate as desired.
Egg Safety
- The American Egg Board advises that you discard hard-cooked eggs that have been out of the fridge for more than two hours.
- Refrigerate hard-cooked eggs whenever you’re not working with them. Put eggs in their cartons if you won’t be decorating them right after cooking. Refrigerate them again right after dyeing or decorating them.
- Make sure the eggs you color aren’t cracked. If any cracks appear during dyeing or decorating, throw them away.
- Never use any kind of dye, from natural sources or other, that are not edible!
- If you are using crayons, paints, or other art materials, be sure they are labeled nontoxic.
- To prevent discolored rings from forming on hard-boiled eggs, put them in a pan, add water to cover by 1 inch and bring just to a boil. Remove from heat, cover and let stand 15 to 18 minutes, then chill in cold water.
Evelyn Vincent
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Article by Evelyn Vincent, Young Living Independent Distributor
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