Dye Easter Eggs Nature’s Way: With Fruits And Veggies!

Making natural dye colors with fruits, vegetables, and other items you can find in your home or garden is both easy and fun. See how it's done!

Dyeing Easter eggs is a fun tradition that’s been around for centuries. So, how did our ancestors make all of those bright colors back before commercial egg dyes were sold in stores every spring? They used fruits and vegetables, tea, coffee, and other pantry items.

Dye Easter eggs - Easter egg

Making natural Easter egg dye colors out of fruits, vegetables, and other everyday items you can find in your home or garden is both easy and fun. Everything from onion skins to grass can be used to make vibrant, all-natural colors. Just throw the raw materials into the boiling water while you cook the eggs—you’ll need to boil each color separately—and you’re good to go!

For really vivid color, be sure to add at least a half a cup of the dyeing material (such as berries), and two teaspoons of vinegar, for each cup of water you use.

Method:

In a medium pan, put in a single layer of eggs, enough water to cover them, and your dyeing materials. Bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat and let the eggs and dye mixture simmer for about 15 minutes. If you want the color on your eggs to be darker, let the eggs soak in the dye mixture in the fridge overnight.

Here are some natural ingredients you can use for various dye colors:

Purple: Grape juice, red wine, violets (works best mashed into a paste with lemon juice).

Blue: Canned blueberries (including the juice), red cabbage leaves.

Green: Grass cuttings, spinach leaves.

Yellow: Ground Cumin or turmeric, orange or lemon peels.

Brown: Coffee, strong tea.

Orange: Carrots, chili powder, paprika. yellow onion skins.

Pink: Canned beets (with juice), cranberry juice, raspberries.

Red: Canned cherries (with juice), Pomegranate juice, red onions skins.

Have fun!

Try this No-Mess Easter Egg Dyeing Tip!

After Easter is over, be sure to put those leftover eggs to use with these easy and tasty recipes!

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Jaime McLeod

Jaime McLeod is a longtime journalist who has written for a wide variety of newspapers, magazines, and websites, including MTV.com. She enjoys the outdoors, growing and eating organic food, and is interested in all aspects of natural wellness.

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Seva

My mother always made the most beautiful brown eggs by using brown onion skins. Red onions were not a readily available way back then, only brown skinned onions. I sure miss those days!

Judie

Monica did you use vinegar too !

Cathey Finger

While growing up when we got through dyeing our eggs solid colors we would add a small drop of vegetable oil to the dye and dip our eggs,we called it multi coloring,the eggs always turned out pretty,but that was before the fancy egg coloring kits came out,I still prefer multi coloring.

Suzy

Wonder if using Pickled Beet Juice might make a “Deep-Red”? And possibly a delicious egg? Trying this this week-end 🙂

Rita C.

My hens lay brown eggs 😉 would have to soak them for a couple of days for the vibrant colors!

monica

No luck for me….I have six white eggs still. I am not sure what I did wrong? Oh well, back to PAAS. Maybe try again another time.

monica

I hope it works like stated. I am trying it right now. Wish me luck! 😀

Janet groves

What great ideas thank will share.

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