What do turmeric, blueberries, grape juice, and spinach all have in common? They’re each a key ingredient in our-all natural Easter egg dyes.
Using vegetables, fruits, herbs, and juices as natural dye for easter eggs is a fun adventure in kitchen chemistry–and a way to avoid having synthetic dyes in close contact with your food. After you’ve used natural dyes, you’ll find the inside of your eggs completely untouched and practically begging to be turned into deviled eggs.
Instructions for Dying Easter Eggs Naturally
1) Soft boil your eggs. Bring a pot of water to a full roiling boil, plunge in those eggs, and wait for about 6 minutes before removing them.
2) Place eggs in bowls or jars, separated by how many you’d like in various colors.
3) Make your natural dyes by combining any of the ingredients below with 1 quart water and 2 tablespoons of white vinegar in a pot. Boil the natural dye ingredients for 5-7 minutes to get the colors out.
4) Pour your all-natural easter egg dyes into your various bowls and jars with your eggs, and allow them to sit for 4 to 6 hours, checking occasionally to see if colors are as saturated as you’d like.
5) Remove your beautiful eggs and place them on a rack, or on paper towels, to dry.
Watch how this went down with various ingredients in the Blue Apron Test Kitchen!
List of Natural Dyes
Turmeric
Quantity: 3 or more tablespoons of turmeric
Color your egg will turn: Yellowish orange
Things to note: The spice will turn your fingers yellow! Embrace it, or wear gloves.
Paprika
Quantity: 3-4 tablespoons of paprika
Color your egg will turn: A soft orange-ish pink
Red Cabbage
Quantity: 4 cups, chopped and boiled in water and vinegar
Color your egg will turn: Robin’s egg blue
Things to note: The cabbage plus vinegar will smell a bit strong but don’t worry! It’s for a good reason.
Grape Juice
Quantity: 2 cups grape juice to 2 cups water, plus 2 tablespoons vinegar
Color your egg will turn: Dark gray-ish blue
Things to note: Because the grape juice is pretty concentrated, this dye produced the most saturated egg color.
Spinach
Quantity: 4 cups of raw spinach
Color your egg will turn: Extremely pale mint green
Things to note: Unless you’re obsessed with subtlety, consider skipping the spinach dye. It’s really, really pale.
Blueberries
Quantity: two handfuls of fresh blueberries
Color your egg will turn: ‘Blue Apron‘ blue
Things to note: Mash the blueberries in the pot as they heat to bring out the colors. They’ll turn sort of jelly-like as they sit, but don’t worry, that’s normal!
That’s it. Let us know what you think if you try it. And look how perfect the interiors of the eggs stay? Here’s to all-natural eggs! Happy Easter!
P.S. If you’re feeling all-natural AND lazy, here’s a tip. Run to the farmers’ market and pick up eggs in a few different colors (white, brown, blue, and green). You’ve got Easter eggs–no dye needed!
