Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs
These naturally dyed Easter eggs are rustic, beautiful and so fun to make! These eggs use the bright hues from blueberries, red beets, red cabbage, onion skins and turmeric to yield hues ranging from robin egg blue, to deep maroon.
Okay, I am not normally one to care about artificial dyes, BUT I am one to care about making things homemade, because I enjoy it! And when you make something from scratch, there is just something about it that is so pleasing and exciting. When the finished product comes out as you hoped, you can’t help but be proud of yourself, like yeah I made that, I really did!
And that is exactly how I felt about these Easter eggs when I made them yesterday. I had this vision for making the eggs, and they came out just as I had hoped, honestly even better than I expected. The colors are stunning and I just love that you can add the rustic designs on top with herbs and flowers. So, enough talking, let’s get into making these!
How to naturally dye Easter eggs
You can get a variety of colors from natural foods. Honestly there are so many more colors I could have gotten, and perhaps next year I will expand on the colors. This year, I went with hues of robin egg blue, teal, maroon and light yellow. These colors could have gotten darker if I had let them soak longer, but I chose to only let them soak for a shorter time.
Red cabbage – yields robin egg blue. If you let this soak overnight, you will get a darker blue color. The red cabbage, I found took the longest to dye the egg. This dye does not work well on brown eggs. It may work better for a longer, overnight soak, but a shorter 2 hour soak yielded a light, sort of off green color. I prefer using the white eggs with the red cabbage.
Onion skins – if you use just yellow onion skins, you will get an orange-ish color. I added shredded beets and purple onion skin to create more of a maroon color. I found this dye to work well on both white and brown eggs and actually produced roughly the same result for me.
Turmeric – this yields a beautiful light yellow color. To no surprise it does not work on brown eggs. And for some reason I tried a brown egg anyways, haha! A longer soak will yield a darker yellow color.
Blueberries – this was probably my favorite color. This yielded an almost teal blue color. You can see the color produced in the picture above. It is the egg that I am holding. This also worked best on white eggs.
How does the natural dye stay on the egg?
Natural dye does take longer to adhere to eggshells than artificial dye. A few tablespoons of white distilled vinegar is added to the dyed water before the eggs are placed in the dyed water. This helps the dye to penetrate the egg shell and stick to it. Natural dyed eggs do need a couple of hours to soak, and can even be soaked overnight to yield deeper, darker colors.
Make designs and get creative!
The most fun part to me about dying these Easter eggs, was picking the designs for them. I chose flowers and cilantro leaves, but you can use any herb, clovers, ferns, etc. Get creative! A piece of nylon stocking is then placed over the egg and tied so that the flower, or herb will stay on the egg as it soaks in the water. Once the egg is done soaking, the nylon stocking is cut and removed, then you can remove the flower or herb that you place on the egg. The egg will need some time to fully dry, but this only takes a few minutes.
The finishing touch
I like to add a little bit of olive oil to a paper towel, then rub the eggs all over with the oil. This helps the eggs have a beautiful shiny gloss. Certainly you don’t have to do this. It is completely optional. Store the eggs in the refrigerator until you are ready to eat them!
Here are a few of my favorite Easter recipes
- Carrot Cake Cheesecake
- Almond Croissant Focaccia
- Cinnamon Roll Pancakes
- Blueberry Crumble Cream Cheese Bread
- Carrot Cake Bread
Let me know what you thought!
If you make these Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs, let me know what you thought in the ratings and comments below. I absolutely love reading all of your comments! Also, make sure to snap a picture and tag me @simplebakingwithjolene on instagram. It truly makes my day to see all of your wonderful creations.
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Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs
- Total Time: 2 hours 58 minutes
- Yield: 1 dozen naturally dyed eggs 1x
Description
These naturally dyed Easter eggs are rustic, beautiful and so fun to make! These eggs use the bright hues from blueberries, red beets, red cabbage, onion skins and turmeric to yield hues ranging from robin egg blue, to deep maroon.
Ingredients
Colors
Light/robin egg blue – 4 cups red cabbage (works best on white eggs)
Yellow – 1 1/2 teaspoons turmeric (only works on white eggs)
Maroon – 3 cups yellow onion skins, 1 cup red onion skins, 3/4 cup shredded red beet (yields mostly the same color in white and brown eggs)
Teal blue – 3 cups blueberry (only works on blue eggs; brown eggs is a light/off green)
7 cups water
3 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
White eggs
Nylon stocking, cut into 5-inch pieces
Herbs, flowers, clovers
Instructions
1. Choose which color you would like to dye your eggs (or you can set up different pots and with the different colors). Add the ingredient (cabbage, turmeric, onion skins/beet, or blueberry) to a large pot with 8 cups of water.
2. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 40 minutes. Using a slotted spoon or strainer, strain the water to remove the cabbage, onion skins/beet, or blueberries. It is okay if you do not get all of it out of the water, just try to remove most of it. This is to help ensure a uniform color is achieved on the shells.
3. Create a design on the eggs. Using a flour or an herb (like cilantro, parsley), or even clovers, dip in water (this helps it to adhere to the shell), then place on the shell. Use a piece of nylon stocking, with one end tied, and place the egg in the nylon stocking, making sure the flower or herb stays in place. Pull the nylon stocking tight, then tie to secure the nylon stocking on the shell. This helps the design stay in place while the egg gets submerged in the dyed water.
4. Add in vinegar to the colored water. This will help the dye to adhere to the shells.
5. Add the eggs and boil for 8 minutes.
6. Remove the eggs into a large bowl along with a few ladles full of the dyed water (enough to cover the eggs). Place in refrigerator and allow the eggs to soak in the dyed water for 2 hours, up to overnight. The longer the soak, the darker the color will be.
7. When ready, cut the nylon stocking, unwrap the egg, and remove the flower or herb. Allow the eggs to dry fully. Add a little bit of olive oil onto a paper towel and rub the eggs to give them a beautiful shine.
- Prep Time: 50
- Setting time in refrigerator: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 8
- Category: Side
- Method: Stove Top
