April 02, 2025
Photo Galleries

Use food to dye Easter eggs this year

Here's how to make 8 colors with ingredients from the grocery store

By DENISE M

But even though we followed all the directions in the book...

But even though we followed all the directions in the book...

...we couldn't seem to make the desired colors.

We gave up and went back to food coloring.

This year, I asked my son Timothy Baran, an innovation, corporate and executive chef, at Land O' Frost in Indiana, if he could create a user-friendly set of dyes people could use at home.

The only color that eluded him was green.

The choices on my list were kale or spinach.

Timothy chose spinach – because of its higher chlorophyll count, he said.

Multiple attempts later, he couldn't produce anything except a pale color.

The internet was little help.

Apparently green dye is not easily made with food.

But then he recalled a song from preschool – and created a beautiful green egg. And yes, one of the ingredients was beets.

Store each dye in a covered container for 24 hours before dipping eggs.

Orange: 2 tablespoons white distilled vinegar 2 cups boiling water 1 tablespoon paprika 1 tablespoon turmeric 1 cup red beets, raw, peeled and diced Blend.

Blue: 8 tablespoons concentrated grape juice 2 tablespoons white distilled vinegar 2 cups boiling water Mix.

Yellow: 2 tablespoons white vinegar 3 tablespoons ground turmeric 2 cups boiling water Mix.

Purple: 2 tablespoons white distilled vinegar 2 cups fresh ripe blackberries 2 cups boiling water Blend.

Red: 2 tablespoons white vinegar 3 tablespoons paprika 2 cups red beets, raw, peeled, diced 2 cups boiling water Blend.

Brown: 2 tablespoons white vinegar 1 K-cup or 2 tablespoons ground dark roast coffee 2 cups boiling water Mix.

Off-green: 2 to-3 tablespoons white vinegar 2 packed cups raw spinach 2 cups boiling water Blend.

Green: Take hard-boiled egg and dip into the yellow dye for a couple seconds and then dip into the blue dye for a couple seconds, then back into the yellow for about five minutes, and then into the blue for a minute or two, and then go back to the yellow for a couple minutes and back to the blue for a minute. Panic because it's not turning green. Pray and dip it into orange. Watch in terror as it turns into a dark, sad color. And dip into yellow to try to lighten it up. At this point, it's the color of smog. Go back to blue for a minute. Dip it into the orange, then the blue, and finish with yellow. Congratulations! You've beaten the internet.

#Foodnatural dyesdyeing Easter eggsEaster egg dyes from foodmaking dye from foodfood dyesDenise M. Baran-UnlandLand O' FrostTimothy Baran