How to Dye Easter Eggs with Food Coloring

No need to buy a pricey egg decorating kit! Use this simple How to Dye Easter Eggs with Food Coloring guide to create beautiful colored eggs with items you already have at home.

From my childhood to my kids’ young days, dying eggs was always a fun Easter tradition to look forward to. I can’t remember too much about my childhood egg-dying-days, but I made sure my kids had a great time doing the Easter activity.

It never occured to me to write a post about How to Dye Easter Eggs with Food Coloring as it’s just always been something I knew how to do. Such a simple idea to do. But a young mother asked me if I ever did with my kids and she wanted to know the how to do it without spending money on the kits at the stores. Money’s tight so I knew others needed this information, too.

How to Dye Eggs for Easter without a kit

Like I mentioned, it’s easy and all you need are some mason jars (or cups), boiling water, and a couple of simple items that you probably already have in the pantry.

Doing this activity with the kids, it’s always a good idea to cover your table with towels or wax paper to keep the stains to a minimum. While food coloring is safe for food and will come off of your little ones hands, it may not come out of clothing, so old clothes are a must.

I typically will hard boil a dozen eggs to dye, but sometimes do more.

Get creative with the colors and techniques. You can place stickers or rubber bands on the eggs before you dye them. Once remove the eggs from the dye, let dry before removing the stickers or rubber bands. Crayons, markers, and glitter are great to have on hand. My girls loved to make glitter eggs!

If you prefer to dye your eggs without food coloring, try these natural dyes to color Easter eggs. There are so many different ways to dye eggs without spending money.

Why do you use vinegar to dye eggs?

You need a mild acid, like vinegar, to help to achieve really vibrant colors. Without, the colors will be lighter. If you don’t have vinegar, you can substitute lemon juice.

Another fun way to dye eggs

Another fun way to dye eggs would be to just the whites of the hardboiled eggs. They turn out with such pretty pastel colors perfect for Easter! I made these deviled eggs and dyed the whites. This post also gives you instructions on how to hard boil eggs and how to dye the white part of the eggs.

How long can you store dyed eggs?

Once the cooked eggs are decorated, return them to the refrigerator within two hours. They can be stored up to a week inside the refrigerator, not in the door.

What to do with the Easter Eggs after you dye them

• Hide the eggs and let the kids find them. Just be sure to remember to check that all of them are found. Finding a hard boiled egg days later, it’s not a fun thing.
• Make this delicious Bacon Cheddar Egg Salad
• Serve an easy appetizer with this recipe for Deviled Egg Crostini
• Use some leftover ham from Easter dinner and the hard boiled eggs to make this Deviled Egg Pasta Salad
• Add slices of hard boiled egg to avocado toast for a delicious quick breakfast.

Ingredients

• Hard boiled eggs
• vinegar
• boiling water
• food coloring
• mason jars, cups, or small bowls
• wax paper or old towels

How to Dye Easter Eggs with Food Coloring

Step 1

Protect your table with old towels or wax paper. Set out the mason jars, spoons, hard boiled eggs, food colorings, and vinegar. You will need one jar for each color you plan on using. Check the back of the food coloring box to see the different colors you can create by combining the colors.

Step 2

To each container, carefully add 1 to 1 ½ cups boiling water. Do not overfill and remember to allow room for the egg. Stir in 1 tablespoon white vinegar.

Step 3

Add 6 to 10 drops of desired colors into each jar and stir.

Step 4

Using a spoon, place eggs into the container, ideally one per container. Allow the eggs to sit for 5 minutes or more in the dye solution. The longer the egg rests in the dye, the darker the color will be.

Step 5

Remove the eggs and place on a wire rack over paper towel or wax paper until completely dry.

Tips, Tricks, and FAQs

• Protect your work surface. Food coloring is food safe but it will stain your table and clothes.
• Use lemon juice if you do not have vinegar.
• Food color gels are great to use.
• It’s not recommended to dye raw eggs due how fragile they are.
• The longer you leave the eggs in the colored water, the deeper the color will be.
• You can dye brown eggs! They will turn out a bit darker and even a little speckled.
• Get creative with decorating your eggs.
• Store completed dyed eggs in the refrigerator for up to a week.

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Enjoy!