Follow this easy DIY Easter Egg Dye Recipe for dying eggs with food coloring. Homemade Easter egg dye makes rich, vibrant-colored eggs!
Dying Easter eggs with food coloring is one of my favorite traditions around Easter time! It is a fun activity for the whole family.
While you can buy store-bought kits for DIY egg coloring, the best way to really personalize your eggs is with homemade egg dye.
Making your own colors can be a fun part of this Easter tradition! And since you're using hard-cooked eggs, making dyed Easter eggs is great for young kids as well!
Take a look at these cute decorated Easter donuts!
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- This homemade Easter egg dye is a great project for small kids and big kids alike and only takes a few ingredients!
- Following my easy tutorial for DIY Easter egg coloring doesn't take any extra time compared to what you'll find at the grocery store.
- There are so many fun variations you can make with this homemade Easter Egg dye!
Recipe Ingredients
You'll need the following ingredients to make DIY egg dye.
Hard-Boiled Eggs are the best for safe dying. Raw eggs will also take the color, but if you want to avoid accidental egg yoke in your dye, I recommend hard boiled eggs.
Food Coloring of different colors is what helps the eggs to get vibrant colors. For a lighter shade, use fewer drops; for a darker shade, use more drops.
White Vinegar helps to change the pH of the dye to allow it to stick to the eggs.
Water is the base for the egg dye.
How to Make It
Learn how to dye Easter eggs. Here are some quick visual instructions. The recipe is written with a dozen eggs, but you can dye as many as you would like. The full recipe with ingredient measurements is below!
Cover your work area with a plastic tablecloth to protect it from any spills or stains.
Boil about one cup of water for each color you plan to use.
Add ½-¾ cups of water and a tablespoon of vinegar into each mug or mason jar for each color.
Put 25 drops of food coloring into each cup and combine.
Use a wire egg holder, small spoon, or slotted spoon to place eggs into hot water and vinegar mixture. Allow them to soak for 3-5 minutes. The longer they soak, the more vibrant the color of the dye.
Remove the eggs and allow them to dry.
Store them in the fridge for up to a week from when you hard boil eggs.
Store your eggs in the refrigerator or have the Easter bunny hide them for an Easter egg hunt!
Substitutions
- Gel Food Coloring can be a substitute for regular liquid coloring. For best results make sure you take the time to fully dissolve the gel coloring in warm water.
- Brown Eggs can be used to replace white eggs. The egg colors will not be as bright and vibrant, but they can create beautiful color variations.
Recipe Tips & Tricks
Try some of these easy tips to make your DIY Easter Eggs a success!
- Use pint mason jars or coffee mugs instead of bowls. Bowls are wide, so the water won't cover the entire egg.
- Spoons, slotted spoons, tongs, and wire whisks can all be used to transfer the eggs in and out of the dye bath.
- If you choose to use brown eggs, you'll need to soak them a little longer. They will sometimes end up with an even richer color than white eggs!
- Hot water allows the dye to mix and absorb better than cool water.
- Keep the egg carton to store the finished eggs.
How to Store Your Dyed Eggs
- Allow your dyed eggs to dry completely. Store dyed eggs in the refrigerator for up to a week from when you boiled them.
- I wouldn't recommend using them as Easter decorations as they shouldn't be left at room temperature.
Natural Easter Egg Dye
For a more natural look, try using natural egg dyes. You can use fruits, vegetables, or some items from your spice rack for some beautiful colors made from natural foods.
Try using Beet juice, spinach, turmeric, red cabbage, purple cabbage, grape juice, onion skins, or a tablespoon of paprika. Simply boil the natural dye material with water and vinegar, and use the resulting liquid to dye the eggs.
Follow this Natural Egg Dye Recipe if you'd rather make your own easter egg dye rather than use artificial colors.
Variations
Get creative with some of these Easter egg dying ideas! Let me know what Easter Egg coloring ideas are your favorite.
- Add foam stickers to the eggs before adding them to the dye. After they dry, take the stickers off and see the designs left behind.
- Make tie-dye eggs by adding 1 tablespoon of oil to the dye mixture. Stir it with fork. Gently roll the egg through the liquid to pick up streaks of color. You can also blot it dry with a paper towel and submerge it in another color with oil in it.
- You can also try tie-dying eggs with shaving cream or cool whip mixed with food coloring.
- Draw designs with a white crayon before dying. The dye will not show up where the white crayon is.
- Add rubber bands for lines to create cool patterns.
- Add some Elmer's glue to part of the egg and sprinkle some glitter on the egg shells before they dry for some beautiful glitter eggs! However, you may not want to eat the eggs after adding glitter to them.
- For a textured look, use a sponge to tap at the egg shell right after it comes out of the dye.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can make dye with water, vinegar, and liquid food coloring. If you want natural ingredients instead, there are options for that as well!
Dying eggs with food coloring is just as easy, if not easier, than using a dye kit! With homemade dye, you have a lot more control over the color of your eggs! Homemade Easter egg coloring only uses a few ingredients and you may already have them in your home.
White vinegar is preferred as it doesn't alter the color of the food dye. Apple Cider Vinegar will also work, but can slightly change the color of the dye.
📖 Recipe
DIY Easter Egg Dye
Equipment
- 6 8 oz. mason jars (or coffee mugs)
Ingredients
- 12 hard-boiled eggs (or as many as you would like)
- 25 drops food coloring (for each color)
- 6 tablespoons white vinegar (1 TB per cup)
- 4 cups water (½-¾ cup of water per color)
Instructions
- Cover your work area with a plastic tablecloth to protect it from any spills or stains.
- Boil 4 cups of water or ½-¾ cups of water per color. If you use more than 6 colors, you will need to boil more water.
- Add 1 tablespoon of white vinegar and ½-¾ cups of water to 6 cups. (For small mason jam jars you will need only ½ cup, but coffee mugs will use about ¾ cup of water.) Add 25 drops of food coloring to each cup. Mix it together.
- Use a small spoon or wire egg holder to dip the hard-boiled eggs into the cups of dye for 3-5 minutes (or longer for more vibrant eggs).
- Remove the eggs from the dye and allow them to dry.
- Store the dyed eggs in the refrigerator for up to 7 days from when they were first hard-boiled.
Notes
- Depending on the size of the cup, you may need ½-¾ cup of water per color.
- Add less for coloring for lighter, pastel colors. Add more food coloring for darker colors.
- Allow the egg to sit in the dye longer for a more vibrant colored egg.
- Use pint mason jars or coffee mugs instead of bowls. Bowls are wide, so the water won't cover the entire egg.
- Hot water allows the dye to mix and absorb better than cool water.
- Keep the egg carton to store the finished eggs. Spoons, slotted spoons, tongs, and wire whisks can all be used to transfer the eggs in and out of the dye bath.
Justine says
I never realized how easy it was to make your own dye for Easter eggs! It's all stuff we already had on hand, so we busted it out and made a morning of it. It worked great, and the kids had fun combining colors and making their own unique eggs. Thanks so much!
Jen Talley says
You're welcome Justine! I'm so glad your kids had a great time!
gunjan says
My younger one is so excited to try these. I am heading to the grocery today to get all the stuffs. I am so inspired to have some DIY easter egg with my little one this year and all thanks to you.
Jen Talley says
You're welcome Gunjan! I hope you have fun!
Ali says
This is a great Easter activity for kids! And I love how the colors turn out so vibrant!
Beth says
I love it! I didn't know I could do this so easily. No more spending money every year on dying sets.
Maayke says
My Easter eggs turned out perfectly! Thank you for sharing.