How to Dye Easter Eggs Naturally

Here is my blog post from last year about how to dye Easter eggs naturally:

This was a lot more fun than buying dye and making the eggs that way, plus the colors were amazing and much lovelier.

The naturally dyed Easter eggs we made turned out beautiful! I love the colors and the patterns the natural dyes imprinted on the eggs. I was able to compare our dyes with the girls' grandma's store bought dyes and I have to say that the natural dyes are well worth the time, as the colors are so much more vibrant, realistic, and healthy! Here is what I used to achieve the dyes:

Speckled maroon/rich pink: 2 cups frozen blackberries, 1 1/2 cup water, 2 TBS white vinegar, cook for 30 minutes at slow rolling boil. Cool the mixture then add hard boiled eggs and leave them in the dye overnight. The blackberries in the liquid will make the speckled look. Strain the liquid for a more even colored look.

Sunshine Yellow: 3 TBS turmeric, 3 cups water, 2 TBS vinegar. Cook all ingredients for 30 minutes at slow rolling boil. Set aside until cooled and then add hard boiled eggs. Leave in dye overnight, making sure to turn eggs if liquid doesn't cover them. This will make enough to color 3-4 eggs and to have some leftover to mix with the recipe for blue (below) to make green.

Earthy Brown: 4 TBS ground coffee, 3 cups water, 2 TBS vinegar. Cook all ingredients for 30 minutes, cool, then add hard boiled eggs. Leave overnight. Use brown eggs to make the color look more natural and rich.

Baby Soft Pink: 2 beets chopped, 3 cups water, 2 TBS white vinegar. Cook for 30 minutes at low boil. Cool dye and then add hard boiled eggs, leave overnight. I used beets that were white and red striped on the inside, and I would recommend using red beets only. So I added some blackberries to the final dye before adding the eggs to make the dye stronger. These eggs are the white ones with a few pink spots on them in the photos.

Midnight Blue: 3 cups blueberries, 4 cups water, 2 TBS vinegar. Cook for 30 minutes at low boil. Cool then split the contents into two containers. One will be for blue and one for green. Add hard boiled eggs to one then add the yellow turmeric dye to the other in equal parts to make the green. The blue dye was the only dye that I did not leave the eggs in overnight. It was very strong. I left them in for 5-6 hours. Makes a dark blue with hints of purple.

Ever-Green: Blueberries and turmeric, I used some of the leftovers from the blueberries and the turmeric dyes (described above), in equal parts, to make my green. What an incredible green! See picture. Leave eggs in dye overnight.

Above: closeup, naturally dyed Easter eggs

Above: The girls get excited over the colorful eggs