Natural Easter Egg Dyes

I admit it, for most of my life, I thought eggs were only white. When I found out that some were brown, it shook my world. And light blue eggs just seem like unicorns to me. I still don’t entirely believe they exist since our little chicks are still babies and haven’t provided me any proof yet. So this year, for Easter, I will have to settle for dying them natural colors using natural dyes from the things we already have in our home or garden.

For our egg dyes, we used our spinach, green tea, red onions, and carrots.

1. To start, boil your vegetables (or tea) in water for about 15-20 minutes. Experiment with the hues by adding more vegetables or steeping longer. I didn’t want to use up too many vegetables, so I only used half of a red onion, 4 large carrots, 10 leaves of spinach, and 3 bags of green tea in 16 ounces of water.
2. Strain out your vegetables and set the water aside in a bowl to cool.
3. Place your hard boiled eggs in the dyed water. For more intense color, add 1-2 tablespoons of white vinegar for every cup of dye (helps to hold the color). For longer dying times (and safer to eat eggs), move the eggs in dye to the refrigerator. Take them out once you have achieved the desired color (could take minutes, could take hours).

Very subtle, natural looking eggs. Maybe next time we’ll go a little bolder. I will be passing on the glitter though.