Natural Blue Dye for Easter Eggs

Playing around Foodgawker the other day, I came across a blog from the Rusted Ladle that made and used a natural dye for Easter eggs. I was immediately in love because they had managed to create these gorgeous beautiful blue eggs all without using chemical dyes.

I’ve wanted to play with natural dyes for years but always seem to wait until the last-minute before Easter and end up picking up an easy box of the already put together stuff. After seeing the beautiful eggs in the Rusted Ladle’s blog, I was determined to have blue Easter eggs this year that looked as good as their’s. I showed the pictures to my hubby and he was immediately on board as well.

I already had the coconut oil and white vinegar, so it was off to the store for a head of red cabbage. Such a simple recipe, to make something so beautiful! I cut up the cabbage into large chunks and tossed them into a large pot with 2 quarts of water and 3/4 cup of white vinegar and left it to boil as the directions suggested. If you need directions for boiling hard-boiled eggs to dye, check out this link for easy instructions.

After 2 hours, I had a beautiful dye that appeared to be a bright purplish/pink. Both the hubby and I were doubtful about getting blue eggs from the dye. I forgot to take a pic of it to show you but if you try this, don’t freak out. The eggs do turn blue! Oh and one thing to remember, the coconut oil makes the eggs slippery, so hang on tight unless you’re good at juggling. Also allow time for the dye to cool before using. I made it up the day before and chilled it in the fridge.

As usual with Easter egg dying, the longer you leave the eggs in the dye, the darker they get but I also noticed an interesting feature. If you look at the Rusted Ladle blog, you’ll understand what I’m talking about. Their eggs are a different shade of blue then the ones in my pics. Believe it or not, ours were the same colors as the ones on their blog until I refrigerated them overnight and the next day they were the robin’s blue eggs I have in my pics.

We had a fun time dying the eggs but you’ll notice, we didn’t have any that turned out as well in the patterns as their’s did. It turns out it really takes a little practice and plenty of patience to get the coconut oil on the eggs just right to give awesome patterns but I’m happy with our results (check out the Rusted Ladle blog for more instructions on using the coconut oil technique). For a first time, they look great and we will be trying them again.

Natural Easter Egg Dye from Kid Cultivation

Natural Easter Eggs 3 Ways from Natasha’s Kitchen

Homemade Naturally Dyed Eggs from PrimLani Kitchen

Red Easter Eggs from Andie Nasty Vegetarian

Simple Step-by-Step Guide to Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs from Babble