Natural Dyed Eggs 2015

If you've never tried natural dyed eggs and don't know where to start, red cabbage, yellow onion skins and turmeric are a good place to start. I almost always boil my eggs in the dye bath and then leave them in their dye baths overnight. But I have also taken white hardboiled eggs and dropped them into cold dye baths. It doesn't seem to make much of a difference, as long as you soak them for a long time, preferably overnight.

~Red Cabbage~

Shred the outer half of a head of red cabbage and boil in just enough water to cover to eggs and cabbage. Boil eggs in cabbage and then drain and pour dye into mason jars. Add eggs. Refrigerate overnight once the dye has cooled.

{From left to right: dye bath with vinegar, nothing, & baking soda}

 To vary the color and intensity, add 1 Tbl. of vinegar or 1 tsp. baking soda to the cup of dye and allow eggs to sit overnight. As we discovered the last time we tried the red cabbage experiment, too much baking soda will not produce the desired teal color. (I forgot this year and used 1 Tbl. instead of a teaspoon and that was too much for the small jar of dye.)

 ~Yellow Onions Skins & Turmeric~

 I used about 1 gallon bag worth of onion skins for a medium sized pot (4 qt.) that held 9 eggs. Shred yellow onion skins in food processor to help collapse them down and place in pot (optional). Cover eggs and skins with water. Boil for 12 minutes. Drain and pour dye into mason jars. Add eggs.

For turmeric dye, boil eggs in a small pot (1qt.) with 3 Tablespoons of turmeric. I have to admit with the turmeric, leaving them in the dye bath overnight didn't really seem to affect the color or intensity.

{Both of these were only boiled in their dyes, not dyed overnight.}

The two on the left were boiled in an onion skin dye and then dyed overnight too. The one on the right was a white egg boiled in plain water that sat in cold onion skin dye overnight (but was not boiled in it).

More onion skin dyed egg that sat overnight in their dye. This is the first time I've gotten eggs this red. Oiling them with olive oil helped bring out the bright red color.

Easter is a season… it's not too late to try natural dyed eggs!