I Tested 7 Ways to Dye Easter Eggs, and Learned 3 Game-Changing Tricks I’ll Definitely Do Again
When I was a kid, the annual coloring-of-the-Easter-eggs ritual always happened with a store-bought kit. We’d carefully open the box, knowing that we’d punch out perforated holes on the back to fashion a drying rack for the stained eggs. We’d then dissolve colored tablets into cups of water with a splash of vinegar and bend into shape the flimsy wire dipper that was always a bit too awkward to use (which we’d usually end up ditching for a slotted spoon).
This tradition was certainly fun, but when I had kids of my own, I grew dissatisfied with the kits and played around with other ways to dye Easter eggs. Some produced “special effects” — patterns or gradients of color — while others yielded solid-colored eggs of varying hues. We always had a bucket of fun, despite some methods proving far more successful than others.
When offered the opportunity to test seven Easter egg dyeing methods, I jumped at the chance. It was a way to relive some of those fun times with my own kids, who are now grown up and in college. And it was a super-satisfying assignment — pitting the methods side by side to see which ones produce centerpiece-worthy holiday decorations and which ones fall a little flat. Here’s what I found in my rigorous testing.
My testing ended in a tie! For lovely solid colors in easy-to-adjust levels of saturation, the classic food coloring method is a winner. And for “special effects” eggs, the Cool Whip method produces gorgeous marbled designs.
Table of Contents
How I Tested the Best Egg Dyeing Methods
The eggs: I purchased store-brand large white eggs for all of the testing. I boiled them the night before my tests and stored them in the refrigerator. I used four eggs for each method. After coloring the eggs, I let them dry or soak in the refrigerator so that they would remain safe to eat.
The food coloring: I used McCormick’s assorted liquid food coloring for all but one of the tests; it’s available in almost all grocery stores, near the extracts on the baking aisle. The kind available now includes three colors: red, yellow, and blue. I had some McCormick green food coloring in my pantry from some previous projects that was less than a year old and used that, too. (I know, I know: I could have made green by combining blue and yellow, but I had the green drops on hand and wanted to use them up.)
The tests: I performed all of the tests on the same day and lined up all of the eggs side by side at the end of the testing. Some methods took only a few minutes, while others took hours. I made a note of that with my descriptions of the methods below.
The ratings: My ratings are on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 reserved for perfection and 1 being the worst ever. The main criteria for my ratings include the visual appeal of the finished eggs, as well as the ease (or difficulty) of the method.
Egg Dyeing Method: Vegetable Oil
Rating: 6/10
The method: This interesting technique from Better Homes & Gardens starts with two different soak baths. For the base color, you make a light, less concentrated mixture of water, vinegar, and food coloring so that the color will be subdued. You soak each egg in this mixture for just 1 minute, then dry the eggs completely on paper towels. You then make a different mixture with more saturated color (20 drops of food coloring as opposed to 5 to 10 in the base color bath); this mixture consists of water, food coloring, and vegetable oil (no vinegar) gently mixed with a spoon. You dip the eggs (after having dried after their dip in the base color) one at a time in this concoction and roll them around a bit to pick up the second color in uneven, marbled patterns. I went with about 12 seconds per egg; at that point, the eggs started to pick up too much of the second color. When you notice a marbled effect, you remove the egg and pat it dry.
Results: I went with pale orange as my base color and purple as the deeper color. The purple oil mixture coated my sherbet-hued eggs in strange ways, and the color varied oddly from egg to egg, despite using the same mixtures and same amounts of time for each dip. There was some marbling pattern, but the colors seemed off. Some eggs displayed distinct pale orange and purple effects, while others ended up with a strange gray coloration instead of purple. This was not an easy technique for me to master; there’s a learning curve with this method that might prove a bit tricky for kids.
Egg Dyeing Method: Onion Skins
Rating: 6/10
The method: We wanted to include a natural Easter egg dye in our showdown, and we chose onion skins, using our own tested method. I did a batch of yellow onion skins and a batch of red ones, simmering 2 cups of skins with 2 cups of water for 30 minutes. Then I cooled the liquid to room temperature (this took about an hour), strained it (yielding about 1 1/2 cups liquid), and added a tablespoon of white vinegar per cup of liquid. I soaked my eggs in the liquid for two stints of 2 hours per soak.
Results: The color of both sets of finished eggs felt more earthy and less Easter-y. The eggs dyed with yellow onion skins looked a lot like brown-shelled eggs you buy at the store. Those dyed with red onion skins were a ruddy maroonish-brown color. They’re interesting but lack the festive, happy feeling that I associate with Easter. My husband actually called them “trauma eggs,” joking that your kids would be traumatized if these were the eggs they ended up with on Easter. They do have an earthy appeal, and if you want to avoid food coloring, this is the method for you. For me, though, the colors didn’t feel right for Easter, and the process took more time than I would’ve liked. Perhaps another one of the colors from our method would’ve proved more impressive!
Egg Dyeing Method: Rice
Rating: 8/10
The method: For this method from Better Homes & Gardens, you’re instructed to add a cup of uncooked rice to a large plastic cup, then add 15 drops of food coloring to the rice. You then cover the plastic cup with another plastic cup, hold them together tightly, and shake vigorously (like a cocktail shaker) to distribute the color evenly on the rice. You then carefully remove the top cup, place one egg in the rice, replace the top cup, and shake and sort of roll the cups gently to deposit dye onto the egg. I repeated this process for all four eggs.
Results: I used green food coloring and had to start with much more of it to get any color to deposit onto the eggs. Instead of starting with 15 drops, I used 25. Between eggs, I added 4 to 5 more drops of food coloring to the rice because without additional food coloring, the eggs didn’t pick up much color at all.
I had a hilarious mishap the first time I shook the rice; I didn’t hold the cups together tightly enough (as you’re clearly instructed to do) and ended up flinging rice all over my kitchen. When I went to remove the first egg from the rice, it was buried deep within, and I learned that scooping it out without caution could also result in flung rice grains. This is the fault of the tester (yep, that’s me!), not the method, but it is worth mentioning so you won’t fall victim to my same mistake. All said, the finished eggs had a lovely mottled, speckled pattern. I stuck with just a single color (green) so that I could better gauge the effect from egg to egg, but I could see this technique producing a basket of gorgeous speckled eggs, similar to the look of speckled enamelware, in multiple colors.
Egg Dyeing Method: Baking Soda
Rating: 8/10
The method: For this method from Dream a Little Bigger, I made baking soda “paints” with three different colors. In each of three small bowls, I combined 2 tablespoons of baking soda, 5 drops of food coloring (I used blue, red, and yellow), and enough water to make a paste “similar in texture to a runny school paste,” as instructed. I put a glove on my left (nondominant) hand and held an egg in it. I used a small paintbrush for each color to paint them onto the egg in patches — red and blue here and there, with yellow in the other spots. I then placed the egg into a plastic sandwich bag, twisted the bag to close it, and stashed it in the fridge. I repeated this process with the other three eggs. The instructions say to refrigerate for at least 4 hours and up to 12 for bolder color. After soaking, I rinsed each egg, added a couple drops of vegetable oil to the shell, and rubbed it in for a little sheen.
Results: I soaked one egg for 4 hours, one egg for 8 hours, and two eggs for 12 hours. None of my eggs achieved the saturated look shown in the original post, but they were very pretty. The eggs that soaked for 4 and 8 hours were pale, muted marbled-looking pastels. The ones that soaked for 12 hours were more vibrant but still more subdued than the ones shown. This method requires a good bit of time and some special equipment (paint brushes), but the effect is quite pretty. If I were to do this again, I’d go 12 hours or longer with the soak and might start with neon food coloring in the hopes of more vibrancy.
Egg Dyeing Method: Salt
Rating: 9.5/10
The method: This quick method from The Shabby Creek Cottage goes like this: Place about a cup of kosher salt in a large, heavy-duty zip-top plastic bag, add a tablespoon of food coloring, zip up the bag, and massage the color into all of the salt. Add a boiled egg to the salt mixture, seal the bag, and roll the egg around in the salt. Remove the egg from the bag without brushing off the salt, and place it on a cooling rack to dry. Repeat with as many eggs as you like. When the eggs are completely dry, you can either leave the salt clinging to the eggs for texture or quickly rinse it off.
Results: This method uses a lot of food coloring, the most by far of all of these methods — so if that’s an issue, this probably isn’t the right method for you. Because of that, though, the color is brilliant and immediately deposited onto the eggs without having to soak them. It does take an hour or two for them to fully dry (in the fridge), but the actual work of dyeing the eggs is incredibly quick.
I used blue food coloring for my test, and the color was deep, fully saturated, and incredibly vibrant. I rinsed the salt off two of the eggs and left it on the other two; the texture of the salt is interesting but could get messy as the grains fall off the eggs when handled. One of the most interesting effects of this method revealed itself the next day, when I peeled the shells to make deviled eggs. The vibrant blue color was pulled all the way into the egg whites, so that they looked like tea eggs (if tea eggs were peacock blue!). On a platter, those tie-dye deviled eggs were striking, similarly to these beet-dyed ones. None of the other methods deposited noticeable color onto the egg whites. In my mind, this makes sense, but I can’t exactly explain why; I just think of brining and osmosis, and it all feels like science working its magic. Another thing I loved about this method is that the author notes that you can save the salt; sealed in the bag, you can reuse it to color more eggs for a few days. Or, you can dry out the salt and use it for colorfully rimmed margaritas!
Egg Dyeing Method: Food Coloring
Rating: 10/10
The method: This nostalgic technique forgoes bells and whistles, aiming for evenly dyed eggs in singular colors. I went with The Kitchn’s own instructions for this method. For each color, you combine a half-cup of hot tap water, 1 teaspoon of vinegar, and 10 to 20 drops of food coloring. (I went with 15 drops for deeper shades.) You then soak an egg in the liquid for 5 to 10 minutes (I went with 10 minutes), then allow it to dry on paper towels.
Results: Honestly, I was surprised by how well this method worked. I did go on the heavier end of the food coloring and time ranges, but I was still delighted by the richness of the color on the eggs. My red, orange, and green eggs were boldly bright and saturated; my purple was a bit duller but still richly hued. I loved the relative ease and quickness of this method, and that it’s easier to achieve softer colors with less dye and a shorter soak. You could easily end up with a range of shades with the same cup of liquid. Fast, simple, no frills, and no messier than the other methods — this is a winner in my book.
Egg Dyeing Method: Cool Whip
Rating: 10/10
The method: Like several of the techniques, this method from The Kitchn was completely new to me. You spread thawed Cool Whip onto a baking pan, then drop different colors of food coloring onto the Cool Whip. You lightly marble the colors by swiping through with a skewer. You then roll each egg through the Cool Whip until it’s completely covered, move them to a disposable egg carton, and allow them to sit (in the fridge to keep them edible) for at least a half hour before rinsing and drying. (Apparently other sites do this technique with shaving cream, but you wouldn’t be able to eat those eggs, so we used Cool Whip, which has the same texture and achieves the same effect — and means you can enjoy the eggs later.)
Results: I’ll admit that I was highly skeptical of this method. And I was pleasantly surprised — no, downright delighted — by the results. I used blue, yellow, and green food coloring drops for my marbled eggs. I soaked two of the eggs for 1 hour and the other two for 3 hours. When I rinsed them off, all of the eggs revealed beautiful marbled swirls of color. The ones that soaked longer had deeper, richer color, of course, reminding me of photos of Earth from outer space — oceanic whorls of blue mingling with green and hints of yellow. I just loved the stunning look of these eggs and couldn’t believe how easy it was to achieve!
Key Takeaways on the Winning Methods
For me, dyeing Easter eggs is a family activity, one that should involve kids whenever possible. Children could easily help with all of the methods tested here: mixing colors, dropping eggs into liquid or rice or salt, peeling onions, swirling Cool Whip, and painting eggs. My feeling is that Easter eggs should be fun-colored, whether pastel-soft or vibrant-hued. And for me, that means embracing, or at least making peace with, food coloring.
McCormick Assorted Food Colors & Egg Dye
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The two methods that most successfully and easily achieve pretty eggs for the holiday are the old-school food coloring method, which is also one of the quickest, and the Cool Whip method, which produces a lovely special effect. But for the most brightly colored eggs, don’t sleep on the salt method. Any of these techniques would be a memorable family experience, one your kids will look back on with nostalgia when they’re grown up and dyeing eggs with their own children.
Cool Whip Original Whipped Topping
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One last tidbit. I’ve stressed all throughout this showdown that I kept the eggs refrigerated to keep them edible. With the price of eggs what it is, I didn’t want any to go to waste. When I was done with my testing, I followed my favorite egg-peeling technique (from one of The Kitchn’s prior showdowns) and made loads of deviled eggs to share with friends. For inspiration there, I looked to another showdown for some tasty, deviled eggs. And if you’re just not up for dyeing eggs this year, don’t worry — you can always dye Easter potatoes!
Do you have another method you swear by for dyeing Easter eggs? Let us know in the comments below!
