Deviled Easter Eggs colored with natural food dyes are a colorful Southern side dish made with ingredients you already have on hand. Avoid the chemicals of commercial dyes and learn how to make purple, pink, yellow, red, and blue deviled eggs. Serve these naturally dyed Easter eggs deviled or simply sliced open showing their vibrant colors.
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Are you having second thoughts about dying your Easter eggs this year in harmful chemical dyes? Me too! I have already done the work for you.
I experimented with what was already in my fridge and pantry to dye my eggs natural ingredients. Then I went as far as turning the vibrant colored eggs into Deviled Eggs. I saved money and my family's health!
Hippity Hoppity Easter's on its way! I wanted to add a little color to my deviled eggs this year for Easter but I didn't like the idea of dying them in commercial dyes since I was going to peel them first.
You know me, being the frugal gal I am, I didn't want to go buy a lot of groceries just for this experiment so I opened my fridge, freezer, and pantry doors and went treasure hunting.
What colorful foods do I use to dye peeled eggs
- Grape juice
- Pickled beet juice (I'm the only one in my family that will eat them but I love them)
- Fresh blackberries
- Frozen blueberries
- Matchstick carrots (Did not dye well. I don't recommend.)
- Powdered turmeric.
How to dye peeled eggs with natural food dyes
- Put the blueberries, blackberries, and turmeric in three separate small pans.
- Add 1 ½ cups water to the pans and bring the mixture to a boil. Turn off the heat and let the pans stand for 10 minutes.
- Strain the berries through a metal sieve. Don't throw out the berries! Save them for your breakfast cereal or top your ice cream with them. I strained the turmeric mixture with a very fine mesh sieve.
- No prep for bottled grape juice or pickled beet juice.
The carrots were a bust. Cooked them in water for about 30 minutes and unlike the berries, the water stayed practically the same color. I just added the carrots to the chicken soup I made for dinner.
Here's how to dye boiled eggs with natural food dyes.
How to dye naturally... that sounded awkward...
- Place 1 cup of strained berry juice, grape juice, and strained turmeric liquid in small fruit jars or cups.
- Add 1 to 2 teaspoons white or cider vinegar and gently drop in peeled, boiled eggs. The vinegar helps the egg absorb the color.
The pickled beet juice doesn't need any vinegar because it already has vinegar in it.
As you can see, the colors vary depending on how long you leave the eggs in the liquid.
- Vibrant, ruby color egg in the right side picture was steeped in pickled beet juice overnight (basically pickled eggs).
- Lighter shades of pink and mauve were left in pickled beet juice for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Lavender egg on the far left in the the left picture came from blackberries
- Blue egg on the right of the right side picture plus at 10:00 o'clock on the left picture came from blueberries.
- Jewel-toned purple egg came from the grape juice.
- All three yellow eggs came from the turmeric, dyed different lengths of time.
The group of eggs in the right picture reminds me of the Comfort Colors t-shirt colors.
If you twist my arm for a favorite, my favorite would have to be the pickled beet egg steeped overnight partly because I LOVE pickled beets and partly because it's a ruby egg!
How to serve naturally dyed eggs.
You can serve these eggs simply sliced and salted or go all the way and make deviled eggs. My basic recipe is super simple with mayo, Heinz yellow mustard, and salt.
Normally, I love to sprinkle deviled eggs with crumbled bacon, paprika, parsley, or freshly ground black pepper but the colorful eggs are the stars of the show.
It was so hard to pick a favorite color because its just so cool to see what beautiful natural colors came from things I had on hand. Which color is your favorite? Let me know in the comments below the printable recipe.
I couldn't resist sprinkling a little Maldon flaked salt on them! I'd love to hear from you if you decide to dye eggs naturally and what colors of rainbow you came up with. What's in your fridge?
How to hard cook (boil) eggs
Hard cooked eggs in the Instant Pot
I cooked these eggs in the Instant Pot using the 4-5-5 method. This is my favorite method because the shells just roll off. Seriously!
Here's my step by step directions on How to Make Hard Boiled Eggs in the Instant pot.
If your pressure cooker or Instant Pot didn't come with a trivet, you will need one for hard cooked eggs.
You don't have to purchase one that stacks eggs. I simply stack an entire dozen eggs on top of each other.
How to boil eggs on the stovetop
- Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan over high heat.
- Gently lower the cold eggs in the pan with a slotted spoon or tongs; partially cover the pan with a lid. Boil the eggs for 12 minutes with water at a rolling boil.
- Carefully transfer the eggs into a large bowl of ice water for at least 5 minutes.
- Tap the eggs on the large side on the counter roll around. Peel the eggs under running water.
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Deviled Easter Eggs (With Natural Dyes)
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Ingredients
- 6 large eggs
- 1 cup blackberries fresh or frozen
- 1 cup blueberries fresh or frozen
- 1 tablespoon ground turmeric
- 1 cup grape juice
- 1 cup pickled beet juice
- 4 teaspoons vinegar, divided
Filling
- ⅓ cup mayonnaise
- 1 ½ teaspoons yellow mustard
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Cook eggs to make hard cooked eggs using Instant Pot or boiling in pan on stovetop method. I used the Instant Pot 4-5-5 method. Place 1 cup water in a 6-quart Instant Pot with trivet in the bottom. Arrange the eggs on the trivet. Close the lid and push the pressure valve to Sealing. Cook at high pressure for 4 minutes and let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes then push the pressure valve to Venting.
- Plunge the eggs into cold ice water. The shells should peel off easily after gently cracking the ends of the eggs.See Notes for stovetop method for boiling eggs.
- Meanwhile, add 1 ½ cups water to three small pans and add blackberries, blueberries and turmeric to each pan. Bring them to a boil, then remove them from the heat and let them stand 10 minutes.
- Strain the blueberries and black berries into a small fruit jar or cup with a fine metal sieve or strainer. Strain the turmeric with a very fine mesh sieve into a fruit jar or cup. Let liquid cool to room temperaturePour grape juice and pickled beet juice in separate jars or cups.
- Add 1 teaspoon vinegar to all the cups except pickled beet juice. It already has vinegar in it. Vinegar helps the egg absorb the color.
- Gently lower the eggs into the cups. Leave the eggs in the cups 10 to 15 minutes or until desired color is achieved. For vibrant, darker colors leave them in overnight but be sure and put in the refrigerator.
- Remove eggs from the cups with a spoon and pat dry on paper towels.
Filling
- Slice the eggs in half lengthwise with a knife and scoop out yolks in a medium bowl. Mash the yolks with a fork or a potato masher. Add mayonnaise, mustard, and salt. I use my hand mixer at this point to mix it all together because I can't ever get all the lumps out with just a fork.
- Spoon the filling into a zip-top bag or pastry bag fitted with a large star tip. I often just snip the end of the bag with no tip and just pipe it onto the eggs straight from the bag. You can also just spoon the filling into the eggs.
Notes
- Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan over high heat.
- Gently lower the cold eggs in the pan with a slotted spoon or tongs; partially cover the pan with a lid. Boil the eggs for 12 minutes with water at a rolling boil.
- Carefully transfer the eggs into a large bowl of ice water for at least 5 minutes.
- Tap the eggs on the large side on the counter roll around. Peel the eggs under running water.
Dena
Do the eggs absorb the flavor of the fruit/juice/vegetable/spice? Blueberry flavored eggs don't sound very appetizing. But that's me.
gritsandgouda
That's such a good question. No, the eggs do not take on the flavor of the dyes any more than they take on the vinegar used along with chemical dyes. Since the eggs are not in the dye for a long period of time. If you were to actually make Pickled Eggs, then the flavor might be detected.
Pepo
Carrots, grated not in matchsticks. ;D
gritsandgouda
Oh yay! You had good luck with grated carrot? I can see where that would work better. I was using items I already had in my fridge. That's good to know grated carrots will work better. Thank you for sharing.