How to Dye Easter Eggs, Plus Easy Decorating Ideas

A-tisket a-tasket, a gorgeous Easter basket: Here's everything you need to know for dyeing the perfect Easter eggs.

Dyeing Easter Eggs
Photo: Meredith

Do you want to learn how to dye the prettiest Easter eggs? These easy tips and tricks for dyeing Easter eggs will help you have eggs that really stand out amid the other plain eggs in the Easter egg hunt. These dyed eggs will be richly colored and boldly beautiful. But before we talk color, you'll need to know how to make hard boiled eggs.

Now that you have a dozen or two boiled eggs, let's get to creating a beautiful Easter basket.

How to Dye Easter Eggs: Dyeing Eater Eggs with Food Coloring

  • To start, cover a table with layers of old newspaper to soak up any spills.
  • Create a drying rack by sticking pins into a sheet of thick foam board.
  • For colorfast egg dyes, mix 7-8 drops of food coloring into 1 cup of hot water. Stir in 1/4 cup vinegar. For more intense colors, use small amounts of professional-quality food coloring gels or pastes, available at craft, cake decorating and kitchen supply stores.
  • If you're doing multi-colored eggs, let them dry thoroughly between coats of dye.
  • Store finished and dried eggs in empty egg cartons.
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Egg Dyeing Supplies | Photo by Meredith.

Video: How to Dye Easter Eggs

Use this simple mix of food coloring, water, and vinegar to decorate Easter eggs.

Creative Easter Egg Decorations

  • Wrap eggs with twine or rubber bands before dyeing to create a striped effect. Remove after drying.
  • Create patterns with small bits of tape or stickers and remove after dyeing and drying.
  • Dab rubber cement on eggs and rub it off after dyeing and drying.
Easter Egg Ideas
Easter Egg Ideas | Photo by Meredith.
  • For spattered eggs, dip egg in a base color and let dry. Dip a clean toothbrush in a contrasting liquid color and carefully flick bristles with your fingers to make paint splatter onto egg.
  • For marbleized eggs, coat eggs with a base color and let dry. Mix canola or other light cooking oil into another color of dye (1 teaspoon oil per cup of dye) and quickly dunk eggs. The oil will repel color in some places and the dye will adhere in others, creating a marbled effect.
Marble Patterned Easter Eggs
Marble Patterned Easter Eggs | Photo by Meredith.

Check out these 12 dazzling Easter egg decorating ideas.

Ready for the advanced course?

See how to make Pysanky, The Gorgeous Easter Eggs You Can Only Eat With Your Eyes.

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Pysanky: Ukranian Easter Eggs | Photo by Vanessa Greaves.

Find inspiration for your Easter brunch and dinner celebrations.


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