How to Make Natural Egg Dye in the Instant Pot

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Looking for a natural way to dye eggs for Easter?  LOOK NO FURTHER!  This Instant Pot Pressure Cooker method for making egg dye is incredibly fast and easy as can be!  Your family will love seeing how food at the grocery store can make beautifully colored eggs!

This here recipe/how-to is next level for sure.

You know that smile you get on your face when you watch someone's baby coo and giggle?  Do you ever just look at your pressure cooker and get that same grin?  Yeah, me neither, because that would be totally weird . . .

Buuuuuuutt, if I did, it would be for this recipe.  Natural Easter Egg Dye in the Pressure Cooker!

My kids were in awe, I was happy dancing, and my husband was smirking towards my direction.  Homemade, bright, beautiful color dye in minutes in the pressure cooker.  That, for me, is next level.

My kids LOVED this!  They helped me plop our Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs into the mason jars and every hour or so they would check to see what color they had become.

Okay, maybe it was every 2 minutes that they wanted to check, but I LET them check every hour until they were the color they wanted them to be.

They couldn't get over the fact that we had dyed Easter eggs with food and I'm gonna go ahead and say it was even more fun than the artificial tablets in a box we've used in years past.

WHY YOU WILL LOVE MAKING NATURAL EASTER EGG DYE

• No artificial dyes anywhere to be seen!  This is all made from nature's bounties, some of the colors are even made from trash (onion peels!)
• Intense beautiful colors!  The longer you let the eggs bathe in the dye, the more colorful they'll become
• No weird transfer of taste from the dye to the egg.  I promise, you won't end up with a cabbage tasting egg
• It's just plain fun.  There is something so rewarding about this process and kids find it positively magical

HOW TO MAKE NATURAL EGG DYE IN THE INSTANT POT

1. Prepare the dying agent (in this case, chop up purple cabbage)
2. Pressure cook for 10 minutes
3. Pour through a strainer
4. Add vinegar to the colored liquid, stir
5. Place hard boiled eggs in the jar
6. Let soak for an hour or overnight until you reach the desired color intensity

Look at that color!!!  Isn't that amazing!

Whether you want to make your own Natural Easter Egg Dye for the natural aspect or just for the fun of it, this is the only way to go!

If you do this on the stove top, it takes at least 40 minutes of boiling to get this kind of color intensity.

Plus after 40 minutes of boiling cabbage and onion peels, whoa mama, your house is gonna reek.  I even put the pressure cooker outside to make these which meant my house still smelled like lavender vanilla at the end of the day.

I will say I had a few flops while I was experimenting.  I tried to use spinach and tea bags but they all ended up barely lending any color to the egg.  If you have experience with this and have other colors that have worked, hook me up!  I will be using this method for years to come!

Here are the foods I used and the colors I achieved.  Note: The eggs pictured here were left in the liquid anywhere from an hour to overnight, that is why there is such a variety of color.

Purple Cabbage = Blue (my personal favorite)

Beets = Pink

Yellow Onion Skin = Orange

Ground Turmeric = Yellow

(Note: Next time I plan on hunting down fresh turmeric since the powder in the bottom of the jar made them dye unevenly)

Red Onion Skin = Red (more of a rusty red)

There you have it!  An adorable basketful of Hard Boiled Eggs, all different shades with a touch of character on each one.

TIPS FOR MAKING BEAUTIFUL, NATURALLY DYED EGGS

• The eggs will not dye well where they press against the mason jar.  To avoid white spots, gently move the eggs around in the jar occasionally to allow for the dye to color the entire surface
• The color will rub off slightly while the eggs are wet.  Allow them to fully dry before handling them.  The color will become permanent once dry
• The peeled eggs can be placed in the dye for a fun and festive twist on deviled eggs.  You can achieve a beautiful color in less than an hour.  I barely tasted the dye, and I suspect with the deviled egg filling, I wouldn't notice it at all, or it may even make the deviled eggs more flavorful!

In case I've failed to say it less than 50 times today, I REALLY, REALLY LOVE THIS RECIPE AND YOU REALLY, REALLY MUST TRY IT!  Your kids will love this activity, I guarantee it!

Happy Easter!  Unless you're reading this post at a different time of year, in which case, this will still be a fun and educational experiment for the family!

EXTRA TIDBITS

ARTIFICIAL FOOD COLORING

For anyone wondering why I would go through the work of making natural egg dye, here's some food for thought:

There are many differing opinions on the subject, but as the years go by there seem to be more and more concerns about the use of man-made/synthetic dyes.  These dyes can easily be identified on a label as a color with a number, for example: Blue 1, Yellow 5, etc.

Research has shown possible evidence that such dyes cause problems particularly among children such as allergies, hyperactivity, irritability, etc.

While I don't claim to be an expert on the subject, I do feel it's worth paying attention to, and if I can make one small change for children's well being, such as making my own Easter Egg Dye, I'll gladly take on the challenge!

Plus, it's just a whole lot of fun seeing what you can create with pure, real, wholesome food!

Enjoy!

TOOLS USED TO MAKE NATURAL EGG DYE IN THE INSTANT POT PRESSURE COOKER

• Instant Pot
• Quart Size Wide Mouth Mason Jars
• Strainer 

How to Make Natural Egg Dye in the Pressure Cooker

Quick and easy, all natural Easter Egg Dye made in the Instant Pot Pressure Cooker!

• Author: Marci
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 10 minutes
• Total Time: 30 minutes
• Yield: 2 cups 1x
• Category: Easter
• Method: Pressure Cooker
• Cuisine: American

Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients

For each Homemade Dye

• 2 cups water
• dyeing agent (listed below)
• 2 tablespoons vinegar

Dyeing Agents

Blue Eggs

• 2 cups chopped purple cabbage

Pink Eggs

• 2 cups chopped, peeled beets (canned beets may work as well)

Orange Eggs

• 2 cups yellow onion peel

Yellow Eggs

• 2 tablespoons ground turmeric

Red Eggs

• 2 cups red onion peel

Instructions

Directions are for each individual dye.  If making more than one color, rinse the pot thoroughly between each batch to prevent mixing colors

1. Pour 2 cups of water into the pressure cooker pot and add desired dyeing agent.
2. Secure the lid and turn pressure release knob to a sealed position.  Cook at high pressure for 10 minutes.
3. When cooking is complete, use a quick release.
4. Carefully pour through a strainer into a larger bowl, discard dyeing agent.
5. Pour colored water into a quart size wide mouth mason jar and add 2 tablespoons of vinegar.  Top with a lid and place in fridge.
6. Let it chill 4 hours or overnight before placing hard boiled eggs in the jar to dye.
7. Repeat with the other dyeing agents to create more colors.
8. Dye will keep in the fridge for at least 1 week.

To dye hard boiled eggs:

Note: Each jar will hold 4-5 eggs at a time.  The eggs will have white spots where they touch each other or the jar so lightly rotate the jar a few times while they are in the jar for more even coloring.

1. Using a slotted spoon, gently lower eggs into the mason jar.
2. Allow the eggs to sit in the dye for at least an hour or overnight, depending on how dark you want them.
3.  When they have achieved the color you want, use a slotted spoon to gently lift them from the jar.
4. While they are wet, the color will come off if you rub on it too hard.  Place on a cooling rack in the fridge to dry completely.  This will set the dye so it won't rub off.
5. Once dry, store in an egg carton or other sealed container.
6. Repeat with more eggs if desired.

Notes

• Naturally dyed eggs have more of a matte finish.  Rub a little coconut oil on them to give them a shine if desired
• I tasted an egg from each dye and didn't notice any change in taste to the egg.  The eggs colored with beets did turn a little pink around the white.
• Naturally colored eggs will fade after a few days.

Keywords: Instant Pot, Pressure Cooker, Easter eggs, Easter egg dye

Recipes adapted from The Kitchn and Mommypotamus

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