Coloured Eggs

Coloured eggs in an egg carton on a white bench top.

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Coloured eggs are simple to make, yet such a lovely thing to do for Easter. Add them to an Easter grazing board.

Prep Time5

Cook Time20

Dying5

Total Time30

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: New Zealand

Keyword: coloured eggs, dyed eggs, dying eggs for Easter, dying brown eggs, colouring eggs

Servings: eggs

Calories: 79kcal

Author: Stacey

Ingredients

6 hard boiled eggs
3 cups boiling water
6 teaspoons vinegar
food colouring

Instructions

Hard boil Eggs

Place 6 eggs in the bottom of a large saucepan. Cover the eggs with cold water so they are all covered by at least an inch of water.
Bring the eggs to a boil, once the eggs are rapidly boiling, cover with a lid and turn off the heat. Leave the eggs to stand for 12 minutes.
Drain the eggs and then run them under cold water.
Chill in the fridge before colouring them. The hard boiled eggs can be stored in the fridge for five days.

Colouring Eggs

For each colour you decide to dye your eggs you will need a small bowl or cup. I find cups easier as you need less dye mixture to completely submerge the eggs.
Mix ½ cup of boiling water with 1 teaspoon of vinegar and 10-15 drops of food colouring
Soak the eggs for approximately 5 minutes in the dye baths
Use tongs or a slotted spoon to remove the eggs from the dye. Place the eggs onto a piece of paper towel until dry.
Once dry to the touch store the eggs in the fridge.
Hardboiled eggs can be stored for up to 5 days in the fridge.

Notes

When I was making coloured eggs with my brown eggs I found these things gave the best results

Don't skip the vinegar: You get a more consistent and vibrant colour if you add vinegar to the water when dying eggs. The lower pH allows the food colouring to bind more tightly to the eggshell.

Hard-boiled eggs: I tested dying raw eggs, I found the shell seemed more porous which meant the colour was not as consistent.

Cold eggs: I found chilled hard-boiled eggs worked the best for me

Colour choice: Different colours worked better on my brown shelled eggs than others

Yellow: On a brown shelled egg the colour change was very subtle
Blue: I found aqua ie a combination of blue and green gave a better end result than straight blue. 10 drops blue + 5 drops green
Red: Worked well
Purple: I found a more red-based purple worked better. 10 drops red 2 drops red
Green: Straight green worked well
Orange: Orange worked well 10 drops red + 5 drops yellow

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