Easter Eggs (Dyed with Natural Egg Dye)

Learn how to use Natural Egg Dye to dye your Easter eggs. I'll show you the method my mom used to dye her Easter eggs using onion skins along with other natural dye options like tea, turmeric, and purple cabbage. The eggs can also be used as a beautiful Easter centerpiece.

I first shared this method in my cookbook Mom's Authentic Assyrian recipes, which was published in 2008. Since then, the idea seems to have taken off!

Why This Recipe Works

Dying Easter Eggs using onion skins and other natural ingredients is a great way to connect to the past and how many cultures, including Assyrians, dyed their Easter Eggs. Once taught to your kids, they can carry on old family traditions.

Using various herbs and leaves allows you to create beautiful and intricate designs (the parts that don't get dyed) similar to when using wax to cover the parts you don't want to be dyed, similar to dying Ukrainian Easter Eggs.

What You Need to Make Natural Dye Easter Eggs

Before beginning this recipe, make sure you have the following items:

• Various plants, flowers, and herbs (to make the pattern on the eggs)
• Paper towels or pantyhose to wrap the eggs with
• Rubber bands or string to tie the material in place
• A pot or teakettle to boil the eggs in

How to Dye Eggs with onion skins

STEP 1: Gather all your ingredients before you start.

STEP 2: Carefully place one sprig of cilantro or Italian parsley, or whatever leaf or flower you are using, over each egg. Make sure the leaves lay flat on the egg. They stick better if you moisten the egg first.

STEP 3: Carefully cover the egg with a napkin or pantyhose. Gather the material toward the back of the egg. Tie the material in place with a rubber band or twine. Do the same with the remaining eggs.

STEP 4:  Carefully place the eggs in an electric tea kettle or a pot. Don't overcrowd the eggs. Cover the eggs with onion skins, then fill the pot or tea kettle with water.

PRP TIP: You can also play around with other natural ingredients to see what colors you can create!

STEP 5: Bring the water to a boil. If using an electric kettle, it will shut off once the water boils. Otherwise, boil for five minutes then turn off the stove and leave the eggs in the dye until cool enough to handle.

6. Carefully remove the eggs, one at a time. Unwrap the eggs and gently remove the herbs, leaves, or flowers. Continue until all the eggs are uncovered, then display those beautiful eggs proudly!

Pro Tips

• Mom used to collect onion skins throughout the year so that when Easter rolled around, she had plenty of onion skins to dye her eggs with. I do the same thing now. 
• Although mom used pieces of fabric and string to hold the herbs in place, I find it more convenient to use disposable paper towels, and rubber bands.
• Add a few tablespoons of white vinegar if you'd like. The vinegar is supposed to help the color adhere better, but my mom didn't use it.

Other Egg Dying Materials

Natural Egg Dye Options 

Over the years, I've played around with different natural egg dye ingredients to achieve various colors. Some of the ingredients I've used include:

• tea
• coffee
• turmeric

I recommend experimenting to see what colors you can come up with.

Materials to wrap the eggs in

I've tried different things to wrap the eggs in and they all work pretty well. It just depends on what you have handy. If making eggs as a group, I recommend each person use a different type of egg wrap so that when you pull out the eggs you'll know who they belong to.

Here are some of the materials I have used successfully to wrap the Easter eggs in.

• Napkins
• Pantyhose
• Very thin fabric

What Herbs and Flowers to Use on Easter eggs

Besides using different dyes, and different materials to wrap the Easter eggs in, I've also experimented with various leaves, flowers, and herbs to achieve a variety of patterns.

Part of the fun of making Naturally Dyed Easter eggs is hunting for flowers and leaves from your own garden. Just make sure the plants are not poisonous, please.

Some of the plants and flowers I've used include:

• Italian parsley
• Cilantro
• Rosemary
• Rose leaves
• Nasturtiums
• impatiens

Holiday Traditions

My favorite thing about the holidays is the traditions attached to them. I guess I've always been sentimental, but it seems the older I get, the more sentimental I become. 

Dyeing Easter eggs in onion skins in an Easter tradition I intend to carry on for the rest of my days. As a matter of fact, there is no better natural egg dye than onion skins, at least according to my mom.

Mom's eggs were always so deep in color, no vinegar was needed, only her special touch! To achieve this color, double the amount of onion skins!

Another wonderful Easter tradition is making The Tomb is Empty Resurrection Cookies! These delicious cookies tell the story of Easter in a fun and creative way that your kids will love!

My son, Scotty, (who's now 21) holding one of Grandma's Easter Eggs.

Assyrian Easter Egg Tradition

Another Assyrian Easter tradition is playing a game with the Easter eggs once they're dyed. This tradition involves challenging family members to see whose egg is the strongest.

You do this by attempting to crack their boiled egg with yours. The one with the cracked egg loses, while the one with the intact egg continues on to the next round, and challenges someone else.

The person who has no cracks in their egg at the end is the winner. In my immediate family, we like to sweeten the deal by giving the winner a twenty-dollar bill!

This game is not exclusively an Assyrian one. Greeks play the same game, along with many other Christian cultures.

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