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.
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!
Tools Needed to Dye Eggs
Before beginning this recipe, make sure you have the following items:
- Paper towels to wrap the eggs with
- Rubber bands to keep the napkins in place
- A pot or teakettle to boil the eggs in.
How to Dye Eggs with onion skins
Ingredients
- 12 eggs
- 4 cups onion skins
- parsley sprigs
- cilantro sprigs
Directions
Gather all your ingredients before you start.
Carefully place one sprig of cilantro or Italian parsley, over each egg. Make sure the leaves lay flat onto the egg. They stick better if you moisten the egg first.
Carefully cover the egg with a napkin, and gather the napkin towards the back of the egg, or use pantyhose.
Tie the napkin tightly with a rubber band. Do the same with the remaining eggs.
Carefully place the eggs in an electric tea kettle, six at a time.
Cover the eggs with onion skins, then fill the tea kettle with water.
Bring the water to a boil. Once the water reaches the right temperature, it will shut off automatically.
At this point, you can leave the eggs in there for approximately 30 minutes.
Carefully remove the eggs, one at a time.
Unwrap, and carefully peel the herbs off of the eggs.
Continue until all the eggs are uncovered, then display those beautiful eggs proudly!
Cook’s 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 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
- purple cabbage
- food coloring.
I recommend experimenting to see what colors you can come up with.
I’ve also tried different things to wrap the eggs in, including:
- cloth
- paper towels
- napkins
- pantyhose
Besides using different dyes, I played around with different leaves, flowers, and herbs to achieve a variety of patterns.
Have fun hunting for flowers and leaves from your own garden, just make sure the plants are not poisonous!
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 needed, only her special touch! To achieve this color, double the amount of onion skins!
My son, Scotty, (who’s now 21) holding one of Grandma’s Easter Eggs.
Another Assyrian Easter 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.
No, I don’t have horns growing out of my head, that’s Scott’s buffalo head mounted on the fireplace behind me. Talk about placement!
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Easter Eggs (Dyed with Onion Skins)
Ingredients
- 12 eggs
- 4 cups onion skins
- cilantro sprigs
- Italian parsley sprigs
Instructions
- Carefully place one sprig of cilantro or Italian parsley, over each egg. Make sure the leaves lay flat onto the egg. They stick better if you moisten the egg first.
- Cover the egg with a napkin, and gather the napkin towards the back of the egg. Alternatively, use nylons.
- Tie the napkin tightly with a rubber band. Do the same with the remaining eggs.
- Carefully place the eggs in an electric tea kettle or a Dutch oven, six at a time.
- Cover the eggs with onion skins, then fill the tea kettle/Dutch oven with water. Add a few tablespoons of white vinegar if you'd like.
- Bring the water to a boil. Once the water reaches the right temperature, it will shut off automatically, unless you're using a pot.
- At this point, you can leave the eggs in there for at approximately 30 minutes.
- Carefully remove the eggs, one at a time.
- Unwrap, and carefully peel the herbs off of the eggs.
- Continue until all the eggs are uncovered, then display those beautiful eggs proudly!
Notes
Cook’s 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.
HildaSterner says
Thanks, Laura! Glad you enjoyed the post!
Laura Tulip says
Very interesting read and the eggs look beautiful! The horns amused me too 🙂
HildaSterner says
Thanks! I’m glad there’s still people out there that haven’t been exposed to this technique yet. A few years ago, someone posted a video on my FB page showing how to do this method. I thought to myself, “Dang it! Someone beat me to sharing mom’s egg-dyeing method!” Although, I did share it in my cookbook that was published in 2008, so technically I beat them… As you can see, I’m not competitive at all! 😉 Anyways, they’re super easy to make, and the game is fun too! You should definitely try both.
tidbitsbytaylor says
Wow I have never seen this before either, they are pretty. The game seems fun too, might have to try it. Thanks for sharing 🙂
HildaSterner says
Thank you so much for stopping by and for the sweet comment!
Vox says
These are so beautiful and done with natural ingredients! Thanks for sharing something that I had never heard of before. ?