The Best Way to Color Easter Eggs
Kitchen tools, gourmet foods, baking mixes, and hard-to-find baking ingredients mentioned in this article are available at The Prepared Pantry.
by Dennis Weaver
It's fun to color Easter eggs. Pink and yellow and lavender eggs are part of the Easter tradition. And of course, kids love colors and you can now choose from 41 colors.
In this article, you'll learn the best way to color eggs + how to boil an egg and avoid the green on the yolk.
How to Dye Easter Eggs
- Choose fresh eggs free from cracks.
- Commercial egg producers coat their eggs with an oil to help seal them.
Wash the eggs in a mild detergent to remove the oil and to let the color adhere
more readily to the eggs.
- Boil the eggs to the "hard boil” stage.
- To one cup of hot water, add 2 tablespoons of white vinegar, and the desired
food coloring or dye. Be sure to get enough food coloring in the water to make
it a darker shade than the desired shade for the eggs.
- Dip the eggs in the colored solution until the desired shade is reached.
For darker shades, let the eggs sit in the dye for up to two hours.
- If the eggs are to be eaten, keep them refrigerated.
Use professional food color gels from Americolor, or equal. Professional gels are not expensive, they are nine times more concentrated so it takes a lot less, and the colors are brighter and prettier. Gels just make prettier eggs.
Tip for blown eggs. If you are going to use blown eggs for Easter (those with the egg blown out through a hole in the end of the shell), color the eggs before blowing. If you blow the egg from the shell before dying, the empty, fragile shells will be difficult to immerse and handle in the dying water.
How to Boil an Egg so that it is Perfectly Cooked
Would you like to avoid that green coating on the yolks of your hardboiled eggs? You can do so if you time your cooking carefully. It's a matter of temperature. Always use an egg timer.
- Use only clean, fresh eggs. Discard eggs that are cracked.
- Lay the eggs in a heavy saucepan, one layer deep.
- Cover them with cold water just to cover the eggs.
- Bring the water in the pan to a rapid boil.
- Remove the pan from the heat, cover it with a lid, and let the eggs stand
in the hot water for 14 minutes.
- Remove the eggs from the pan and place them in ice water until they are
cool enough to handle.
Dennis Weaver is the founder of The Prepared Pantry, a full line kitchen store in Rigby, Idaho. The Prepared Pantry sells kitchen tools, gourmet foods, and baking ingredients including hundreds of hard-to-find ingredients.
