Can You Dye Brown Eggs?

The whole family can get involved in dyeing eggs – you simply need some eggs and a few simple ingredients to get some beautiful colors!

Generally, white eggs are used for dyeing, as they hold colors better (especially pastel colors), but you might not have any white eggs at home.

Is it possible to dye brown eggs? Yes, you can dye brown eggs. You can still dye brown eggs, but they won’t be as light as white eggs – they won’t be able to take on pastel colors without some preparation.

Here’s everything you need to know about dyeing brown eggs, and how you can still achieve beautiful colors!

Is It Possible To Dye Brown Eggs?

Except for the color of their shells, brown and white eggs are almost identical.

As the brown surface of brown eggs will not be able to display colors as well as the white surface of white eggs, brown eggs present a bit of a problem when dyeing.

It is harder for brown eggs to hold onto pastel colors, such as pink, pale blue, spring yellow, and more, than white eggs can. However, brown eggs can hold onto darker colors, such as red, blue, and dark green.

These are not very Easter-like colors, and eggs are usually dyed for Easter. Luckily, you can lighten the shells of brown eggs so they hold on to pastel colors better.

How To Lighten Brown Eggs

It is possible to dye brown eggs “as is” and end up with a darker colored dyed egg, such as navy blue, dark green, or maroon red, but if you want lighter colors, then you should lighten their shells before dyeing.

This can be done by soaking the eggs in vinegar before dyeing. This is best done after they have been hard-boiled, because it doesn’t matter if the shell becomes weaker from the soaking.

As soon as you wipe the surface of the egg after it has been soaked in vinegar, some of the darker color should be removed, allowing you to dye the egg pastel.

Tips For Lightening Brown Eggs With Vinegar

Here are a few notes and tips to keep in mind when it comes to lightening brown egg shells with vinegar:

The use of distilled white wine vinegar is a great way to lighten egg shells, since it is inexpensive and readily available.
The eggs can be left in the vinegar for longer than 5 minutes if they haven’t lightened enough, but no longer than 10–12 minutes, as the shells may become soft.
Depending on the type of brown egg, some will lighten to almost white, while others may only lighten to a cream color.
When serving the dyed eggs for consumption, use food coloring that is safe for consumption.
The vinegar reacts with the egg shell, releasing gas bubbles, which is normal when the egg is placed in the vinegar.

How Do You Dye Brown Eggs?

In the same way that you would dye white eggs, brown eggs are dyed in a fairly straightforward manner. There is a special step you can use to lighten the outside of a brown egg so that it can hold onto lighter colors better. Here’s how to dye brown eggs step-by-step!

1. Hard Boil Eggs

To prepare your eggs for dyeing, you can use a variety of methods, but hard boiling is the most family-friendly. Eggs can be hardboiled for 8 minutes in boiling water until firm, as you would normally do.

2. Soak In Vinegar

You need to do this step if you want to use lighter, pastel dyes on the eggs. If you plan to use darker dyes for the eggs, then you do not need to do this step.

Using lighter dyes would require soaking the eggs in vinegar and cooling them under cold running water once they have hard boiled.

After the eggs have cooled, place them in a bowl and cover them with white vinegar, ensuring that the shells are completely covered. Leave the eggs in the vinegar for 5 minutes.

Once the eggs have been in the vinegar for five minutes, remove them from the vinegar and rinse them well before dyeing.

3. Prepare The Dye

A teaspoon of white vinegar should be added to the water in a bowl or container large enough to cover the eggs.

Put around 20 drops of food coloring in, more or less depending on how dark or light you would like the dye to be.

4. Prepare The Eggs

In the next step, the eggs will be prepared for dyeing.

In addition to placing the eggs “as is” into the dye solution, you can add some rubber bands to them, draw on them with wax crayons, or mark off designs with waterproof tape.

5. Dye The Eggs

Once the eggs have been prepared, dip each egg into the dye solution, turn it occasionally so all sides are covered, and then place it on a slotted spoon.

If you want a dark and vivid color, you can soak the egg in dye for up to five minutes.

Dip the egg into one color, then dip it into another color to create a multicolored, layered finish.

6. Dry The Eggs

Taking the eggs out of the dye with a slotted spoon will help them dry faster, and will help prevent any stains on your countertop.

Before adding any stickers or tape, let the eggs fully dry.

How Do Brown Eggs Turn Out When Dyed?

As brown eggs have darker shells, they require darker dyes to show when dyed, which results in them holding on to dye the same as white eggs.

Eggs cannot be dyed pastels or light colors without first soaking them in vinegar and removing some of the brown color, but they can be dyed darker colors.

When it comes to Easter, this can be an issue if you want to keep the traditional colors.

It is still possible to dye brown eggs successfully – they can hold some bold and vivid colors, and they can still be great fun for the whole family to experiment with; just choose darker colors or soak the shells first.

Final Thoughts

It is not necessary to put off dyeing some eggs if you are unable to find white eggs and have brown ones on hand!

Several options exist when it comes to dyeing brown eggs.

A darker dye can be used to show on the brown shell, or you can soak the eggs in vinegar and then dye them pastel colors to lighten the brown shells.

Whether you choose darker colors or traditional Easter pastels, dyeing the shells of brown eggs is a fun process for the whole family!