--- title: "Dyeing eggs with red cabbage: a natural Easter dye" description: "How to dye Easter eggs blue with red cabbage, step by step with an adult, and why vinegar and baking soda change the colour. Plus the pH colours on screen." source_name: "Game Tailors" source_url: "https://extreemtekenen.nl/en/seasons/easter-red-cabbage-eggs/" site_home: "https://extreemtekenen.nl/" source_description: "The drawing app where the paper is real. No ads, no accounts, no data collected." locale: "en" legal: - "Game Tailors · Schieweg 15Y-40, 2627 AN Delft (NL)" - "KvK 92437702 · VAT NL866044474B01" - "info@gametailors.com · +31 6 4227 5919" copyright: "© 2026 Game Tailors" published_at: "2026-10-24T00:47:58.923Z" modified_at: "2026-10-24T00:47:59.125Z" --- # Dyeing eggs with red cabbage: a natural Easter dye ## Blue eggs from a purple cabbage Simmer red cabbage, let white eggs soak in the cooled purple juice for a few hours, and they come out a soft sky blue. The dye in red cabbage changes colour with acids and alkalis: pink with vinegar, blue-green with baking soda. [Do it for real](<#for-real>)[Play in your browser]() - Ages 5\+ - With an adult - Overnight soak ![Painted illustration of the painter lifting a sky-blue egg out of a jar of red cabbage juice, with jars of dye, a basket of coloured eggs and a red cabbage.]() Age 5 to 10 Time 45 min, plus a few hours or overnight Mess Medium: the juice stains Adult needed Yes, for the knife and the hot pan You need Red cabbage, white eggs, vinegar, baking soda On screen / for real The colours on screen; the eggs for real ## In Extreme Drawing: the colours first There are no whole eggs to dye in the app \(an egg dropped on the paper cracks open\). What it does show is the colour chemistry, on paper. Tap *Dip in red cabbage juice* on the Time tab and the whole sheet comes out purple. Draw some egg shapes, then paint inside them with *Vinegar* or *Secret ink* \(lemon juice\) from the Science tab: they turn pink and red. Baking soda or dish soap turn it blue to green. Bleach turns it yellow, then destroys the colour. Two egg tricks the app does have: crack an egg and paint *Red cabbage juice* over the egg white, and it turns blue, because egg white is alkaline. Drop vinegar on the bits of shell and they slowly fizz away. [Play in your browser]() ![Painted illustration of the painter pouring purple red cabbage juice into a row of glasses that go from pink through purple and blue to green, with a lemon and baking soda.]() ## Dye eggs with red cabbage **You need \(for 6 eggs\):** - half a red cabbage \(about 500 g\) - 1 litre of water - 6 white eggs, hard-boiled and cooled - white vinegar - baking soda \(bicarbonate of soda\) - 3 glass jars or mugs, a sieve, a spoon - cotton buds or a small brush - kitchen paper and an old tray 1. Make the juice \(adult\)An adult chops the cabbage and simmers it in the water for about 20 minutes, until the water is deep purple. Sieve it and let it cool completely. 2. Make three coloursPour the juice into three jars. Leave one purple. Stir a tablespoon of vinegar into the second \(it goes pink\). Stir a pinch of baking soda into the third \(it goes blue-green\). 3. PredictBefore the eggs go in: what colour will each egg be? Write it down. 4. Soak the eggsLower two eggs into each jar with a spoon. Put the jars in the fridge for a few hours, or overnight for a deeper colour. 5. Lift and drySpoon them out onto kitchen paper and let them dry without rubbing. White eggs usually come out blue, whatever jar they were in. 6. Shift the colourDab a little vinegar on part of a dyed egg with a cotton bud, and baking-soda water on another part. Watch the colour shift, then compare with your predictions. Safety and clean-up An adult handles the knife and the hot pan, and the juice must be cold before children use it. If you want to eat the eggs, keep them in the fridge the whole time and eat them within a few days. Vinegar stings eyes: rinse with water if it splashes. Red cabbage juice stains clothes, wooden boards and grout, so work on a tray and wipe spills straight away. ![Painted illustration of the painter, goggles on his beret, studying a bottle foaming over in stripes, with red cabbage juice in pink and green glasses and fizzing baking soda.]() ## Why it works **For kids:** Red cabbage has a purple colour inside that changes when it meets something sour \(an acid\) or something soapy and bitter \(an alkali\). Eggshell is made of chalk, which is a bit like baking soda, so the colour turns blue on it. **For grown-ups:** The pigment is an anthocyanin, a natural pH indicator: red to pink below about pH 4, purple near neutral, blue around pH 8 and green above about pH 9 \(yellow in strong alkali or bleach\). Eggshell is calcium carbonate, a base, so where the dye touches the shell its local pH is higher than in the jar, which is why white eggs come out blue even from a slightly acidic bath. Vinegar also dissolves a little of the shell \(it fizzes, giving off carbon dioxide\), which can help the dye take, but a long soak in strong vinegar softens the shell. ## Try next ### Brown eggs Dye a brown egg next to a white one. Brown plus blue makes… what colour? ### Kitchen test Add drops of juice to lemon juice, milk, soapy water and fizzy water. Which are acids? ### Patterns Wrap an elastic band or stick a leaf on an egg before it soaks. What stays white? ## For teachers Red cabbage juice as an indicator fits acids and alkalis in upper primary and lower secondary science, and the colour of the eggs is a good puzzle: the juice was pink, so why is the egg blue? Our red cabbage indicator page has the full experiment. [Red cabbage pH indicator]()[For teachers]() What colour do red cabbage eggs turn? White eggs usually turn a soft sky blue, deeper the longer they soak. Brown eggs tend to come out greenish. Do you need vinegar to dye eggs with red cabbage? No, but many people add a little. It turns the juice pinker and etches the shell slightly, which can help the colour take. The eggs still come out blue. How long should eggs sit in red cabbage dye? At least a few hours in the fridge; overnight gives the deepest blue. Are red cabbage dyed eggs safe to eat? Yes, if they were hard-boiled, kept in the fridge the whole time and eaten within a few days. ## More colour chemistry ![Painted illustration of the painter pouring purple red cabbage juice into a row of glasses that go from pink through purple and blue to green, with a lemon and baking soda.]() ### [Red cabbage pH indicator]() The full experiment, with a colour chart. ![Painted illustration of the painter pouring red vinegar onto a heap of baking soda on a tray, which fizzes up into pink foam.]() ### [Baking soda and vinegar]() An acid meets a base, and it fizzes. ![Painted illustration of the painter sprinkling salt on a big blue and purple snowflake painting, beside a frosted snowman drawing, gingerbread stars and hearts and a Christmas tree.]() ### [Christmas]() Salt snowflakes, frost and baking. ## See the colours change on the screen [Play in your browser]()[All seasons]()