How to make natural food coloring? The answer’s easy. You can make it from scratch in shades of pink, purple, green, and yellow, with no artificial coloring, no preservatives, and no monumental price tag. Just fruits and vegetables.
Knowing how to make natural food coloring from scratch is something we’ve been wanting to do for literally years and years and years. And after trying countless different approaches, we finally we have the DIY natural food coloring recipe we’ve been wanting, seeking, and needing. No artificial colors. No preservatives. And no monumental price tag. Just vegetables and fruits and water.–David Leite
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Natural Food Coloring FAQs
How do natural food dyes compare to store-bought food coloring?
Keep in mind that when mixed into frostings or icing, natural food coloring will create shades of pastels rather than incredibly vibrant and nearly neon hues. But, on the other hand, these all-natural, one-ingredient colors are kinder and gentler to everyone involved. And there’s something to be said for softness, no?
Will I be able to taste the food coloring ingredients in the frosting?
Yes, to some extent, although it should be minimal. The more food coloring you use, the more noticeable the flavor will be. In some cases, this is desirable, such as with blueberries. However, if the food coloring uses an ingredient that may be off-putting to some, start with a small amount and monitor the flavor.
How To Make Natural Food Coloring
Ingredients
For pink food coloring
- 1/4 cup canned beets drained
- 1 teaspoon drained beet juice from the can
For yellow food coloring
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
For purple food coloring
- 1/4 cup blueberries fresh or frozen (if frozen, thaw and drain)
- 2 teaspoons water
For green food coloring
- 1 cup spinach fresh or frozen (if frozen, thaw and drain)
- 3 tablespoons water plus more as needed
Directions
- Choose your color below and simply follow the instructions below.
Notes
CHOOSE YOUR COLOR
Pink
In a high-speed blender or food processor, mix the beets and juice together until smooth. Strain if desired. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator. Add 1 teaspoon to icings, frostings, or batter for starters to impart a pink hue. Add more coloring, if necessary.Yellow
In a small saucepan, boil the water and turmeric for 3 to 5 minutes. Allow to fully cool. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator. Turmeric can stain, so use a container you don’t mind turning yellow. Add 1 teaspoon to icings, frostings, or batter for starters to impart a yellow hue. Add more coloring, if necessary. [Editor’s Note: Be careful when working with turmeric as it tends to stain whatever it comes in contact with, including countertops and wee fingers.]Purple
In a high-speed blender or food processor, blend the blueberries and water together until smooth. Using a fine-mesh sieve, strain the skins from the mix. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator. Add 1 teaspoon to icings, frostings, or batter for starters to impart a purple hue. Add more coloring, if necessary.Green
If using fresh spinach, in a small saucepan, boil the spinach in enough water to cover for 5 minutes. Drain, discarding the cooking liquid. If using frozen and thawed spinach, skip to the next step. In a high-speed blender or food processor, blend the spinach and water together until completely smooth. If the mixture clumps or stubbornly refuses to blend, add more water as needed, 1 tablespoon at a time. Strain, if desired, and let cool. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator. Add 1 teaspoon to icings, frostings or batter for starters to impart a green hue. Add more coloring, if necessary.Show Nutrition
If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #LeitesCulinaria. We’d love to see your creations on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
Recipe Testers’ Reviews
These instructions for how to make natural food coloring are easy to follow and everything came together quickly, each one taking less than 5 minutes (if you don’t count the half hour to allow some of the mixtures to cool). Our color testers included a 10-year-old and an 8-year-old. They swirled the final colors into bright white vanilla yogurt and and the results were delightful. Each color is a pretty hue—soft green, lemony yellow, light purple, and a pale pink that got the most enthusiastic chorus of “Ooooh!” and “Ahhhh!”
A few notes: Our blender must not be as powerful as some as the mixtures were a bit chunky. So we ended up straining each. It was easy to do and added maybe another 30 seconds to the overall time. We had fresh beets and fresh turmeric in the house, so we used those, grating each finely. The lemon yellow from the fresh turmeric is especially bright and fresh and satisfying. (Be aware! Turmeric REALLY stains. Make sure everyone is wearing an apron when playing with the colors.) We had a great time with this simple recipe and definitely will make these colors again.
With the problems of artificial colorings in our food chain, this natural food coloring recipe was a pleasure to try. For the pink, I believe you can use fresh beets that have been cooked and use the cooking water. For the purple, the total time, including clean up, was just 5 minutes. For the green, I used fresh spinach.
Originally published November 29, 2014
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If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #LeitesCulinaria. We'd love to see your creations on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
Hi! I kept seeing people struggling with the color blue but it’s honestly the easiest! Use butterfly pea flower, it’s tea so it doesn’t change the taste of your foods. Is it easy to attain in your country? It’s a very popular ingredient in Asia
Thanks, Nedd! Fantastic tip. I do believe you can order butterfly pea flowers online here.
I was requested to pipe a name with purple wordings … using butterfly pea flower is such a great idea! Would it work on cheesecake?
Cynthia, I think it would work as long as your cheesecake was fairly firm and dry on top. I would be concerned that if the surface was wet, the piping might bleed.
Thank you for your reply, Angie! i have tried using strawberry puree with some corn starch to pipe some hearts on cheesecake, it did not bleed, however, the surface was dull after some time. Will try using butterfly pea and blueberries this time to test it out!
Do let us know how it turns out, Cynthia!
I love these ideas for natural food coloring! I personally love the colour spirulina made, but that’s a great idea to use spinach to get that lighter green! Definitely going to be trying this out. 🙂
Erika, love the spirulina idea. Especially if you have that sort of turquoise Blue Majik, which I’ve seen food stylists use a lot though I haven’t tried it myself. Thrilled that you’ll be trying these. Keep in mind, they make a less vibrant hue than regular dyes, but I think you already know that.
What about food coloring other than pink, yellow, purple and green? What other foods or spices can be used for different colors, Please.
Would carrots work for an orange color?
Michele, we know the options are sorta limited colorwise, but we offered only those options that we tested with great unfailing success. (Keeping in mind that hues from natural ingredients are going to be less vibrant than the ones we’re accustomed to from artificial dyes.) We have had positive results from people who used purple cabbage for a shade of blue, though we find it to be more of a shade of purple. We haven’t tested this yet but we have heard from several sources that blueberries work for blue and yellow onion skins work for an orange-ish or faint redish hue and beets for a deeper reddish color. Good luck and kindly let us know how it goes…
Hello! I’m 16 years old and planning to become a preschool teacher. I think this idea is really great! I love the idea of reducing the use of chemicals and I will probably use this in the future.
Eli, I encourage and applaud you in your quest to be a teacher! It’s a noble and fine profession. We need more committed people to teaching our youngsters. All of us here at LC wish you the very best.
Dried hibiscus petals soaked in vodka for a few weeks gives you this AMAZING, deep crimson food color! Dilluting it with a little water reveals an endless array of reds and pinks too!
Soak goji berries the same way and you have a really vibrant vermillion (if red and orange had a baby 😆).
James, thank you for that amazing info!