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Hi Bold Bakers!
Now more than ever, we want to know what goes into our food. What better way to be sure than to make your food yourself? Food dye has gotten a bad rap, so if you don’t want to use it or want an all-natural option, this is for you.
Fruits, vegetables, and spices have intense pigments, which makes them perfect to use when making homemade food coloring.
This isn’t as concentrated as most commercial food coloring, so you might need to use more. It will work best in icings and frostings. To color a cake, you will need to use more of this than you would artificial food coloring.
Does All Natural Homemade Food Coloring taste weird? Nope! You use such small amounts that you won’t taste the fruit and vegetable ingredients. Also, the ingredients used are all quite mildly flavored, except turmeric, but you only need to use very small amounts to get a strong yellow color.
If you want to make your own different colors, you can mix two colors together or use other fruits and vegetables. Carrot juice is a great option.
If you want to see my All Natural Homemade Food Coloring in action, check out my No-Bake Funfetti Cheesecake Recipe. This gorgeous pink-colored cheesecake is all thanks to All Natural Homemade Food Coloring.
I love to give you homemade solutions for staples you might think you can only buy at the grocery store. Be sure to check out more Bold Baking Basics like our Homemade Condensed Milk recipe and Egg Substitute tips.
Thanks to Leites Culinaria for the great All Natural Homemade Food Coloring recipes.
Put good ingredients into your food, and you’ll end up with great results!
Beets give you an amazing vivid deep red that verges on pink. It’s gorgeous, and there’s no beet taste. The bottles I used are available here on Amazon.com.
I used spinach to create this beautifully bold green food coloring, but you can use any leafy green that has a rich color.
Turmeric is mainly used in cooking to give foods a bright yellow hue. This makes it a great option to create a lovely yellow All Natural Homemade Food Coloring.
Ironically, blueberries yield this striking purple All Natural Homemade Food Coloring. The berries are less blue than you think!
Raise your Bold Baking game by making your own All Natural Homemade Food Coloring! You will be amazed by the results.
Try These Recipes!
Watch The Recipe Video!
All Natural Homemade Food Coloring
Ingredients
Pink food coloring- 1/4 cup (60 g) cooked beets (canned or fresh)
- ½ cup (4oz/115g) beet juice (from can or cooking liquid)
Yellow food coloring - ½ cup (4oz/115g) water
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
Purple food coloring - ½ cup (4oz/115g) blueberries, fresh or frozen (if frozen and thawed)
- ⅓ cup (3oz /90g) water
Green food coloring - 1 cup (1oz/30g) spinach, fresh or frozen (if frozen, thaw and drain)
- ½ cup (4oz/115g) water
Instructions
- Pink
- In a blender or food processor, blend the beets and juice together until smooth. Pass through a sieve to remove the beets and save the beet liquid which is your food coloring.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 6 weeks in the refrigerator.
- Yellow
- In a small saucepan, simmer the water and turmeric for 2 to 3 minutes. Allow to fully cool.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 6 weeks in the refrigerator. Turmeric can stain, so use a container you don’t mind turning yellow.
- Purple
- In a blender or food processor, blend the blueberries and water together until smooth. I like to use frozen berries because they have better color when defrosted. Pass through a sieve to remove the skins and pulp from the mix so you are just left with the purple liquid.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 6 weeks in the refrigerator.
- Green
- If using fresh spinach, in a small saucepan, simmer the spinach and water for 2-3 minutes. Don’t cover the spinach as it will dull the green color. If using frozen and thawed spinach skip this step.
- In a blender or food processor, blend the spinach and water together until completely smooth. Pass through a sieve to remove the leaves.
- Store your green coloring in an airtight container for up to 6 weeks in the refrigerator.
- Add your Homemade All Natural Food Coloring to icings, frostings or batter. Add more coloring, if necessary.
Can we use tomatoes or strawberries for red food dye and also, is there another fruit or vegetable for the purple food dye
Hello Gemma,
Can we use these colours in a buttercream?
I LOVE THESE HOMEMADE FOOD COLORS, THEY WORK GREAT! ONE QUESTION. WHAT DO YOU USE FOR YELLOW, RED, & ORANGE? ALSO HOW MUCH WATER DO YOU ADD TO THE MIX?
i am assuming this can be frozen. i doubt I woould use it up even in six weeks?
can I use it in royal icing?
Have you used these dyes for Easter eggs?
A very useful article to read. Thanks a lot for sharing this. Fine work. Keep it up.
If using in play dough does it need to be refrigerated
These won’t grow mold or bacteria kept for several weeks?
These recipes for the various colors are wonderful–thank you!