In this day and age, we’re much more aware of what we’re eating and conscious of what goes into our food. But the best way to make sure you’re eating foods that are good for you and chemical-free is to make it yourself at home. One food that gets a bad rap? Food dye. Now, you might be thinking that making homemade food dye is impossible or at least very difficult – but you would be wrong! You can make all-natural food dye right in your own kitchen using vegetables that are already bursting with color, like beets, blueberries, and turmeric. And this recipes are so incredible simple! Watch Gemma’s Bigger Bolder Baking tutorial below to see how you can make this all-natural dye right at home.

The foods that Gemma uses to make her food dyes are beets for red dye, spinach for green dye, blueberries for purple dye, and turmeric for yellow dye. Any of these can be combined once made to create secondary colors – orange, for instance!

In case you were worried, none of the flavors of these foods will be detected in your homemade food coloring.

Overall, this is a really healthy and simple way to keep some fun colors in your cooking without fretting about what you’re putting in your body.

Below, we’ll break down everything you’ll need for each beautiful dye.

RED DYE – BEETS

INGREDIENTS
– Chopped beets
– Beet juice

1. Add cooked beets to a food processor.
2. Add beat juice. Blend together thoroughly.
3. Sift your beet processor to get out the chunks. You’ll be left with some pulp, that’s okay. Jar it up and label it!

GREEN DYE – SPINACH

INGREDIENTS
– Spinach
– Water

1. In a pot, cook down the spinach with a little water until it wilts.
2. When it cools down, put it in the food processor to blend for around 2 minutes.
3. Sift your spinach mixture. This time, try to get rid of pulp and just keep the juices. Jar and label.

YELLOW DYE – TURMERIC

INGREDIENTS
– Turmeric
– Water

1. Cook turmeric on the stove with some water. Whisk to combine.
2. Let the mixture simmer for a few minutes. Let it cool off the heat for a few minutes before jarring up.

PURPLE DYE – BLUEBERRIES

INGREDIENTS
– Blueberries, frozen
– Water

1. Put the blueberries and a bit of water into your processor. Blend them up.
2. Sift the pulp out of the juice and bottle up.

If there are any foods you know of that have strong colors, you can easily make them into food dye, too! There are so many beautiful colors found in nature, so it’s only right to take advantage of them.

To be fair, this dye won’t be as concentrated as store-bought dye, so you’ll need to use more of it in your recipes. But this is definitely worth the ease of mind knowing that your food is that much better for you!