Do you remember what you teacher always told you in school? “Don’t be afraid to ask, because if you have a question, the chances are someone else has the exact same question.” I kept that in mind for today’s post because I feel like everyone probably already knows how to do this. Except for me, apparently. After working on my fun Easter Egg treats last month, my daughter and I have had fun experimenting with Rice Krispies Treat formulations. She asked me if I could color the Rice Krispies cereal for one of our creations, and I honestly didn’t know the answer. But I found out, and I want to make sure that you know how to do this, too! Here’s How to Dye Rice Krispies!
Dying Rice Krispies cereal isn’t complicated. Begin by melting three tablespoons of butter in a skillet over low heat. Once melted, add four cups of marshmallows and stir them until they are melted.
Remove the melted marshmallows from the heat and pour into a mixing bowl.
At this point, grab the food color that you want. Pay attention to the food coloring box for color formulations and combinations. Quickly drop the desired amount of food coloring drops into the melted marshmallows. Stir.
Here are two colors that we did- green and purple.
Add Rice Krispies. Work fast through this step– the marshmallows harden faster than expected.
Now continue on with your Rice Krispies recipe. Easy, right? The main point of this post is that the melted marshmallows are the items to be colored, not the Rice Krispies themselves!
Happy food coloring! I invite you to link up your colored Rice Krispies treats to my Facebook page. I’d love to see them!
Would it work if you just drop drips of dif. food color all around the melted marshmallows, swirl just a little and then add the rice krispies and toss? Would this make a color mess or would it look likes muted colors all over and look ok? Let me know if you try this!! Thanks, Becky
Hi, I have never tried this before. It would probably work, but the color may not cover completely. It may look more like a swirl. I would be interested to hear if you try it!
Will the food color leave a bitter taste or will you not be able to notice it?? I have had cakes with food colored whipped icing and it taste horrible and very bitter??
I did not notice any bitter taste.
Thank you for posting this how to!
i literally just typed in on the Pinerest search bar, how to dye rice crispy treats. So yes as simple as it might seem, i apparently needed to look it up. Thank you!
How many drops of food coloring did you use?
Hi, I don’t remember exactly. I usually start by adding 4 or 5 and then increasing until I get the color that I desire.
Great post, thanks so much! Would you be able to add the food coloring to the pot instead of transferring it to another bowl to add the color? I’m worried about the marshmallow cooling before I could add the Rice Krispies.
Sure, you could definitely try that.
Can you add dye to the cereal before adding marshmallows?
You could try it, but I’m not sure how the cereal would absorb it without the marshmallows.
Should the food dye be oil based or water based??
I’ve only used water based ones.
Once there colored can i conbine all seperate rice krispies treats?
As long as they are still sticky to go together, I do not see why not.
I tried this just the other night and found that no matter how many drops of food coloring I added, while it turned the marshmallows the color I wanted, once the rice crispies were added, the color faded GREATLY. I was so disappointed and couldn’t figure out how to get the darker color I wanted.
What color were you using? I have tried a few colors and not had that issue.
So cool