The Best Food Coloring For Macarons
Macarons are absolutely delicious. They are light, decadent, and can pack some flavor. Making macarons is a bit of an art, and it does take some practice to get it perfect. One of the tricks you need to know how to do right when making macarons is how to color them properly.
When you are making macarons, you should use a gel-based food coloring, or alternatively, you could use a food coloring paste. You should avoid using water-based food coloring as they could spoil your macarons, as the water will react with the egg whites and turn the consistency too runny.
So, what is the best food coloring for macarons? The best food coloring for macarons is a gel-based food coloring. Too much gel food coloring can ruin the consistency of the macarons, so choose a brand that has a strong color, so not much food coloring is needed. A good, professional-grade food coloring gel such as the AmeriColor Gel Paste is perfect. It allows you to use less gel, but still gives a vibrant finish, not interfering with the consistency of your macarons!
You do not want to choose a low-quality food coloring for macarons, so we have done the work to find the best food colorings to use to make your macarons colorful!
The 7 Best Food Colorings For Macarons
Your macarons deserve to look as beautiful as they taste, and with the below 7 food coloring options, there is no doubt that they will!
| Rank | Product | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | AmeriColor Food Color, Eggplant | Highly concentrated soft gel food coloring, certified Kosher |
| 2. | Chefmaster Liqua-Gel Food Color, Burgundy | Concentrated liqua-gel food coloring, no-drip squeeze bottle |
| 3. | ProGel 6 Gel Food Coloring Set | 6 concentrated gel food colors, matching color wrapping |
| 4. | Betty Crocker Gel Food Coloring, 4 Pack | Blue, green, yellow, and red gel food colorings |
| 5. | Wilton Icing Colors, 12 Pack | Gel-based food colors, rich hues |
| 6. | Good Cooking Food Coloring Liqua-Gel Kit | 12 liqua-gel food colors, easy-drip bottles |
| 7. | Wilton Pastel Food Coloring | 4 pastel colors: creamy peach, cornflower blue, rose petal pink and moss green |
1. AmeriColor Food Color, Eggplant
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The AmeriColor Food Coloring is a highly concentrated soft gel food coloring which has the necessary dye concentration levels to achieve brilliant and vibrant shades.
The viscosity of the gel allows it to be pourable, so you can easily measure it out to make matching batches.
A small amount is all that is needed to tint macarons, so the consistency will not be affected.
The gel paste will also no break down ingredients as liquid food coloring does.
The coloring strength is superior to most other food colorings, and the gel will not separate, weep, or harden in the macaron mixture. It is certified Kosher as well.
With a flip-top cap, the gel paste coloring will be kept safe and protected when not in use.
This is a great choice of food coloring to use to exceed all your coloring needs!
2. Chefmaster Liqua-Gel Food Color, Burgundy
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The Chefmaster Liqua-Gel range is another great option for coloring macarons.
The no-drip squeeze bottle allows for the right amount of gel coloring to be added to the macaron mixture without any spills and messes.
There is a wide selection of colors available in the range, which can be blended to create your own vibrant colors.
A small amount of the concentrated gel food coloring is all you need to give your macarons vivid colors, without having to water down the consistency.
The small bottle goes a long way in providing heaps of brightly colored macarons and other baked goods!
2. ProGel 6 Gel Food Coloring Set
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This pack of 6 Rainbow Dust ProGel food colors consists of 6 concentrated gels.
It only requires a small amount to be used to give your macarons a deep and rich color.
Each tube lasts a considerably long time, with the whole pack being a great addition to your kitchen.
Each coloring gel in the pack is packaged in a simple-to-use tube with a matching color wrapping, helping you better identify them.
The ProGel Food Coloring Set is a must-have in all kitchens!
3. Betty Crocker Gel Food Coloring, 4 Pack
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Betty Crocker is one of the most trusted names when it comes to baking, so there should be no surprise that the Betty Crocker Food Gel Coloring is one of the best out there.
The set comes with four easy-to-use tubes of gel coloring, in blue, green, yellow, and red.
You can use the individual gel colors, or mix them up to create your own color blends.
There is even a table on the back indicating the colors to mix and the ratios to achieve other colors such as lime green, teal, and rose.
With these gel colors, you do not have to worry about diluting the macaron mix, as a small amount of the gel color is all you need to achieve a bright and vibrant coloring.
5. Wilton Icing Colors, 12 Pack
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This 12-count pack of gel-based food colors is all you will need for your macaron coloring.
The pack contains all the colors you could want, such as green, violet, pink, brown, lemon yellow, red, black, royal blue, golden yellow, burgundy, teal, and copper.
The gel-based formula of the icing colors will not change the consistency of the macaron batter and will result in a rich, true hue.
The best way to use the colors would be to dip a toothpick into the icing and then into the macaron batter, only adding in a small amount of coloring at a time.
With all the colors you could need, and the ability to mix your own shades, you really can’t go wrong with this set.
6. Good Cooking Food Coloring Liqua-Gel Kit
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This food coloring kit includes a range of different colors to use to create the most vividly bright macarons.
With interesting colors such as sunset orange, violet, fuchsia, and sky blue, you will get so much more than primary colors from this kit.
Specially formulated, the color gels will not weep or separate and harden, keeping the consistency of the macarons exactly how they should be.
All you need is a few drops of each color to give a bright coloring, and the easy-drip bottles allow you to measure the drops perfectly, so you can repeat the colors every time you make macarons if needed.
With stunning colors in the food-gel kit and the great performance of the food-gels, it is a great kit for beginners and experts alike.
7. Wilton Pastel Food Coloring
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Macarons do look beautiful in pastel colors, and now you can easily achieve the pastel color you want without worrying about measuring out the coloring precisely and maybe making the macarons darker than what you would hope.
With 4 different pastel colors, the concentrated gel colorings will not thin out the macaron mix, and only a tiny amount is needed to achieve the stunning pastel color you are after.
The set includes creamy peach, cornflower blue, rose petal pink and moss green, all delicate colors that really do turn the macarons into the ideal pastel colors.
The bottles seal up tight to prevent spoilage and spills, and they will last you a long time in your baking adventures!
Related Questions
Can you use liquid food coloring for macarons?
You should avoid using liquid food coloring for your macarons where possible. The liquid, water-like consistency will cause the macaron mixture to lose its ideal consistency and may affect the way it sets once baked.
A gel-based food coloring is a better option, as it is a more concentrated color and it will not cause the mixture to turn runny, or to separate, which liquid food coloring does cause.
How do you add flavor to macarons?
Macarons come in so many different flavors, and you can pretty much make a macaron for any flavor you can think of.
However, the best way to flavor macarons is to use dry flavorings, such as dried lime zest or dried ground almonds.
This will not interfere with the consistency of the macarons and still give them a wonderful flavor while keeping the consistency right.
Why do macarons lose their color?
Macarons can sometimes lose their color. This is often due to the wrong food coloring being used, such as liquid food coloring, or the macaron being baked at too high a temperature. Use a concentrated gel food coloring and bake the macarons at a lower temperature for longer, to ensure that intense heat in the oven does not brown the macarons, which would cause them to lose their color.
How long can I leave macaron batter to sit before baking?
Leave the macaron shells to sit at room temperature for around 30 mins until a skin forms along the surface of the shell.
The batter should not be sticky, and should not stick to your fingers if touched.
30 minutes should be enough time for the skin to develop on the macaron from drying at room temperature before baking.
Food Coloring For Macarons
One of the most important rules to remember when making macarons is to avoid using liquid food coloring at all costs.
It will thin out the batter and just ruin the consistency. Instead, you should use concentrated gel food coloring, which will give a vivid color to the macarons without altering the batter.
The above 7 gel food coloring products are ideal to use to color macarons, and can be kept in the kitchen to see to all your other colorful baking needs as well! With the gel-coloring, a little goes a long way.
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