Rainbow Spaghetti

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Rainbow Spaghetti is a vibrant and tasty twist on a classic pasta dish. Enjoy it as a fun family meal or a show-stopping party dish – easy to make, guaranteed smiles!

How To Make Rainbow Pasta Noodles

Our easy Rainbow Spaghetti recipe takes minutes to prepare using spaghetti noodles, ziplock bags, and food coloring.

To make colored spaghetti, cook it on the stovetop, mix it with olive oil, separate it into six pasta portions, and massage in the food coloring.

Noodles cooked al dente and dyed into rainbow colors is a fun way to turn any plain pasta dish into the most colorful meal, or add it to a sensory bin and make your rainbow spaghetti sensory play activity for babies and toddlers.

Why We Love Rainbow Pasta

Quick and easy to make.
Uses 3 simple ingredients.
It’s finger food that can help improve fine and gross motor skills.
Customize your colors for holidays or top your plate of pasta with cheese or sauce.
You can dye spaghetti noodles for sensory bins or to make any meal more fun!

Rainbow Spaghetti Ingredients

Spaghetti
Water
Olive oil
Food coloring drops (red, yellow, blue, and green)

Substitutions and Additions

Pick Your Pasta: You can use any pasta for this recipe. Spaghetti (or even linguine) is my favorite since you get to play with the long noodles, and kids love it!
Serve With Sauce: You can serve your rainbow pasta for supper by topping it with tomato sauce, marinara sauce, or Alfredo sauce. But if you really want to showcase the rainbow colors, choose a light coating that won’t cover them up, like butter or olive oil with garlic sauce.

Recommended Tools

Saucepan
Mixing bowl
Ziploc bags
Strainer or colander

How to Make Rainbow Spaghetti

Prepare The Pasta: Cook and drain the pasta. Mix in the olive oil.
Color: Add one color to each Ziploc bag, then add equal portions of pasta to the bag. Massage the food coloring into the pasta until the noodles are dyed a solid color. Allow the pasta to rest inside the bag for 5-10 minutes.
Plate Or Play: Rinse the noodles separately and pat dry. Enjoy as a spaghetti dinner or use them for a fun activity!

Tips For Making Rainbow Pasta

Start on the lower ends of the food coloring, especially for the blue and purple colors. You can always darken the coloring, but it is very hard to lighten it.
Apply food coloring in multiple places in the pasta bags. This will help distribute the color evenly.
Massage the coloring into the pasta. Distributing the dye evenly may take 2-3 minutes per color.

Food Coloring Combinations To Create The Rainbow

Red – red (30-35 drops)
Orange – red & yellow (15-20 drops yellow, 15-20 drops red, equal parts)
Yellow – yellow (35-40 drops)
Green – green (30-35 drops)
Blue – blue (15-20 drops)
Purple – blue & red (20 drops red, 4-5 drops blue)

More Fun Food for Kids

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes {Baking Hack}

Baby Trail Mix

Sour Patch Grapes

Halloween Spider Cookies Recipe

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I evenly coat the pasta with food color?

You can add some water to help distribute the dye into the bags. This will help the food coloring not be as concentrated and can help evenly coat the pasta.

What are the benefits of spaghetti sensory play?

Using spaghetti for sensory activities is a great way to get kids of all ages to use their senses as they explore this food with their fingers! Sensory play is crucial to brain development and helps with fine and gross motor skills. It feels slimy, is safe for tasting, can help little ones learn colors, and is visually appealing.

Other Easy Kid-Friendly Recipes

5 from 1 vote

Rainbow Pasta

Author — Jennifer Fishkind

Serves —

Rainbow Spaghetti makes an easy colorful supper or fun sensory play activity for kids.

Print Rate Pin Save

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 8

Total Time 23

Ingredients

▢ 1 pound dry spaghetti
▢ Water for boiling
▢ 1 tablespoon olive oil
▢ Food coloring drops red, yellow, blue, and green

Instructions

Bring the pasta to a boil over the stove and cook until fully done.
1 pound dry spaghetti, Water for boiling
Drain the pasta and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Mix into the pasta well.
1 tablespoon olive oil
Divide the pasta into 6 equal portions.
Use 6 Ziploc bags for the next steps. Add coloring to each Ziploc bag then add 1 portion of pasta to the bag. See coloring instructions above.
Food coloring drops
Close the bag shut and massage the food coloring into the pasta until it fully bleeds into the noodles, dying it a solid color. Add more food coloring if needed. Allow the pasta to rest inside the bag for 5-10 minutes. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for each color and portion of pasta.
After the noodles have soaked in the food coloring, remove from the bag and rinse them separately in a strainer or colander. Pat dry. Enjoy the rainbow noodles with a spaghetti dinner or use them for a fun activity!

Jenn’s Notes

Tips:

Start on the lower ends of the food coloring, especially for the blue and purple colors. You can always darken the coloring but its very hard to lighten it.
Add a little bit of water to help distribute the dye into the bags. This will help the food coloring not be as concentrated and can help evenly coat the pasta.
Apply food coloring in multiple places in the pasta bags. This will help distribute the color evenly.
Really massage the coloring into the pasta. This may take 2-3 minutes per color to distribute the dye evenly.

Food Coloring Combinations To Create The Rainbow:

Red – red (30-35 drops)
Orange – red & yellow (15-20 drops yellow, 15-20 drops red, equal parts)
Yellow – yellow (35-40 drops)
Green – green (30-35 drops)
Blue – blue (15-20 drops)
Purple – blue & red (20 drops red, 4-5 drops blue)

Nutrition Info