This Rainbow Cake Mix Cookies recipe makes it so easy to transform a basic box of cake mix into a colorful batch of bright and vibrant cookies. The rainbow cookie dough is a simple combination of 5 ingredients plus food coloring that is mixed into a batter, rolled into balls, and baked in 30 minutes!
Easy Rainbow Cake Mix Cookies
Rainbow Cake Mix Cookies are a quick and easy way to bake a batch of cookies when I need a shortcut in the kitchen and want to make my day more colorful in the comfort of my home.
I love simple recipes that can turn a basic boxed mix into chewy, tender treats, letting you skip most of the measuring so you can get right to the fun part – kids will love the playdough consistency of the batter, which they can squish and knead with their hands to combine the colors in each bowl.
These delicious and easy cake mix cookies are a cross between a cake and a cookie; they’re moist, soft, and fluffy on the inside with lightly crispy browned bottoms. My secret ingredient that fixes the crumbly flat cookie is adding a bit of flour to the batter, which adds thickness to the dough without chilling it.
For more rainbow recipes, try my Rainbow Popcorn, Rainbow Poke Cake, and Rainbow Sherbet Punch for perfect treats to add a pop of color to any party table.
Why We Love This Rainbow Cookie Recipe
- Quick and easy to make by using a cake mix shortcut.
- Only 5 ingredients plus food coloring needed.
- Fun for kids to mix and color the cookie dough.
- Fluffy, puffy, soft, and chewy rainbow cookies treat.
- Create a few colors or all the colors of the rainbow.
- Perfectly pretty for unicorn parties, potlucks, Pride month, barbecues, or any special occasion.
Ingredients
- White cake mix: Use the dry mix only, not the additional ingredients listed on the box.
- Eggs
- All-purpose flour
- Vegetable oil
- Vanilla extract
- Gel food coloring – I used this brand to get my super bright colors!
SEE FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE CARD BELOW
Substitutions and Additions
- Mix-Ins: Feel free to add chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, or M&Ms to your cookie dough.
- Customize Your Colors: This recipe is so easy to customize for any themed party or holiday. Simply switch up the gel food colors to match your celebration. Make yellow, brown, and orange cookies for Halloween, red, pink, and white for Valentine’s Day, or red, white, and blue for Fourth of July.
Recommended Tools
- 6 small mixing bowls
- Electric mixer
- Cookie baking sheets
- Parchment paper
- Non-stick food spray
How to Make Rainbow Cake Mix Cookies
Rainbow cake mix cookies are the perfect way to add a pop of color to any celebration of party. This simple shortcut recipe is a quick and easy way to bake a batch of soft and fluffy, brightly colored like a rainbow or customized for your next celebration.
- Beat The Batter: Beat together the cake mix, eggs, vegetable oil, flour, and vanilla extract until smooth, about two minutes, with a hand mixer.
- Combine The Colors: Separate cookie batter equally into 6 small bowls. Add food coloring to each bowl, one red, one orange, one yellow, one green, one blue, and one purple. Knead each bowl of dough with your hands to completely combine color into dough.
Pro Tip: The cookie dough batter should be the consistency of play dough. - Scoop: Scoop cookie batter, 2-tablespoons in size (30 grams each), and roll into a ball shape. Place cookies onto baking sheets at least two inches apart).
- Bake: Bake each cookie sheet separately at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 12-13 minutes.
Pro Tip: Cookies should rise and the tops will look set and no longer like wet dough. - Cool: Let cookies cool completely before removing them from cookie sheets.
Pro Tip: The cookies will be slightly browned on the bottoms.
Tips
- A standard size white boxed cake mix ranges from around 432 grams to 461 grams. Either size will work for this recipe. I used a 461 grams size.
- When removing cookie sheets from the oven, let cookies cool completely before removing from cookie sheets. The cookies will finish baking on the hot tray outside of the oven so it’s important not to remove them from the hot baking sheet right away.
- Bake each cookie sheet separately to ensure even baking time for all cookies.
Storage Tips
- To Store: Store cookies covered in a food storage container at room temperature for up to 4 days.
- To Freeze: After the baked cookies have cooled completely they can be packaged in a food-safe storage bag and frozen for up to 2 months.
Frequently Asked Questions
The type of food coloring used is important. For these bright colors, I used the brand Chefmaster Liqua-gel in the colors: super red, neon brite orange, lemon yellow, leaf green, neon brite blue and neon brite purple. I don’t recommend liquid food coloring because it will make the batter looser. Gel food coloring gives more intense color and is perfect for these rainbow cookies.
A food scale isn’t required for this step but is highly recommended! It works out to be 120 grams each in 4 bowls and 2 bowls of 90 grams each.
The 120 gram bowls will end up with 4 cookies each and the 90 gram bowls will end up with 3 cookies each.
To fully combine the colors into each cookie batter bowl, you may need to get in there with your hands if a spoon isn’t fully combining the color into the batter. The cookie dough batter should be the consistency of play dough.
Spray your hands very lightly with non-stick cooking spray then carefully squish and knead each bowl of dough to completely combine color into dough. Wash hands between each bowl so you don’t mix colors.
Other Easy Cake Mix Cookie Recipes
- Lemon Cake Mix Cookies
- Grinch Cake Mix Cookies
- Pumpkin Cake Mix Cookies
- 3-Ingredient Cake Mix Cookies
- Strawberry Cake Mix Cookies
- M&M Brownie Mix Cookies
- Cake Mix Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Rainbow Cake Mix Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 box white cake mix (standard size box – see notes)
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- gel food coloring: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Line three cookie baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mat. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat together white cake mix (just the dry mix), eggs, vegetable oil, all-purpose flour and vanilla extract until smooth (about two minutes with electric hand mixer).
- Separate cookie batter equally into 6 small bowls. A food scale isn’t required for this step but is highly recommended! It works out to be 120 grams each in 4 bowls and 2 bowls of 90 grams each. The 120 gram bowls will end up with 4 cookies each and the 90 gram bowls will end up with 3 cookies each. Color one bowl red, one orange, one yellow, one green, one blue and one purple.
- To fully combine the colors into each cookie batter bowl, you may need to get in there with your hands if a spoon isn’t fully combining the color into the batter. The cookie dough batter should be the consistency of play dough. Spray your hands very lightly with non-stick cooking spray then carefully squish and knead each bowl of dough to completely combine color into dough. Wash hands between each bowl so you don’t mix colors.
- Scoop cookies onto baking sheets (place cookies at least two inches apart). Cookies should be 2-tablespoons in size (30 grams each). Each 120 gram bowl will give you 4 cookies and each 90 gram bowl will give you 3 cookies. Roll each cookie into a ball shape before baking.
- Bake each cookie sheet separately to ensure even baking time for all cookies. Each cookie tray will need to bake for 12-13 minutes. Cookies should rise and the tops will look set and no longer like wet dough. When removing cookie sheets from the oven, let cookies cool completely before removing from cookie sheets. The cookies will finish baking on the hot tray outside of the oven so it’s important not to remove them from the hot baking sheet right away. The cookies will be slightly browned on the bottoms.
- Store covered in a food storage container at room temperature for up to 4 days.
Jenn’s Notes
- To store: Store cookies covered in a food storage container at room temperature for up to 4 days.
- To Freeze: After the baked cookies have cooled completely they can be packaged in a food-safe storage bag and frozen for up to 2 months.
- A standard size white boxed cake mix ranges from around 432 grams to 461 grams. Either size will work for this recipe. I used a 461 grams size.
- The type of food coloring used is important. For these bright colors, I used the brand Chefmaster Liqua-gel in the colors: super red, neon brite orange, lemon yellow, leaf green, neon brite blue and neon brite purple. I don’t recommend liquid food coloring because it will make the batter looser. Gel food coloring gives more intense color and is perfect for these rainbow cookies.
