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How To Make Black Vodka Without Food Coloring, Gels, Or Dyes

How To Make Black Vodka Without Food Coloring, Gels, Or Dyes

Here are the easy steps for how to make black vodka at home without food colorings, gels, or dyes. 

Black vodka is unique, and it has become quite popular as an eye-catching alcohol, especially for spooky holidays. 

While there are a couple different bottled versions, I’ve found it hard to find, so I decided to make my own.

You can serve black vodka neat or on the rocks, and that would be quite fun to serve at a party. However, there are also many black cocktail recipes that you can create as well. 

Homemade black vodka also makes a great gift for someone over 21 years old.

Here we will show you how to make black vodka homemade in just a few steps. This method of creating black vodka infuses the vodka with organic black rice.

This is a recipe for an alcoholic beverage. If you did not mean to be here, it’s okay to close this tab, just for today

Here’s why this tried and tested recipe using organic black rice (we use this exact kind) will help you get the best black vodka:

  • It is easy to do, and the beautiful, deep black color stays uniform.
  • The black color doesn’t separate like black food coloring does.
  • Homemade black vodka made with organic black rice doesn’t fade over time. It stays black. 
  • It doesn’t impact the taste of the vodka! There’s no odd charcoal flavor or the funky aftertaste that comes from food coloring.
  • Another advantage of dyeing vodka with black rice vs. food coloring is that it doesn’t usually cause any staining. When using food coloring, you need to be careful not to stain your hands, clothes, or countertop.

We did try cooking the black rice after it had soaked in the vodka, but that didn’t go well at all, and it never really absorbed enough water to make it edible. Once you are done infusing the vodka with the black rice, you may want to just throw the rice away.

Where to buy black rice

We purchased our organic black rice at Amazon, but these days you can find it in more and more grocery stores. The good news is that a little black rice goes a long way when infusing vodka. 

Also, if you don’t make black vodka very often, or if you have rice left over (but not infused yet), this is our method for how to cook black rice. It makes a beautiful side dish and people will be quite curious about it when they see it on the plate. It has a nutty flavor and chewy texture, much like wild rice.

Ways to use black vodka

You can use black vodka in all of the same recipes that you would use plain vodka. It makes a simply dreadful presentation around the spooky holidays! We recently used it in our BlackPink Cocktail.

In the past, we made it for adult friends and family as a unique gift, especially at Halloween. We also have an article full of black vodka cocktails but here are a few of our favorites.

Tips for making black vodka

  • It takes about 24 hours for the vodka to fully absorb the color from the black rice. However, you will start to see it turning black within a few minutes of combining.
  • Use organic black rice if possible to help avoid transferring pesticides to the vodka, since you aren’t rinsing it first.
  • Keep the rice-infused vodka in the refrigerator so it stays cold. 
  • Strain the vodka after 24 hours, discard the used rice, and keep the black vodka chilled in the fridge.

The bottom line

This has been our easiest, most tasteful way to make black vodka by infusing a high quality plain vodka with raw, organic black rice.

The biggest advantage is that the color doesn’t sink to the bottom or separate like when using food coloring. 

The key to making black vodka at home is to plan ahead about 24 hours before you make your recipe, like our BlackPink Cocktail reminiscent of a Salty Dog.

Black Vodka Recipe

Black Vodka Recipe

Yield: ¾ cup
Prep Time: 2 minutes
Total Time: 2 minutes

This is an easy way to make black vodka using organic black rice and plain vodka, with no food coloring, gels or dyes.

Ingredients

  • ¾ c high quality plain vodka
  • ¼ c raw, organic black rice

Instructions

  1. Measure out and pour black rice into a glass jar with a lid. 
  2. Pour vodka over the rice.
  3. Place the lid over the jar and secure it.
  4. Gently shake the contents of the jar. 
  5. Place the container in the refrigerator.
  6. Shake the covered jar every few hours.
  7. Remove the container from the fridge after 24 hours.
  8. Strain the vodka into a fresh container and throw away the used black rice.
  9. Use the black vodka immediately or place the black vodka back in the fridge. 
  10. Store the black vodka tightly covered and keep chilled for up to a month or in the freezer indefinitely.

Note: This is a recipe for an alcoholic beverage. If you did not mean to be here, it’s okay to close this tab, just for today

Did you make this recipe?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Pinterest

Tia

Friday 1st of September 2023

Silly question…Will this stain your teeth?

Andi Reis

Monday 4th of September 2023

Actually that's a great question. It did NOT stain our teeth, but we also used it in drinks, which diluted the black vodka a bit. I'd say that because it's not super dense it won't stain your teeth unless you were drinking it every night for a long time.

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