Perfect Fake Blood – 5 Easy Recipes

Get corn syrup, add a bit of water, add some red colouring, and a bit of water, and you’re good to go.

How to make cheap fake blood that does not go bad or stink?

\$\begingroup\$ Not really an answer, since I haven’t tested this at all, but there are vegan gelatin substitutes (gelling agents) like agar that could probably work. The non-protein-based ones are also less likely to go stinky in the same way that gelatin does. \$\endgroup\$

\$\begingroup\$ Also not an answer, but I do know someone has used a mix of honey and some reddening agent (food colouring of some sort, but I don’t know which) for ‘blood’ in photos and LARPs. Honey is not vegan, but may not cause as much issue as gelatin. It also doesn’t go off or smell. \$\endgroup\$

2 Answers 2

Get corn syrup, add a bit of water, add some red colouring, and a bit of water, and you’re good to go.

You need as much corn syrup as you have blood, and then drip red food colouring in to colour it. Take it slow, you can always add more. Mix it a lot between drops. It’s hard to know the exact recipe because it depends on what thickness of blood you want and your local corn syrup. I’ve used Karo Syrup personally.

You can add some strawberry or raspberry jam for flavour if you are doing licking scenes.

A drop of blue or green might improve the colour, depending on your food colouring, lighting. It’s easy to experiment with this.

1. Corn syrup is pretty cheap, it’s vegan, you’re all good.
2. It’s pretty thick. I tend to add a few drops of water to make for better zombie arms
3. Sugar is antibacterial, I’ve used it on long summer nights to be a zombie.
4. It’s sugar, it smells sweet.
5. It looks fairly decent
6. It’s vegan
7. It’s fairly washable, though wood stains easily with anything.

18.6k 1 1 gold badge 48 48 silver badges 98 98 bronze badges
\$\begingroup\$ The one problem I foresee with sugar on a hot day is wasps. \$\endgroup\$

\$\begingroup\$ Wasps, vampire’s one weakness. Just leave a few sugary wasp traps around to be safe. \$\endgroup\$

What we have used in the past at LARPs as well as as prop during filming of our LARP story intro films is a mixture of the below ingredients.

All ingredients are.

• Not only food safe but just. actual food.
• Available in any bigger supermarket.
• Vegan
• Quite cheap, so getting liters of the stuff ready can be done on a small budget.

The ingredients

• syrup of grenadine/blood orange/rasperry – provides stickyness and viscosity, exists in various shades of red
• sugar – for extra viscosity without changing color
• tomato sauce – provides chunkyness/texture if your going for older blood or worse injuries
• beet root juice – mostly useful for the very intense color
• soy sauce – again, used for the color to give the semblance of darker/older blood

The above can be mixed in various ratios to achieve different effects, such as viscosity, shade of color, texture, .

Some notes

As soon as serious quantities of syrup or sugar are involved the mixture will be quite stable, and if heated to sterilisation should actually be storable for long periods of time without going bad.

If you mix all of these the resulting concoction might be food (safe), but will be quite disgusting (trust me :P). That can be a good or bad thing, depending on the application. 🙂

Some of these, e.g. beet root, WILL stain anything they come in contact with and are hard to impossible to wash out.

Perfect Fake Blood – 5 Easy Recipes

Here are amazing fake-blood recipes you can use for Halloween, for pranking, or for first aid training

A few gallons of fake blood are just the ticket for your Halloween haunted house, for some innocent pranks, or for emergency preparedness training. The problem is that there are a lot of recipes out there. The biggest complaint is that fake blood looks nothing like real blood… until now, that is. Steve Spangler uses some experimentation to make several very realistic batches.

Experiment Videos

Here’s What You’ll Need

16 oz (454 gm) Powdered sugar (You’ll have great results using Imperial Sugar or Dixie Crystals brands.)

1 oz (30 ml) Red food coloring

1 T Cocoa powder

8 oz (237 ml) Water

Food blender

Paper towels

Measuring spoons

Spoon or spatula

Clean, old t-shirt or fabric

Adult supervision

Let’s Try It

1. Even though it stains whatever it touches, this is, hands down, the BEST and the easiest to make fake-blood recipe. The secret is the combination of Imperial powdered sugar and cocoa powder. The addition of red food coloring means this the sickest blender-blood you can make! (And that’s a good thing, too.) Pour the water into the blender.
2. Add the box of powdered sugar (yes, a whole box) to the blender. Put the lid on the blender and blend the mixture on a lower speed. You may need to turn the blender on and then off a few times to make sure it blends together well.
3. Add the red food coloring to the mixture. One ounce (30 ml) will likely be the whole bottle, too. Blend the mixture and make sure it blends completely. You may need a spatula to scrape the blender walls.
4. Add the tablespoon of cocoa powder. Blend it again and, you guessed it, make sure it blends completely.
5. Use a spoon to get some of your fake blood for a test. Drip it and spread it on a cloth, a paper towel, or on your hand. Too cool, Dr. Frankenstein! This version of fake blood is completely edible (and actually tastes pretty good). However: because you’re using food coloring, this blood recipe will stain anything it touches. Be careful! (But have fun, too.)

How Does It Work

The recipes included here are designed to give you the ideas needed to make up your own recipe based on your needs. Most of them require ingredients found at a grocery store making the final product completely edible. That’s just in case you need a little dribble of blood coming out of your mouth!

Believe it or not, the secret tool for making great fake blood is a kitchen blender. Blending the ingredients saves time and helps cut down on the overall mess of making fake blood. When you’re mixing a batch, it’s important to remember that what you see in the blender is not what the product will look like on your skin or dripped onto a piece of fabric. Real blood is not just red… it’s reddish-brown. Real blood is not transparent… has an opaque quality that you’ll need to duplicate in your recipe.

One final word of caution: Making fake blood is a blast but it can be very messy. Also, since the main color agent is a food coloring, fake blood recipes will stain anything and everything! Your hands will be a red mess at the end of your ghoulish mixing session, but don’t worry. A batch of OxiClean will wash your hands, your clothes, and your friends’ clothes.

Take It Further

Corn Syrup Fake Blood

This is one of the most common recipes you’ll find, but you’ll see that it doesn’t really look anything like blood. That’s fine. Go ahead and make the batch because you’ll use the ingredients a little later on anyway. They all kind of build on each other.

• 1 cup (237 ml) light or dark corn syrup
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) water
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) of red food coloring
• A few drops of green food coloring

Combine all of these ingredients in the blender for a few seconds. You can adjust the amount of green food coloring to make the blood a little more brownish-red in color. However, you’ll notice that this fake blood is a little too transparent.

Take the paper towel or fabric test: drip a few drops of blood onto a towel to see how realistic it looks to you.

The Cornstarch Secret

Cornstarch is a common thickening agent for gravies, pie filling, and other goodies. It’s also a great ingredient for fake blood because it adds a little opacity (can’t see through it) to the liquid.

• Use the mixture from the corn syrup recipe above and add two tablespoons of cornstarch.

Place all of the ingredients in the blender and mix until the cornstarch dissolves. If the solution is too thick, add a tablespoon of water and blend the ingredients. Keep doing this until the blood is the consistency you need.

Take the paper towel or fabric test: drip a few drops of blood onto a towel to see how realistic it looks to you.

The Chocolate Syrup Secret

In the days of black and white TV shows and movies, chocolate syrup was the perfect solution to the problem of making fake blood. On a black and white screen, chocolate syrup looked and behaved just like real blood. Even though times have changed, chocolate syrup can still be an important ingredient in making great edible fake blood.

• 1 cup (237 ml) corn syrup (clear or dark)
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) water
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) of red food coloring
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) chocolate syrup
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch

Mix all of the ingredients in the blender for a few seconds. Watch as the fake blood oozes down the inside wall of the blender to get a good idea of what it will look like on the white towel. Each of the ingredients in this recipe adds its own special quality to the fake blood – thickness, color, and opacity.

Take the paper towel or fabric test: drip a few drops of blood onto a towel to see how realistic it looks to you.

Tropical Fake Blood

This recipe combines everything you’ve learned so far about making fake blood and adds a few ingredients that pack a great punch (pun fully intended… as you’ll see).

• 1/2 cup (118 ml) tropical fruit punch (Hawaiian Fruit Punch® works great.)
• 1 cup (237 ml) corn syrup
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) of red food coloring
• 1 tablespoon (30 ml) of chocolate syrup
• 2 tablespoons of cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon of powdered cocoa

Combine all of the ingredients in the blender and mix for 10 seconds. Since brands of fruit punch vary in color, you’ll need to use your vast experience in making fake blood to tweak the recipe to get the perfect batch.

Some fake blood connoisseurs recommend a cup of coffee instead of the fruit punch. You may need to reduce (or eliminate) the amount of chocolate syrup and powdered cocoa used in the recipe if you add coffee. Remember, it’s all about the experimentation!

Take the paper towel or fabric test: drip a few drops of blood onto a towel to see how realistic it looks to you.

Or better yet… roll up your sleeve, drip some on your arm, and then run to a neighbor!

Safety Information

Since all of the ingredients you use in your fake blood are edible, you’ll be OK if you have red teeth or a wound in your mouth. It won’t taste all that great but it’s not poisonous.

As far as storing any clean , unused leftovers, think of your concoction like an edible paint. Use a glass container with a screw-on, airtight lid. Rinse and dry the lid and the threads on the container before screwing on the lid for storage. Keep the jar upright in a location out of direct sunlight. Refrigeration is not necessary but a cool, dark location is preferred. It’s best not to try and salvage used fake blood for long-term storage. Just mix more and have fun doing it!

You DO have to watch out for staining, however. Old shirts and rags are one thing but the living room carpet and mom’s new blouse are entirely another. Be very smart when it comes to applying your newest scientific achievement.

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