White Dye in Minecraft: Quick Answer
There are two crafting recipes for white dye, and each needs only one ingredient: place 1 bone meal in a crafting grid, or 1 lily of the valley — either one gives you a single white dye. You can also find white dye by brushing suspicious gravel in Trail Ruins (1.20+). White dye works in both Java and Bedrock Edition.
- Recipe 1: 1 Bone Meal → 1 White Dye
- Recipe 2: 1 Lily of the Valley → 1 White Dye
- Also found: brushing suspicious gravel in Trail Ruins (1.20+)
- Bone meal from: skeletons, or a composter fed crops
- Lily of the Valley: flower forest & forest biomes
- Used for: wool, beds, candles, glass, terracotta, concrete, banners, shulker boxes, leather & wolf armor
Updated August 2026 · Java 1.14+ & Bedrock 1.8+ · Verified in 1.21
How Do You Make White Dye in Minecraft?
White dye has two recipes, and you only need one ingredient for either. Drop a single bonemeal into any slot of the crafting grid to get one white dye, or use one lily of the valley the same way. Both give an identical result, so use whichever you have more of — for most players, bonemeal is the easier bulk option.
| Method | What to place | Output |
|---|---|---|
| Recipe 1 | 1 Bonemeal (anywhere in the grid) | 1 White Dye |
| Recipe 2 | 1 Lily of the Valley (anywhere in the grid) | 1 White Dye |
| Find | Brush suspicious gravel in Trail Ruins (1.20+) | White Dye |
Where Do You Find Lily of the Valley?
Lily of the valley is a small white flower that spawns in flower forest biomes most reliably, and occasionally in regular forests. Bring bonemeal and use it on grass blocks in a flower forest to force more flowers to bloom — it's the fastest way to farm a stack when you want dye without touching your bonemeal supply.
How Do You Get Bonemeal Fast?
Bonemeal comes from bones (dropped by skeletons) or from a composter. We keep a composter next to our farm and toss in spare seeds, grass, and crops — a few minutes of composting yields plenty of bonemeal for dyeing, making it the cheapest white dye source once your farm is running.
If you don't have a composter yet, you can craft one with seven wood slabs placed in every slot except the middle-top and center of the crafting grid. Once it's placed, throw any of the following compostable items inside to build up bonemeal:
- Apples
- Potatoes
- Carrots
- Dried Kelp
- Ferns
- Grass
- Lily Pads
- Flowers
- Warped Roots
- Bread
- Cookies
- Melon slices
- Pumpkin
- Seeds
- Beetroot
- Berries
- Weeping Vines
- Warped Fungus
- Mushroom blocks
- Kelp
- Cactus
- Saplings
- Crimson Fungus
- Crimson Roots
Can You Find White Dye in Trail Ruins?
Yes. Since the 1.20 Trails & Tales update, you can brush suspicious gravel in Trail Ruins with a brush and occasionally recover white dye directly. It's handy early game before you've set up a farm, though crafting from bonemeal or lily of the valley is far more reliable when you need dye in volume.
What Can You Make With White Dye?
White dye colors a huge range of items in Minecraft. You can use it on:
- Wool and carpet
- Beds
- Candles
- Glass and glass panes
- Terracotta and concrete powder
- Shulker boxes
- Banners
- Leather armor and wolf armor
You can also combine white dye with other dyes to craft light gray, gray, pink, lime, and light blue dye. For every color and recipe in one place, see our guide to all Minecraft dyes.
Check out some of our other fantastic Minecraft guides!
