DIY Homemade Dog Food
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Keep your dog healthy and fit with this easy peasy homemade recipe – it’s cheaper than store-bought and chockfull of fresh veggies!
I never thought I would be one of those dog owners who made homemade human food for their pups. Not in a million years.
But when Butters recently fell sick with an upset stomach, our vet advised us to feed him a bland diet – chicken and rice without any kind of seasoning. So that’s what we did – we poached a chicken, shredded it in a food processor, and mixed in some white rice and fed him this bland diet for 3 days.
That’s when I started to do some research on homemade dog food, and I have been so amazed as to how many different kinds of vegetables dogs can have. And with the help of Balance IT, you can create so many different recipes for your pup!
Now the best part about making homemade dog food – just like making anything at home – is that you know exactly what is going into the dog bowl, and not any of that questionable gelatinous gunk from the canned food.
But it’s important to note that dogs have different nutrient requirements than humans for their proportional body size, such as:
- High-quality protein (meat, seafood, dairy or eggs)
- Fat (meat or oil)
- Carbohydrates (grains or vegetables)
- Calcium (dairy)
- Essential fatty acids (egg yolks or oatmeal)
Now this recipe here has a balance of 50% protein, 25% veggies and 25% grains, but the ratios can easily be adjusted to suit your pup’s breed and/or needs.
Once you’ve made your batch, you can divide them up into single servings, note the date, and freeze it. When ready to serve, you can defrost it in the fridge overnight and nuke it for 15-30 seconds. That’s it! Now who knew that making dog food would be this easy?
DIY Homemade Dog Food
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups brown rice
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 pounds ground turkey
- 3 cups baby spinach, chopped
- 2 carrots, shredded
- 1 zucchini, shredded
- ½ cup peas, canned or frozen
Equipment
Instructions
- In a large saucepan of 3 cups water, cook rice according to package instructions; set aside.
- Heat olive oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add ground turkey and cook until browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the turkey as it cooks.
- Stir in spinach, carrots, zucchini, peas and brown rice until the spinach has wilted and the mixture is heated through, about 3-5 minutes.
- Let cool completely.
Did you make this recipe?
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I cook this for our dog because he wound up with pancreatitis from Farmer’s Dog (I called them to ask and their recipes are very high in fat!). We use very low fat ground turkey or 85 percent ground turkey and rinse the fat off before adding the vegetables. For each meal portion we use a 1/2 of DIY turkey and 1/2 Anamaet Lean dry kibble. His weight is steady for two years on this diet, beautiful coat, lots of energy, great teeth. We also add Naturel Promise Fresh Dental additive to his water and brush teeth nightly to avoid the $300 vet teeth cleaning under sedation! The vet said zero plaque and was amazed. Most important, no pancreatitis from this DIY turkey food fit for human consumption and our dog loves it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I make double the recipe and freeze.
NO WAY!!!!! My dog just got over with pancreatitis from eating FARMERS. So mad….. He was throwing up blood and $$$$$$$$ later hes doing OK now. I am trying to make my own food now for him and trying to find a good meal for him with EXACT measuring. Hes 62 pound Bull Terrier. Any sugestions? gdp740@aol.com
I’ve been seriously considering ordering Farmer’s Dog. So glad I saw these comments! Sorry your pooches had to go through that! I’ll be going the home cooked route now, thanks for the heads up.
I added all the ingredients into MyFitnessPal and siad it was for 8 servings, since it makes 8 cups, just for easy math.
One cup serving has the following nutrient breakdown:
310 calories
10.9 grams carbs
15.1 grams fat
35.1 grams protein
Great recipe, I texted my vet she texted back to add iodized salt for the iodine . Then She sent me a product called Dinovit.com. Every essential vitamin and probiotic are in for digestion, heart, bone, joints and hair. are in.. The only reason I did it, I have rescue, and she would not eat any of the dog food I brought her. even the prescription ones, In the 3 days I got her, spent over $100 on food, which I am now donating to charity Today i made a huge pot following everything above and bag everything up in small ziplock in the freezer. The only thing different that i will do, for her breakfast I will add some scrabbled eggs to it and for dinner extra veggies and cheese. turns out this is cheaper then the fresh food they sell in stores, and cheaper then the IAMS and other high grade food
This page and the link to BIT are both awesome and so helpful. Thank you SO much for doing this and making my part of the job a snap! 🙂 I never thought I’d be making dog food for my 3 pups either, especially considering I have the “hook up” for free dry (and occasionally canned) dog food. But I almost always have to dress it up with fresh or human grade ingredients to elicit any interest from the dogs. And brands such as the Farmer’s Dog (nothing against them, just the only one I that popped into my head) are cost-prohibitively expensive for me, especially x3.
Thank you Thank you!
Great recipe…
… BUT!!!!
PEAS ARE NO BUENO!!! They have been linked to heart disease in dogs! use green beans as a nutritious and healthy alternative. Also… brown rice is OK, but quinoa is a MUCH MUCH better choice. A complex carbohydrate, whose sugar molecules take longer to break down than traditional carbohydrates, it is absorbed more slowly into your dog’s system sustaining energy levels for a longer period of time!
This sounds pawfect! Will be giving this recioe a try very soon
I make this recipe to and you quinoa as well!
NO LEGUMES IS BEST GREEN BEANS ARE NO BETTER.
Yikes! I already made this recipe with the peas and brown rice. Do you think it’s OK to finish out this cycle, and then in the next cycle I can leave out the peas and brown rice and substitute for quinoa and green beans?
Ken is wrong.
What a great recipe my dogs love it why didn’t l think of this sooner
Hi, thank you so much for all the information! Just had a quick question. When you used BalanceIT did you then buy the supplements that were recommended as well? Thanks!
Is there a feeding chart by size or weight?
Go to balanceit.com to see your dogs caloric needs based on weight. You can use that to determine how many cups to feed!
This was a fantastic recipe! I have tried so many different dog foods that cost me a lot of money and my dog wouldn’t eat any of them. He loved both the turkey and beef dishes he made. Can’t thank you enough for creating this wonderful dog food recipe.
Made this for my pit mix after a bland diet, following an episode of gastritis! It is so easy, and an added bonus was how good his coat looks! He is so shiny, and a lot of the itching has stopped! I look at it like this, it may be slightly more expensive than high end dog food, and yes it takes a little of youe time but, think of the money and time you will save with not taking youe loved one to the vet!!
So easy to make and the dogs love it! Thank you.
Just made this for my American Bulldog puppy. Scarfed it down and licked the bowl. Not sure exactly how much to give her but she’s loving it!
I also have an american bulldog, granted she is full grown I was curious how much are you feeding your bully?
Make 2 bowls. One for pup and one for self. Just add seasonings to humans bowl and call it a night.
I have 2 Danes. I used this recipe because my dainty Dane has skin allergies. Both dogs love the recipe. I am adding ginger to avoid bloat and sardines for taurine. Thanks for posting this. You helped me get started with cooking for my dogs.
You made me laugh because I was thinking, as I read the recipe, ‘that’ll do for me too!’
Unfortunately, we can’t get turkey here except at Xmas and then, like many of the other ingredients, they are so high priced they are beyond my budget – but I’m determined my Vision Assistance Dog won’t be fed commercial stuff, so I’ll find ways round it.
We made this and our dogs love it! We just want to know how much we should be feeding them based on their size. Is there a feeding chart by size or weight?
Sandra D
My aussiedoodle was diagnosed with pancreatitis 2 months ago and rather than buy the low fat can food, I make this using Turkey or chicken breast. I supplement with low fat dry food, I give her 1/2 cup 3 times a day total. She is 20 lbs and scarfes this recipe down! Her appetite has improved and her coat is beautiful. Great recipe, thanks
I been thinking of making homemade dog food for my Hank he is getting older and picky eater but beg me to share my food with him .
Thank you so much for sharing ideas and I will start doing it.
I’m about to make our dane a LOT of salmon based food and I am so stoked that I found this… off to buy veggies in the morning!
My doodles are scarfing this up right now! I made it to supplement (not replace) their usual food. I didn’t have peas so I added a can of black beans, and also a large (diced and roasted) sweet potato. It was so quick and easy with shredding the veg in my food processor Will definitely make again!
Thank you for.the recipe. How.much should I feed my 20 lb Cockapoo.
Thank you
My JRT and Toy Fox slicked this up! Good recipe!
My picky Schnoodle LOVES this food! i put string beans i/o zucchini but i’ll add zucchini next batch. i put in 15 freezer bags 1-1/4 c each! i add probiotic and flaxseed/omega-3 treats in AM Hope to see her relief from summer allergies!
How many feedings does this make?
I usually cook 3 times a week and store in the fridge…