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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Made this for my picky eater tonight. I have a little Havenese poodle mix that won’t eat canned dog food and barely eats her expensive dry foods. She barely ate 1/4 cup of food in the last 2 days. In desperation I started hunting the internet for healthy recipes. This recipe was rated one of the top ten recipes, so I gave it a try. It is such an easy recipe and she loved it! She ate every bit I put in her dish and was licking her chops after. Thank you for sharing your recipe.
I am a single mom on a budget. I have kiddos and my oldest is blind and autistic, non-verbal. I just got her and my other kiddos a little GoldendoodleChowChow mix to have as an emotional support dog. The cost of dog food and the quality of dog food are closely tied. I realized to get our newest little pup, Mr. Buck, good dog food, I needed to take about $200 from my grocery budget. Which wasn’t going to fly. I researched homemade dog food only to find expensive made-to-order and delivery options. I found your page and this recipe! I was pleased to see that I can feed him the same things I feed my kids! There’s always extra produce, fruit, and meat at the end of the week. I made our puppy this sweet dish with pumpkin and he loved every bite! I am excited to give him the best diet without breaking my bank! Will for sure be sharing with my TikTok followers!
Just made this with ground turkey for my boys, they never left the kitchen while i was cooking it.
I did scale the portion down just incase they didn’t like it.
They absolutely loved it!
Definitely making more, thanks for the inspiration.
I haven’t tried it yet, but it sounds easy enough and certainly healthy!
I’m looking forward to trying this recipe for my own dog, since he has been having digestive issues. Do you happen to know how much of this a dog should eat per day, according to his ideal weight? Thank you!
I’ve just made this recipe up, sorry I used a chopped up small chicken breast I had in the freezer.
Blade my JR watched me making it and cried for 2 hours before his teatime cause I wouldn’t let him have it, then he woofed the lot down.
I managed to make e lots for him.
Going to use the turkey mince next time.
Will it be OK to use other meats too.❤
My English bull terrier has food allergies so she can only eat white fish. I cook her food similar to this recipe using fish and freeze a week supply at a time.
Loved this niche recipe def worth a try! x
So simple! And it smells so much better than canned dog food! Thanks
Thank you for this recipe,he loves it. We went through several brand and the cost for 4lb bag $32.of what he will eat-eventually. This recipe is an answer to aid my Grizzy and my cost.
I never thought I’d a human making food for a dog. Grizzy is my 1st dog in 30 yrs and with my kids (young adults)leaving home, he is now my fur baby.
My dog absolutely loves this receipt he’s 1yo pit bull and he’s whining for more how much should I give him at a time?!
Hi!
How much you feed your dog depends on their size, weight, activity levels. It’s best to consult your veterinarian in regards to how much you feed your pup. My English Mastiff, I use to feed 3 times a day, 1 cup each feed. My more active hunting dogs got fed about 1.5 cups of food twice a day. My smaller dog got one cup of food a day, half in the morning and a half about mid-afternoon. Each dog is unique depending on its breed, age, weight etc. https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/nutrition/how-many-times-a-day-should-a-dog-eat/
This recipe looks great. Wondering if anybody has made this in their Instant Pot? If so, any tips/suggestions on that?
I make this in an instapot using boneless breasts instead of ground chicken. Start with 1 cup rinsed uncooked rice, top with veggies and chicken breasts then add 2 cups unsalted chicken broth. Pressure cook for 8 minutes and let the pressure release on its own. When the lid releases I pull the breasts and shred them. My pups love it!
Thanks so much for the info. Does the brown rice fully cook in 8 minutes? I’m a complete newbie to instant pot cooking!
did you find an answer or solution to the rice in the recipe for the insta pot by chance? Like just starting on the pot and puppy food 🙂
Love this recipe..My Golden retriever is 9 months old..he is kinda picky eater and lately not eating enough.
How much should be the portion given at a time for 9 months puppy?
It is very easy to make this recipe with regular spinach. I did not have baby spinach, so I used regular spinach instead.
How do you know how much to give your dog?
Made the Home made dog food with the turkey and it is fabulous. She loves it. Our 5 1/2 year old Frenchton was just diagnosed with cancer and I immediately started making her food. When you read the packages on dog food you know that most are not free of chemicals they don’t need. Thanks for the recipe
I have a 10 pound puppy and a 20 pound adult. How many cups should I feed each of them?
This recipe says it makes 8 cups I got 12 cups how big are the cups you are using to only make 8
Can I use potatoes instead of rice?
My Frenchie pup has food allergy, can’t eat rice or peas. I substituted sweet potato for the rice. He loves it. His so picky but he loves this food.
What do you use instead of the peas?
Chungah, I made this for my dog and he absolutely loves it! Thank you so much for posting this online
Great easy dog food recipe! I have a question… zuchinni and carrots really vary in size. How many cups would you say each of those are, especially if I buy some pre-shredded ?
Have been cooking dog food for decades and this recipe ticks all the boxes!! Very good!
The calorie amount seems really high. Is it accurate? If so, it’s more calories than any of the commercial dog food for weight management.