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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My dog loves it but it seems a little expensive to feed a 50 pound dog this alone.
I’m use this with softened kibble for my old dogs (15&18) 1/2&1/2 no supplements (1 cup divided in half for 15lbs) . For my big dogs I feed Kirkland kibble at their weight and 1/8 cup just to make them not feel left out lol.
Dogs love it❤️,how long can they be kept in the freezer.
It’s great I’m go to grocery to get now and do it tomorrow morning.
But still want to know how much to feed my 20 lbs terrier. Or send me text where I can look it up?
How much does the recipe cost? Also what about adding ground powdered egg or egg shell for calcium?
Hi
I am very interested in knowing the calorie count per cup in this food. Anyone know?
I just made it for the first time my dog has been sick and I switched over to making my own food for him so I know what I’m putting in his stomach he seems to like it so far thank God! Thank you for the recipe
Can you use ground beef in place of ground turkey?
I made a meal with ground beef and it was very greasy even though I drained it very well.
Boil it instead.
Hi
Do you need to add salt to this recipe, if yes how much.
Thank you in advance
No seasonings for dogs.
Can I ask a question; Did the receipe require you to add supplementation with the Balance IT formulas?
Silly question: Do I measure 3 cups of baby spinach, then chop it? Or is it 3 cups of chopped baby spinach? I’ve been making this recipe for months and just thought to ask this. Thanks!
Angela,
This is a great question. It all depends on a recipe is written. In this case
3 cups baby spinach, chopped
*means measure then chop
If it was written
3 cups chopped baby spinach
*means chop then measure
Hope this helps. From one home cook to another.
I use this recipe ,if i use beef mince i boil it first to get rid of the fat
I also add apple ,my dog loves it .My dog refuses to eat any tin or roll dog food .i also have science diet dog biscuits ,that i leave out for her .
@suelittle
My Jaxy loves this!
I made this recipe for my 3 small dogs two of them are allergic to chicken so I used 88% 12% fat ground beef and they love it .
I have a 8 week old Dalmatian. My question about feeding her fresh food is, would fresh food make her have soft poop? I’m still potty training her at the Same time as my 2 year old so I wouldn’t want to be having to clean soft poop or diarrea from all over the house. has anyone experienced this with their pups?
Hey. So I made a batch. I didn’t realize it was 3lbs of turkey and only bought 1lb so I broke the recipe down to a third. You asked about poop so I wanted to share my answer. All dogs might be different idk. I have a pomeranian, born 1/29/2021. I gave him a total of three bowls before his first poop. It was not at all watery and not super hard like with dry food. It wasn’t mushy; it was the same size as dry (looks like a bullet.) Before I started this, I described it better in my head lol ultimately, it was not diarrhea. After the fourth bowl, same thing, not watery or diarrhea; was able to pick it up, no problem. Hope this helps! I worried about this too and because his poop is how I like it, I will continue this recipe!
I have a puppy who does not want to eat fry food or can foid I decided to cook for him and he eats very well. The can food especially . Really stinks. So now i make homemade food that he loves. But i needed new recipies.
Can you sub in Salmon for the turkey?
Great recipe! Just a quick suggestion to simplify this even more. If you own a rice cooker, you can add rice, eggs if you choose to use them, olive oil, and veggies and let it cook all at once. Sauté your meat separately and mix it all at the end. I recommend a couple tablespoons of turmeric in rice mixture as it has great anti inflammatory benefits.
I want to add eggs. Are they boiled first?
Or raw ? I’m picking up my puppy in 10 days.
This is the Recipe that changed My mind on wether to Start feeding My boy Homemade Dog food or Not..Sammy is a Pekingese and they are Very stubborn dogs that have a way of making up the Rules in my house. He just stopped eating his Food.But We just Love this recipe. I switch up the Veggies from time to time. I also give him a multi vitamin for seniors.Thanks so Much..
Very nice recipe! My Cecil has pancreatitis, he cannot eat much fat or he could die. If he eats something fatty he will blow up like a blimp 🙁 I am a vegetarian and I would like him to be one too but with his condition I do not want to give him too many eggs. He is a 22lb Rat Terrier mix and I have been feeding him something similar to this recipe for lunch and dinner.
For breakfast Cecil has french toast (2 slices of bread, 1 egg, and some fat free milk). I make my french toast first to soak up all the olive oil in the pan before I cook his breakfast. I then cut it up and mix it with about 1/3 of a cooked banana.
For the rest of the day I give him about 1.5oz of boiled chicken breast which I chop up. I then add 1 egg, plus equal amounts of broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, butter beans, sweet potatoes or yams, and string beans. I also add about 2 times as much peas as I do for each of the other veggies. Everything gets mashed or chopped (even the peas are mashed so they are digested easier). When everything is chopped up it probably makes about 1.5 pints of food which I then give half for lunch and the other half for dinner (or one big meal if we are out for the day).
This diet is very low fat and he has been off dog food and eating this for at least 6 months (and the prior 6 months he was eating half low fat kibble and half this recipe) and he seems to be doing well, and he has not had any pancreas events over the past year. You should know that when feeding a dog a fresh food diet they may eat 3 times as much food as dry kibble due to all the water in the food.
He also snacks on popcorn, apples, pears, bananas, etc. And I mostly eat the same as he does, only that I do not eat any meat with mine. Anyway hopefully this is helpful to anyone whose dog has pancreatitis.
John, I also have a dog that has pancreatitis, my boy Stanley is a senior Boston that weighs 32 pounds and he just had an attack so severe that I thought I was going to lose him. My question to you is where do you get recipes specific for dogs with pancreatitis ? Also how much food do you serve your dog per meal.
Any input you have would be appreciated.
Can I serve one meal of kibbles and one meal of your recipe?
Or will that cause digestive problems?
My intent is to increase fiber.
I do something very similar but I mix half homemade with half dog food. This makes me feel more comfortable that I am not missing any essential nutrients.
I do love this idea.
I don’t know how this is cheaper than dry dog food. I have 2 labs, and they would eat a Kirkland Costco dog food in 2.5 weeks for $46 plus tax. The cost of veggies and meat here would be much more (grains are cheap) when get our meat from the local butcher and it’s cheaper then grocery store prices
How do I adjust recipe for 10 month old puppy?
I posted this to another comment, but I want to post to all comments that relates to puppies because I’ve struggled getting definitive answers on the internet. I feed this recipe to my 5 month old French Bulldog. I am only giving her 1/3 a cup at a time as she is only 10lbs. I am looking into a good supplement just in case there are gaps in the nutrition she needs. This makes a large amount so I used sandwich baggies to freeze what I wasn’t going to use in 3-4 days. This has to be so much better than kibble no matter how good the brand and mine do not go poopy as much as on kibble because their bodies absorb more. They say to feed your dog (no matter the age) 2-3% of their body weight, converted in to ounces. Puppies are supposed to get a little more in calories because they are growing and need it. Everything in this recipe is ok for your baby, but all dogs are different and you may find there is something that doesn’t agree with them. You’ll figure out what works best as time goes by. Don’t be intimidated.
This was easy! I enjoyed cooking for him. I love him. I can’t get him to eat wet or dry food. He is so picky. I have wasted hundreds of dollars on high priced dog food!! This is a great alternative. Thank you.
I want to learn more