DIY Homemade Dog Food
This post may contain affiliate links. Please see our privacy policy for details.
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?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
If pup has kidney issues, spinach is not a good couce.
Just made this because my boxer will not eat dog food. She loves it, ate it all in one serving and licked the bowl. I was having trouble
finding anything she liked. Thank you so much!
How donI know what is an appropriate serving size for my dog?
How long is this food good when refrigerated and/or frozen?
Can this be frozen
How much should a 20 pound dog eat in a day?
I used this recipe as a guide but used what I had already. Belle is VERY picky in her senior years and other food is so expensive. I tried a blended version straight from the pan (with olive oil) and mixed with a small amount of kibble and she ate it within a few minutes!! She normally takes like 24 hours just to get through expensive food. I didn’t put a lot of meat either.. mostly veggies, and it looked horrific – like green baby poo – but she ate it up!! Thank you!! Saved me $70 and it cost pennies to make.
How much food for the dog per pound. I didn’t see in the article.
I haven’t made this particular recipe,but Close to it.
I love the fact of fresh for dogs and fresh for humans. So easy to make.
The bag or cans that I would normally buy are full of nothing but fillers and toxic products.
What do you suggest as a portion size?
Wow. First time I’ve tried anything like this. I followed the recipe, except I ran the combined ingredients thru the food processor just to break it down. I needed to add a little stock (water would work) to loosen it up, as it tightened in the FP. And the dogs (lab and pit) absolutely LOVED it. The lab will eat anything, but the pit is VERY picky. Keeper, for sure.
I have always understood that white rice is better because brown rice has a hull and is harder to digest. Any thoughts?
White Rice is more wholesome than brown rice, because of the high likelihood of Arsenic. The outer husk of rice grains, which stays intact on brown rice, contains more arsenic than white rice. We used Psyllium instead for fiber.
Hi! It looks delicious. Can you make it in instant pot? Thanks
Demolare the Stampede LOVES it. Usually, if not freshly made just before serving, Demolare will not eat it. This, reheated, he eats! Third day and he is still eating it.
I have a border Collie he ways right now about 55 pounds , he can lose a few. how much do I feed him daily?
is there a recommend serving size 60lb femal
I tried this and my dog loves it!
Sorry everyone now thinks you’re a veterinarian:) based on the questions
My dog loves it, add a little soy sauce and a scrambled egg and it’s dinner for us too lol. What percentage turkey do you use and do you drain it? I have been using 85% and it has quite a bit of fat.
What serving size do you give a Dane that’s 135 lbs?