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.
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Thank you. Perfect for my dogs and I am confident of good nutrition now. My dogs are active on the road and their paws are dry. I will let you know when the paws are supple again.
I’m very confused – I followed this recipe to a T and my yield is 15 cups. Is there a typo on the recipe??
I would like home made receipes for my dog mostly. I’ve tried making some myself & he is loving it. Thanks.
Made this for my mix breed dog who weights about 20kilo. Tried her on a taster and she loves it. I’ll change the veg and meat around for variety. I’m giving her 1 cup for breakfast and 1 cup for her afternoon meal. Hopefully this will calm her tummy as she is very sensitive.
My two dogs LOVE this. One is dealing with some ear and skin problems and im hoping that this will help. Thanks for a great alternative to store bought dog food.
I’m looking into cooking my GSD home cooked meals , as she has allergies and the vet can’t tell me what she’s allergic to , she also has bad ears … So what could I cook for her
I guess you can switch out the type of meat? The recipe calls for ground turkey… the picture shows ground chicken. That would change the nutritional information. Great recipe, I’ll see if I can play around with ingredients. Maybe change them up week to week, batch to batch. But this a great starter recipe!! Thanks do much!
Just made this, and hoping my dog loves it. She was recently injured and had to have one of her back legs removed. She hasn’t been eating a lot, so I made this to give it a try.
Will you please tell me how much she should have in a day. I am guessing 1 cup twice per day. Is that correct. She is a border collie and weighs 40 lb Thank you for any and all help.
80lbs-3 1/2-4cups per day
60-3 cups
40-2 cups
20-1 cup
10- 1/2 cups
Adjust if gaining or losing weight.
I would also suggest supplements
What about a 97 pound GSD? Currently he eats 6 cups of kibble a day
100-5 1/2 cups
Just made this tonight and want to make sure I’m feeding my fat 18lb Pomeranian, the right amount – he absolutely loves it! But, he needs to lose weight…so with the ground turkey recipe, how much do I feed – and what supplements do I need to make sure he is getting? Thank you for any help!
Our 4 year old English Lab weighs 95 lbs. (about 20 lbs more than she should). She is walked daily. She does have a sensitive stomach, flaky skin, and I really worry about her hips.
I’m trying to get my husband on board to try this type of diet for her. Of course, he must stop the bagged treats.
What would you suggestion for potion size for weight loss, yet keeping her satisfied?
Do you add fruits to the meal or do them as a healthy treat?
Any ideas for treats?
I have looked at the BalanceIt calculator and it seems to be very helpful.
What supplements would you recommend?
Jodie, do yiu think this is a decent recipe, author is v honest re not feeding all the time …. but there r other sites that hv v similar recipes and they say u can, glowing reports even,,!! Thank you. Do u hv a good recipe please. Thank you
Thank you! I wondered how much to give my girls. The Dovie is doing well but my chi needs to loose a lot more. Right now they are both 16 lbs. I give them each 1/2 c and 1/4cup maintenance kibble at each meal. My vet said they need the dry food for the teeth. Keeps the teeth cleaner. They love meal time! I swear the can read the clock because at 5 the doxie barks and the chi dances in circles.
My dog is a Staffordshire bull terrier he weighs 25 kilo how many measuring cups of food would be recommended as he loves this food just unsure of how much to give him
I have a 20 lb.. dog how much do I geed him daily with their recipe?
I just started feeding my poodle homemade food because he absolutely would not eat his kibble anymore. He loves this recipe. But I haven’t added sweet potatoes yet. Should they be peeled before I grate them! Also, I’ve seen different guidelines for how much I should feed him. He is a ten pound poodle, 14 years old and only moderately active. I’d appreciate your suggestions! Also, I have followed recipes from Damn Delicious for a while and was so glad to see this recipe for my Cooper!
Yes,you should always peel your sweet potato,if you leave them on,it may cause intestinal blockage.
How long will this last in the fridge. How much food are you feeding your dog a day? What does he/she
weigh?
OMG, thank you, thank you, thank you. I have 2 chihuahuas. Harley (7yrs) is a mix with a pincher. Duncan (5 yrs)is a full blooded black & tan, long haired chihuahua, he is a lot smaller. Harley had been trained when we got him & was satisfied with his puppy kibbles. When we got Duncan 2 yrs later, wouldn’t eat plain kibbles. I tried every dry & canned dog food & he would turn his nose up, as Harley started doing. Finally they decided they liked Little Ceasers, Chicken only & I would add puppy kibbles. They ate this for a long time. In the past 6 months, they decided they didn’t want to eat that anymore. I tried everything I could find, again. I orderd 80.00 dehydrated dog food & they just looked at me, “Like really?” They liked certain puppy treats. I knew that was healthy. So, we would just give them stuff we ate. All of the above were expensive. I saw an article on FB about dogs & their foods. You even had recipes! I went to the store today to buy the inexpensive few ingredients.
I came home and made a batch of your dog food using ground turkey, etc. We have been so worried that they had not eaten very little in the past months, except treats & crap, I just knew they wouldn’t eat it. But, they loved it & ate 2 small bowls a piece. They had to be hungry. Thank you for sharing your recipes that so far, cross my fingers, loved. It made my heart feel full to watch those 2 little buggers gobble down 2 small bowls of healthy food. It did not take any time to whip it up, that is good, because I don’t cook for my husband. I am so happy. One more thing to ck off my list. Julie
It all looks great. I have to stop raw feeding my dog , cockerpoo, because she has had a very bad ecoli virus. And she has been on Destolit and Marbocyl for a few months now. I have been feeding her a vet prescribed food by royal canine. But as her bloods are returning to normal, I am hoping that v soon I can feed her different food to tHe royal canine. I can’t go back to raw however. So …. my question is, how much do I feed her on this diet? She weight 10kg.
Thank yiu v much. Looks excellent.
I made some dog food with a few things out of the freezer. Chicken, rice, green beans, carrots, peas, corn. Thanks for the ideas.
Wow, my dog just loved it. He was not eating anything properly. But when I cooked this food he started eating . That’s why I am very happy today. Thank u soo much.
My two chihuahuas have been ill with diarrhea, and I took them off their regular kibble and moist food combo. After a couple of days of bland diet, I cooked this recipe, 1/3, but added a small amount of chicken broth to the rice, cooked the frozen peas in the rice pot, at the end of the rice cooking time. Mixed all together in their bowls and they could not have been any happier! They licked their bowls and looked for more! Tails were wagging. Thank you for this great recipe! Princess and SweetPea
Isn’t turkey a bit rich? Also hard to source here in Oz. I’ll substitute chicken.
I have a 2.5 year old Miniature Poodle X Maltese. My Vet favours kibble over wet or mixed feeding due to plaque build up on teeth being an issue in small dogs. However, I cook up low fat beef mince with 2-3 vegs (carrots, zucchini, celery, or green beans) and add a little boiled rice or Risoni. I give him 1 metric cup morning and night, 1 chewy treat during the day, and a cup of Vet-approved kibble sits in his bowl until he’s desperate!
thank you for this! I am now making homemade dog food for my fur babies and appreciate your recipe. I also have used squash, parsley and dill in some of my recipes and my dogs are VERY happy.
I just made this for my dog oh, but I didn’t have any peas , I used a little less rice because that’s what I had and I made it from a leftover roasted chicken with all the juice. My dog is so happy right now oh, she kept looking up at me in awe that she is actually eating that
Our 30 pound dog likes you recipe, however I do not know how much i should feed her each day. Can you help???
This recipe is wonderful for my Shih tzu! I feed her 1/2 to 3/4 cups a day. To find out how much to feed look up how many calories are necessary for your dog and her weight. The nutrition information at the bottom of this recipe shows how many calories per cup.
I’m sorry but the MACRO’s in this recipe are very concerning.
No dog should be eating 72% protein in a day?
I’m trying to calculate everything myself to make my own recipe using this one as a base, but. 30% protein should be the max??
Dogs are naturally programmed to consume meat! 30% protein is much closer to a recommendation for a human, but dogs and their natural counterparts could even thrive without many veggies or carb sources like rice and such. This recipe is great!
Correct I was thinking about that too I normally buy 19-25% of protein only.. I can use only 1 lb of this…