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 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…
Can you tell me what the Calories are in 1 cup of the DIY brown rice / turkey Recipe is?
This meal would be ok for like one meal a couple times a week, but there is no bone or egg shell included in this, which is essential for dogs to balance out calcium and phosphorus, or dogs can end up with severe health issues. Do your homework everyone.
You could throw in an or two every other day or so depending on ur dog…raw egg
Throughout week save eggs shells as u use ur eggs
Then once dryer out…I keep in a mason jar…put in grinder or coffee grinder …..sprinkle into food…..
This looks great. But it does not say how much to feed the dog. I have one 40 pound dog and one 20 pound dog. I would love some guidance on how many cups to give per day.
I googled how many calories my dog would need per day. I then calculated by what the nutrition facts on the recipe says. I made this today and my dog loves it. Everything makes him sick so I make his food.
This recipe looks great. Once the recipe is done cooking how many cups of food do you get from 1 batch ?
I have a black German shepherd too! His name is Batman I was also wondering batch size. Are you feeding a GSD, too?
The recipe yielded 25 cups of food. (I added 1 1/2 c. steamed butternut squash instead of the green squash. I also left out the olive oil because I will supplement with safflower oil and ground eggshells (read note above about doing research to make sure you have all of the nutrients you dog needs)). I used a program to calculate the calories of the recipe because what is listed didn’t seem right. It is way off . I came up with about 130 calories per cup and 11 grams of protein, which is more in line with the ingredient list. If you tweak the recipe, you can use https://caloriecontrol.org/healthy-weight-tool-kit/food-calorie-calculator/? to calculate the total calories and then divide it by the yield to get calories per cup.
I used https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-feeding-tips/dog-food-calculator/ to figure out the portion size for my dogs since I have previously only used dry dog food.
Thank you!
I have a gsd pup. just got this from my vet.
Here is an example of how to use this chart effectively.
Weight of a pet is 16 lbs16 lbs is equal to 310 RER (Kcal/day)If the pet is over 4 months of age you would take 310 and multiply it by 2 as per the Growth DER on the right side of the cart. so.. 310 x 2 = 620 kcal/day. Now you will take the amount of kcals/day and divide by how many kcal are in 1 cup based on the brand of food. Please note that as she ages or if she gets spayed the DER number on the right of the chart will need to change accordinging.
Search google for
“estimated energy requirement canine chart”
It should bring up a PDF chart from wilmot veterinary clinic it is exactly the same as the chart I have from my vet.
Where do I find the recipe please
My dog loves it, thank you so much. I used frozen veggies. She ate every bit and she is the pickiest dog around. She also has digestion issues/GERD which is why I am feeding her homemade food. My mom added beef broth as well to her serving today which only increased her zeal for the food. I recommend this 100% and ground turkey is healthy for your dog.
Is beef broth ok with the salt in it?
You can try low sodium bone broth. It’s great collagen boost.
This is Great! Is it ok for any French Bulldog? I mean I have a French Bulldog Puppy. (one year old).
I made a batch last night and it’s been a hit with my senior pup. This is my first homemade dog food, and I’ve been hesitant to leave the kibbles and can food behind. But my 13 year old Bordernese has been having digestion issues. She also doesn’t chew her food anymore so we had to stop giving her kibbles. Switched her to can food, but buying good quality can food gets pricey when you have a 55lb dog.
This batch looks to be about a week for her. I used all organic and it’s such a savings. Plus we can use the leftover veggies as well.
Thank you so much for making this process easy and I appreciate the nutritional facts. This has inspired me to never buy dog food again. I love to cook so now I can share my joy of cooking with my best friend.
How many cups a day do you give a 50 pound dog? We are new pet owners 🙂
I add about 3 apples chopped up, med sweet potato, and blue berries to my Blue Heelers food and he loves it. I saw someone was concerned about the calcium. I add a tablespoon of plain no fat yogurt to his morning meal. But he also gets a cow trachea once a week that helps with joint health which is a huge problem in older dogs so you have to start them on the trachea young.
our senior rescue (a Morkie) had to have all her teeth removed. We started giving her this recipe. Gigi LOVES it, is able to eat it without teeth and its very easy to make. We’ve been making and freezing it in individual serving. Thank you so much for this recipe
We also have a Morkie who had to have all her teeth, except the 4 canines, removed (must be the breed). Now she has pancreatitis, so I am going to start feeding her a low fat diet. I’ll be trying this one.
Looked up my dogs needs for how many cups a day he’d need and it’s 2.5. Figured double this recipe for a weeks worth and it made way more than anticipated! Which is great! I bought frozen veggies I know my dog likes and threw them in a food processor to cook them down a bit more. Ended up actually making nearly 2 weeks of food for $40 up front. Then going forward only $20 a month for meat!
I also saved the meat grease and made a thin gravy to add so it’s not dry.
How did you look up what your daily needs would be by cup??
You can just Google “how much dog food should I feed my dog.” A bunch of different calculators will come up (under all the ads). I’d try several different ones just to make sure they are in sync with one another and not off by say, 200 calories a day or something. It’ll give you a better gauge. However I would highly recommend asking your vet. My vet did a thorough exam, including bloodwork, then told us how many calories per day she needs (she’s overweight). You can also ask your vet if this recipe is appropriate for your dog or if you should add/subtract any ingredients. Meanwhile, here’s a calculator to start with https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-feeding-tips/dog-food-calculator/
I would like to know how to look it up too..
You should go to the Balance IT website that she sites in the information leading up to the recipe. This recipe likely has vitamin and mineral deficiencies that the supplement Balance IT canine provides for. There is a link to the supplement and the nutritional information in the article.
Very good recipe!
How much do you feed per weight?? I want try English bulldog for her skin see if it helps but have no clue how much feed her??
This is awesome, and my girls love it, BuT how much do i feed per kg per day????
THank you for sharing. My 13 year old morkie gave us a scare recently and has not been eating well since. She’s turned her nose up to dry kibble, wet food with chunks and the pate version. At a loss for what to feed her besides treats (she’ll never turn those down) I went to the internet for a homemade recipe. Found this one, threw in some substitutions based on what I had available and she gobbled the first plate all up. Thank you so much! Hopefully the trend continues.