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 just made this for my pup Minnie she’s a 4 month old
Chihuahua. I decided to make it because she had two shots
Yesterday and blood drawn and wasn’t herself. I made her
A small bowl and sat down to eat my lunch. Not even 3 minutes later she was at my feet with a belly full and full of energy!
LOVE LOVE LOVE this recipe!
How much do you feed Minnie?! We just got our chihuahua and we wondering what the best portion sizes are.
I have been making this for awhile and my dog likes this and will look for more when finished. I will make this batch and trying to figure out if can be stored in container in fridge and for how long?
I have a lab hound mix who has food allergies that effect his skin. I am hoping that this will help! I’ve tried so many different dog foods to calm his allergies, some work better than others, but those dog foods are very expensive.
I normally feed him a cup of kibbles in the am and a cup in the pm. Do I stick to the same amounts with homemade. He is 2 years old and about 50 lbs.
Check the calorie intake for your dog. Should be around 1500 calories a day for the weight and age but check with your vet.
Can I use eggs instead of chicken?
My dog absolutely loves this food. I added rotisserie chicken (no skin or bones) to the recipe (half ground turkey, half chicken) But other than that, followed recipe exactly. Thanks for saving me $ and stress!
My schnauzer is a really picky eater. He only goes for the meat, a little bit of the brown rice and nose the veg to the side. I have shredded carrots, mashed and pureed the boiled broccoli, green peas, tiny cubes of apple etc but nope, i’ll find these on the floor or in the bowl. And these are in the smallest portion. Any advice? I even tried force feeding him bananas but felt bad and stopped immediately. I can only put a quarter of what you give your fur baby, otherwise he’ll waste it. Lastly, I give him probiotic powder in his food every two days, according to a friend’s advice, as well as egg shell powder and human grade fish oil every other day. Is it possible to add the probiotics into the meal while it’s cooking and then freeze portions? It’s hard to find ground turkey here and like most schnauzers cannot eat chicken meat. I use beef and pork, boiled and then cut them into small pieces into the cooking meat. Waiting for my meat grinder to be delivered. Help.
I have the same vegetable issue with my Rhodesian Ridgeback, we have started to blend his veggies with his meats and started to give him a veggie-meat mash on top of/mixed into rice! He eats it like a champ! Maybe it can work for you too 🙂
Try cooking the brown rice&veggies in no sodium chicken/meat broth. They’ll smell and taste more like meat that way.
Have made a very similar recipe with leftover cooked chicken and pork. I purée the vegetables so their gut doesn’t have to work so hard to break the veg down (my dogs are 9 and 10 years old), plus it helps bind the food together a bit. I also scramble half a dozen eggs without any seasoning and add those. They would much rather have it than kibble. Good stuff!
Our dogs started having stomach issues even with expensive “healthy” store bought dog food. We decided to make the change to home made food and they love it. Just made this for them last night and they gobbled it up. In just over a week they are already looking and feeling better.
I like to know if the vet approves of the the home made dog food
I was paying as much as $161 per month for a gourmet dog food service that shall remain unnamed. Thanks to this DIY recipe, I was able to produce 21 cups of human grade dog food for about $25. My dog gobbled up her first meal enthusiastically. Goodbye, grotesquely overpriced premium dog food!!
My cocker spaniel throughly enjoys his newly cooked meals.
I give this recipe a five star.
The cocker spaniel has IBS.
Hi Ellie. Can I ask how much you give your Cocker? I have a Coker Spaniel and I just started making her food. She is 11 and she started shunning her dry store bought food(Iams for seniors) shes healthy except for being put on thyroid meds at her last checkup 3most ago. She LOVES the homemade food but I dont know how much to give her. Any tips that you could me would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
I have a German Shepherd 91 lbs, and a 20 lbs Maltese, how much would the recipe be?
I’ve seen people make this homemadefood and it can be up to 150 per week and that would be only for your Sheperd. So you may be needing about 200 per week depending where you live! Have a nice day!
Read the comment above by Lauren M. Jones … She stated that she was able to make 21 cups of this recipe for aprox. $25.00 Hope this helps
I am chosing to make my 4 dogs their soft food. It’s getting too expensive to buy for them!!
I just switched from buying commercial dog food to making homemade. I’ve been collecting different recipes and so far, yours seems to be our dog’s favorite! Thanks for this with us.
I can’t wait to try this! My puppy went through the same thing with her diet. We did the chicken and rice and then transitioned her back to her kibble but I ended up continuing a little bit of chicken and rice because she loved it so much. How did you transition your puppy to human food? Was it slowly day by day?
My Dogs eat this better than their food . Thanks
I have a question I have a cockapoo about 20pds and she 11 months now about how much should I feed her?
I have a 40 lb dog and he gets 1.5 cups a day so since she is half the size i’d recommend 3/4 but split that 2 times so do a little more than a third of a cup per meal.
Thank you for sharing this with us … I too was wondering how much of this recipe I should feed my pet, she is a 15 lb. Pug.
I love this recipe and so does my dog Gregory- thanks so much for devising such an easy and nutritious recipe. Question: is it 1 1/2 cups of cooked rice that goes into the meat – or do I make 1.5 cups of dried rice and add all if that cooked rice to the meat? Thanks in advance for your clarification.
It says to cook 1 1/2 cup of rice w 3 cups of water and serif aside. That will make 3cups of rice to be added to the rest of the food.
I love this recipe and so does my dog Gregory- thanks so much for devising such an easy and nutritious recipe. Question: is it 1 1/2 cups of cooked rice that goes into the meat – or do I make 1.5 cups of dried rice and add all if that cooked rice to the meat? Thanks in advance for your clarification.
I was just wondering if I don’t freeze the food, I put it in the fridge instead, how long until it will go bad.
I have a mini, long haired dachshund and she absolutely loves it. She is definitely not a picky eater, but I just wanted her to have a healthier diet that is proven and I know what it’s made of because i make it. I am so glad you shared this amazing recipe with us. (I tried some the other day and it’s ACTUALLY human quality)
Bailey, the doxie, thanks you a ton!!
Great recipe. I saw no feeding instructions, how much per pound of body weight? I have a 95 lb dog and one that’s 12 lbs & no idea how much to give them.
I had the same question! But then talked to my vet and she said a dog needs anywhere from 25 to 30 calories per lb, depending on their activity level. And a cup of this is 412 cal. Hope that helped!