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 17 year old Chi abruptly stopped eating her dry dog food. For the last week, I’ve been trying everything-wet dog food, treats, scrambled egg- anything assuming she was entering her last days. She’s eat it one day and walk away from it the next. But last night I made your dish – I use your recipes more than any other recipe site- and she tore into it. It may still be the end for her but at least I’ll know her tummy’s full. Thank you.
So wonderful and my dogs love it, recipe is so easy and I love knowing what is in the food they eat.
My puppy loves it! I make it on Sunday and bag out 21 servings for the week and keep them in the refrigerator. Is it ok to keep it in the refrigerator for 7 days or do I have to freeze it?
When I make homemade dog food, I put 3 days worth of thawed food in the fridge crisper and keep the rest frozen. Every time I use a day’s worth, I replace that with frozen so it thaws and I have an ever-rotating 3 days of fresh food without worrying about it sitting too long. I apply that same approach to what I eat, so I figure it works for them too.
I would keep it no longer than a week in your refrigerator.
It’s so easy and I already have most of the ingredients. Going to go make some dog food right now.
We have a toy poodle puppy who is a very picky eater, he will barely even eat treats unless he is really hungry. When we got him he was struggling to put on weight at the breeders and then had the same issues with us. We tried a few different brands and types of kibble then a few different types of canned food. He would barely touch kibble and the wet food he would eat but he didn’t like it, he had to be starving. Like others have said the first time we made this we gave him a serving, he sat there for 15 minutes after he was done just licking the bowl clean.
He has been on this diet for a month now and is definitely doing much better. He still loves this recipe he follows us to the kitchen and sits down and waits for his food to come out of the microwave. Its nice not worrying he isn’t eating enough and knowing he is getting good quality ingredients. In actuality this is a ton cheaper then canned food and it doesn’t leave our house smelling like rotten fish. I’ve also noticed his poop smells better, not that I would want to smell it but it is less poignant.
our 9 lb toy poodle is also a very picky eater and will not eat dry food as well as canned foods. She will eat this up however. how much are you feeding per day of this recipe? she is also getting a mutivitamin supplement. Thanks
I am trying to integrate more real, unprocessed food into my dogs’ diet. They can’t eat most meats, so I used tempeh instead of turkey in this recipe. They are picky eaters, and the LOVED this recipe! Thank you!
I have tried every store bought dog food. Pebbles, freeze dried, frozen raw, and my baby will never eat the whole thing or enjoy it. After eight years, I decided to try homemade dog food since she loves my cooking so much. Anything that is human food. This was the first recipe I found that looks super easy. And it was just that! I looked at one comment and it said that their dogs were super picky eaters and didn’t eat it. I was scared about that comment. I placed the dog food down and watched her go to town!!! Thank you for sharing you are a god sent!
How many servings is that?
My puppies won’t touch it 🙁 but I will! My puppies have gotten very picky the last week so was hopeful they’d love this.
Have you tried Halo? My pug loves it. I would give her the kibbles and can mixed together, with some warm water to soften the kibbles. Dog do not digest dry food well, and its much better to add some water plus keeps them hydrated.
Don’t know what to do just want to know what’s good for my dogs
I add 1 tsp. of turmeric in my dog’ food for joint pain prevention. I alternate brown rice and quinoa and started adding 1 tsp. of flax seed as I noticed that many anti-itch chews contain it.
What is the serving size for a 50 pound dog? I started feeding this to my dog about a month ago and he’s lost a good amount of weight so i’m just worried that it’s not enough and I don’t want him to become malnutrition.
I give my dog 1 cup in morning and 1 cup at night. She is 45 pounds and has maintained a healthy weight over 9 months on this food. I do use a vitamin supplement from The Missing Link. It is the original superfood supplement for hips and joints, the other type from this company is the same formula but without the joint supplement.
Would this recipe be suitable for a puppy and if so how much would I give? I currently have a 13.5 week old border collie. I would like to do a mix if kibble and wet food.
I chose the homemade dog food route after yet another one of the “trusted” dog food brands got sued for compromising ingredients. I have 2 boston terrier and this is such an easy recipe and my 2 hellhounds act like they are getting a treat every time. I put them in muffin tins for portion sizing and freeze them. 6 portions in each freezer bag to last a full day that I take out the night before I go to bed. And they are thawed out the next morning for breakfast. My female has suffered dry skin especially during the fall and winter months and her skin and coat looks so much better since I have been doing this. An unexpected benefit.
hey! haven’t tried yet but I definitely think my dog will love this! I’m just wondering though if I should add some egg shells and probiotics? also maybe egg yolks for omegas, or does this already have?Thank you so much for this recipe!
Is this recipe good for 1.5 year old beagle?
Very helpful and comforting information. Thank you
This is the only dog food that I cook for my dogs but I don’t I mix it all together in a big bowl and then I put it in individual like cupcake pans or little loaf pans and I bake it all so I just mix everything together add a couple eggs some oatmeal bread crumbs , some organic powdered kale, and sometimes bacon but like I said I just mixed it all together in a huge bowl and make individual servings or little individual loafs or I can just split it between the two dogs but they absolutely love it and then sometimes couple times during the week I’ll add chopped Apple to their meal.
And don’t forget some blue berries every now and then. Our pups love em!!!
This sounds great. But make sure not to over cook the meats as I have learn over cooking takes out all the nutrients that pets need. Over cooking like store bought food is not good for your pets. It only gives your pet the bare minimum of what keep your pets alive. So it’s ok to under cook the meats. Over cooking and chemicals which they putting in the food gives pet upset stomachs, and can cause cancer. That why I can wait to try some recipes and maybe come up a few of my own.
If I am wrong please let me know.
My dogs just devoured their first homemade food, I read that they needed to have organ meat as well so I bought chicken gizzard and livers and mixed it with the turkey, elides Qi I gotta them quick doses of Punkin I’ll started trying to replace the turkey with chicken and ground beef for a variety, hopefully my 9 yr old shih Tzu’s will start to feel better and lose a little weight
I have been making my own dog food for 20 plus years. You have to add vitamins and minerals and I have a wonderful company with all natural ingredients … also probiotics … mine is the highest possible it is amazing and a joint supplement. My babies 6 tiny chi’s only have a pinch of each and the bigger dogs more. having 8 dogs my tiny chihuahuas don’t eat much and I hate kibble! I am vegetarian and my dogs stand in line waiting for me to drop something they love veggies and especially broccoli … I don’t like zucchini they are tiny and it is stringy I alternate with so many other veggies .. one pup does not like peas. I do animal rescue and talk about well being of animals on radio show … this is what I have been feeding for over 20 years but I alternate. Also, oil should be added at the time of serving … never in with meal. Never give dogs ice cold food from fridge always room temp or a quick newk. I used to feed my babies mixed home made pureed veggies in containers never store bought jars. 🙂 Nothing like homemade food!
Can you please send the link to the vitamins you recommend to be added to the food?
So tired of buying dog food that leaves my dogS unhappy and looking for more food. So, learning how to make a balance homemade dog food for two chihuahuas would be a relief. I could add some of their dry food to it or add a vitamin pill/powder.
Hi, could you please email me the links of the vitamins you recommend please? Oceanrose79@gmail.com I have two poms I am trying to home cook for.
I would love to start making my dogs food but I’m not sure what the serving size should be, can anyone help?
Hi- can you please provide the name of the nutrient company or email me? H.gendus@gmail.com thanks so much! I’m nervous my dog isn’t getting enough nutrients he needs.
My little chiwawah was eating hardly anything, even whenid softened his KD dog food.. He’s 13 and has lost several teeth. When I gave him 1/4 C to try it out, he licked the bowl clean. He ate a second helping and again licked the bowl clean. That us so very unlike him, hes always so picky. I’m so thankful.
Hi could you pls give me your recommendation for the vitamins and probiotics and other minerals you add to your dog food?
Thank you
Marjanet7@yahoo.com
I’d love information on the powder supplements. Thank you.
Hi I have a miniature dachshund who is 6 months old I want to make my own food for her. As at the moment she is on fresh food made by a company called butternut box which is great but expensive. And as she gets older I would like to be able to control her diet but am also scared not to poison her !!? Can you advise kindly?!
Hi, can I get the name of the vits, mins and probiotics as well please 🙂
mer1001@hotmail.com
TY
Can you please send the name of your company and vitamins and prebiotic please? Rollingstonelee79@yahoo.com
Thanks!
Can you please let me know what company uh ou are using for your vitamins, sracz52@ptd.net
Thank you
Hello,
What is the name of the vitamin/minerals company? Thank you!
Can you send me the information on the vitamin supplements that you were talking about.
Thanks
I would like the name of the vitamin place you use
barbiee65@gmail.com
I just found this thread and would love to have the link also for the vitamins and probiotics that you mix in with homemade dog food. My email is dkoele22@gmail.com. Please and thanks!
Love this dog food. My Cairn Terriers are feeling great!
How much do you portion for your Cairns. Asking for my friends (3 Cairns)