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 picky 3 lb Yorkshire loves it!!! Thank you!!!
I have a question. I have a 4 pound, 7 pound and 20 pound dog. I have no idea of the portion size for any of them. I intend to use this recipe but I am clueless. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!
it all depends on the breed! look up the caloric intake your dogs need online and base it off of the serving size above! hope this helps
This sounds like a great recipe. Mo showed it to my veterinary. She said only white rice and chicken rather than turkey. My Golden’s have never been able to eat turkey without severe diarrhea.
What oatmeal do you give a dog? Instant mix? Old fashioned oats? Also, if a dog is allergic to grains, what would be good foods to replace grains?
based on my research some good substitutes for grains (assuming the grain allergy is a gluten allergy) are:
-potatoes/sweet potatoes
-legumes (beans)
-quinoa
-lentils
As for the oatmeal question, I would opt for old fashioned or any other style of oats, just be sure that you are buying and making oatmeal that doesn’t have any added sugar, cinnamon, or other flavors. I would be wary about Instant mix too because the ones I have encountered usually have flavors or other added fruits to it. I have read that cinnamon can be harmful to your pup, which is why I advise to be very careful.
Hi Linda,
With approval from my vet, I’ve used both cooked ground garbanzo beans (from dry, not canned) and the flour. For my larger dogs the whole garbanzo is fine. This is one of the very few legumes that dogs can easily digest. I’ve used the garbanzo flour (besan) to thicken up the stew like a really solid gravy but you have to really let it cook (at least an hour) because the raw flour is not digestible and tastes pretty awful. There are youtube videos on using besan flour to make besan tofu (it’s soyless). That is simple, freezable, and very good also. My dogs love it when I’m not too lazy to make it.
It was awesome recipe, but I didn’t understand if the measure of the brown rice is cooked or raw?
It’s 1 1/2 cups of raw rice, cook then add amount to recipe, should be doubled
My dog LOVES this!! I’m so happy as he is the pickiest dog eater I’ve ever had. He’s a rescue so I think he was used to garbage and canned dog food. He only eats kibble if it has a sauce on it. Won’t eat carrots, peanut butter, bananas, apples, etc. He ate this down in 1.5 min. He is only 8 lbs. I’m THRILLED he likes this. Thanks so much.
PS – I added chick peas instead of regular peas as he will eat those.
I’m on my 4th batch of making this. My dogs love it. I highly recommend it. All my family members want me to make it for their dogs. I’m tired of our little family members having inflamed paws, severe red ears, scratching and overall health issues. Most store bought dog food is processed crap. use only fresh organic ingrediants. it’s the best for their little intestines. As a bonus, I drizzle a little organic chicken broth over food before heating
My bichon frise has itchy skin and itchy paws – do you think recipe might help her too?
This is very easy to make and my dogs love it. girl dog has a sensitive stomach and she ate this without complaints!
Easy to make and doggyliscious!
My dogs are aways salivating when I make this!
Saw a question below – spinach is healthy for your dogs – do not give them corn (that is a bad filler). I’ve made this in the past and I’ve made some tweaks – this is a great base! My add on’s for consideration: Try changing up the meats -Your 3lbs of meat can include Chicken/Beef/Turkey livers, Duck or Salmon; Grated sweet potato, tumeric and ginger; eggs, frozen blueberries, kale and flaxseed. I substitute quinoa if I don’t have the brown rice on hand. My golden lab/retriever mix she has 1.5 cups and my maltese he has 1/2 cup and there is never ever anything left in the bowl! Freezes great however, I tend to make enough to last me about 5 days. Thank you for this! It makes me feel better giving them fresher foods!
How often do you feed you Maltese. I have a Morkie I just got he’s 7 lbs. do you think it would be best if I fed him a 1/2 cup twice a day? I think me making his dog food would be best for him.
I feed mine twice a day!
Hi Marita,
Do you mix all these ingredients together (changing meat of course). Are you able to give a recipe pls 🙂 Thank you
Excellent homemade dog food recipe for my elderly dogs they love it. Thank you
Pups weren’t too keen on the spinach. So I substituted corn but they didn’t digest that very well. Just wondering, how much do you recommend at 1 serving. They are fed morning and
early evening.
Thanks, Vickie
Great idea! I am going to give it a try for my pack 🙂
Use only frozen or fresh peas. Canned peas have no food value for dogs. It is cooked away. Love your recipe website, Chungah. I use it a lot.
If my dog eat 400g of dry food proformance how many gram should i feed my dog from that recipe
Just a note that homemade diets can be more dangerous than kibble. There are vitamins and minerals in kibble that are essential. And obviously ingredients that should NOT be included. Please consult your veterinarian if you would like to solely feed your dog homemade food.
Thank you so much! My dogs live it and they’ve slowly been losing weight.
We eat 2 and 1/2 cups of canadae dry foods per feeding 2x daily. My collie 14 mos old. He is 85 pounds.How much should I feed for fresh food?
Robin
Do you need to give them a vitamin supplement?
Supplemental fish oil? If so liquid or pill?
I’ve read in many articles brown rice has arsenic and to use Oats instead ?
Any ideas for toppers?
Thank you
Can you freeze any extra dog food you make for later.
Yes
After reading an article about kibbles , how they are made and all the expired meats and dead animals being incorporated in it , I stopped feeding my chi any type of kibbles . For the past 4 years , she has been eating homemade healthy food . Brown rice , quinoa , oatmeal , cow raw milk , fish , fruits and veggies . She loved carrots and broccoli mixed with quinoa ❤️ If this is the first time you’re making homemade food, just make sure all you google all the ingredients just to double check your feeding not the toxic food ❤️❤️Thanks for this website . Good to know there are other pet owners who is feeding their dogs real food as well ❤️