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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Im thinking of getting a rott puppy and I know they require a high protein diet would this recipe be good or do I need to add more meat or take out some grains? It says the recipe is easy to adjust for diets, but how?
Please consult with your pet’s veterinarian and use personal judgment when applying this information to your own dog’s diet.
Chungah, this is absolutely amazing! My dog loves it and I feel so much better making his own food. Thank you!
This recipe is great. I have been feeding my dog with only homemade food and hee is gonna turn 13 this year so i would love to share some recipes with you guys http://www.dogfoods.gr8.com His name is SNOWY 🙂
Thank you so much for writing an informed post about home-cooked diets for dogs! I am a veterinarian and get so frustrated by the “alternative facts” out there about dog nutrition (SO.MUCH. misinformation!). I love that you reference Balance IT, which is my favorite website for helping owners create balanced home-cooked diets for dogs and cats. I will be trying this one for my own pup<3
I have two coonhounds. How much should I put in each serving?
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
dogs eat RAW MEAT, BONES AND ORGANS….and that’s it!!….they do NOT and should NOT eat vegetables or rice, or anything else that is in a human’s varied diet …..they are carnivores, and have made it thru millions of years being hunters and scavengers…..look at their teeth….should they be eating cereal nuggets or vegetables or rice????…..would you feed that human stuff to a lion?…NO!!… dentition dictates what they should eat…a lion has EXACTLY the same teeth as a dog…..dogs are NOT omnivores, and although they can survive on just about anything, that doesn;t mean that fruit veg and rice is the right food….and think about it….what about those dogs who can;t make their own rice, like the ones in |China can?….oh wait, THOSE dogs in China have no thumbs to be able to cook rice on a stove either….
Janice is 100% correct.
****THIS POST SHOULD COME WITH A DISCLAIMER****
It is very dangerous to offer this type of information without doing proper research. It’s vital for dogs to have a certain percentage of RAW bones (never cooked), kidneys, liver etc with every meal in order to make sure they’re receiving all the proper nutrients.
What you offer above IS NOT A COMPLETE DOG FOOD DIET.
The recipe is void of those things (as well as supplements) and will longterm cause health issues and malnutrition (especially because the food is all cooked).
Dog kibble is garbage but at least they are sure to include all the necessary supplements that dogs need in their diet.
Very true
While dogs certainly do not need rice, they are not entirely carnivores, they are omnivores. Dogs do naturally eat a diet of mostly meat, but they will eat the fruits off of shrubbery as well much similar to bears. Dogs also get a source of plant matter from their prey, unless you are feeding your dogs whole prey with bellies full of plant matter you may need to supply it in the form of cooked vegetables.
How long can this stay in the freezer for after it has been made?
Methods for optimal food storage and shelf life should be based on good judgment and what you are personally comfortable with.
This recipe is amazing! my puppy loved it! my kids got a whiff of the aroma as I was cooking it, they asked to eat some! It’s hillarious because now they ask me to make dog food for lunch! jajaja
Thanks for sharing this recipe. I made it for my puppy and she loved it! I used ground beef and white rice and made it in my slow cooker to save myself some work – just dumped everything in except the spinch and frozen peas which I added for a few minutes at the end. I noticed that this recipe had double the percentage of protein compared to other recipes I’ve seen. So I did a little research to better understand how much protein dogs need. From what I’ve read, dogs only require between 15% and 35% protein in their diets (depending on their age, activity level, etc.). I will definitely make this again, but in future I will either cut the meat in half or double all the other ingrediants. Not only will this be in keeping with a dogs nutritional requirements, but it will be less expensive to make and the recipe will stretch a little further in feeding my large breed dog.
Thank you for this recipe! I am getting the ingredients today to make for my dogs.
I’ve been looking for a healthy dog recipe.
I love the versatility of your recipes.
Hi there can you tell me what is the breed of your dog. I would like to know if these proportions are suitable as well for a shih tzu. Thanks!
We feed our 3-yr old, 18-pound corgi one cup of food each day, supplemented by treats. This was decided after consulting our vet and a nutritionist. I recommend consulting with your own veterinarian to see what is best for your labradors.
How much in cups do I give my labradors per feed based on your recipe?.
We feed our 1-yr old, 19-pound corgi one cup of food each day, supplemented by treats. This was decided after consulting our vet and a nutritionist. I recommend consulting with your own veterinarian to see what is best for your labradors.
This seems like a great recipe . Once the recipe is done cooking how many cups Of food do you get from 1 batch ?
About 8 cups.
I have 4 yorkies who are picky eaters. Every couple months they decide to boycott and stop eating their food. The most recent food they have been eating was Merrick canned classic recipie. My dog food bill was getting up in price so I decided to research making my own. I found your recipie and went straight to the grocery store. In no time at all I had enough meals for 5 days for all my 4 dogs. I feed them twice a day and each dog gets 3/4 cup for breakfast and dinner. They love the home cooked meals I make and its all done with love. The food is fresh and its much cheaper then the 6.00 I was spending per day on canned food. The only substitution I made was coconut oil instead of olive oil. Thank you so much everyone for the recipie, all the comments and suggestions. It’s clear we all love our fur babies.
Thank you for sharing this recipe, it is amazing! I had my dog Josh try it out and he sends his compliments too 🙂
The entire bowl was done in less than five minutes.
I would like to add that depending on your dog liking, you could add mashed tunafish. My dog loves tuna in everything
is everybody using the 80% lean or the 93% lean turkey?
My senior corgi mix is diabetic for 4 yrs. I am cooking his food, chicken & gr beef, but want 2 add vegs. I consult his vet. It is very difficult to find any recipes for diabetic dogs, even for treats. Does anyone have a good recipe ? Thank you for your recipes, it is soo important to feed a proper diet to our pets. I am constantly looking at ingredients in dog treats. There is always some form of sugar, molasses, cane sugar, etc. Please watch , this will effect your dog later on.
I cook chicken thighs in the oven with my dutch oven. Add water and shredded carrots and cook at 250 degrees until done. Once cooked I shred all the chicken and set aside. Then in the left over stock (water from cooking chicken) I add frozen spinach (fresh would work too) and frozen peas. The warm broth will defrost the vegetables. Then I add cooked rice from the rice cooker. Add chicken back in. I make very large batches at once so I freeze some of it in glass topperware. The homemade food is our dogs topper. They still get an organic kibble with homemade stuff. It’s about 60 percent kibble and 40percent homemade wet food.
Can someone please mention how much am I supposed to be feeding my dog? Thank you!
2% of body weight ..
100 lb dog 2 lbs of food.
75% meat 5 to 10 % kidney
10% veggies and fruits
5%sardines or muscles .. fish oil can also be used
10% bone . . I give raw chicken feet.. Or you can use egg shells which have calcium as well.
Dogs need calcium so dont forget fish and calcium are important..
Hi, would like to give you recipe a try. Howeve, I’m from India where it’s difficult to procure Turkey, can chicken be used instead?
Thanks
Yes.