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 can’t believe how easy this recipe is to make. More so, my picky puppy literally goes crazy for your brilliant recipe. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!
Can I substitute diced chicken breast instead of turkey
I have used whole chicken breasts, whole turkey breast, and ground chicken or turkey. When either is on sale, I buy enough to make a big batch.
Hi Amanda, can you please put your recipe on this page.
Thanks!!
I do this and different versions, but I always add chicken or beef liver, 1 tsp calcium powder per pound, and 1 tsp turmeric. I also flash freeze 1/4 cup portions, then pop them in a freezer bag for storage for when I make large batches and use when I am ready. Just 30 seconds in the microwave.
I have seven Chihuahuas one of them is about 17 years old he’s blind and has no teeth. He’s had a stroke and he skinny as a rail but he has the willpower to keep leaving him as long as he does he will. I’ve been feeding him raw hamburger meat but I don’t know how long and now I’ve got to where I mix Chicken or turkey ,beef hearts, canned tuna, and then I buy a high price, dog food and a can that’s got all good stuff in it Rachel Ray and stuff like that i’m all that up together and then they eat it as they like and if there’s any leftover I give to the big dog outside sometimes I had carrots and I’ve got a couple dogs that love broccoli and I’ve been giving them plain yogurt, eggs I blended egg shells up in my blender and then I just sprinkle some of that over it brewers yeast and I don’t know what else to put in there but they love it if they eat all that they’ve also got dried dog food that they can eat on the side. I just wanna make sure I’m giving them all of the vitamins that they need if there’s vitamins out there let me know what you need and I’ll get it , thank you
Jesse is allergic to rice. I substitute lentils.
Our cavalier is such a picky puppy.
She loved this recipe!
You. Can also use the rice base with split peas and crumble the eggshells and ioften buy a turkey leg to boil with it and all of my veg scraps go in a can beside the sink other than corn n cucumbers i add in he loves it
This Recipe is fabulous. I have 3 dogs 2 are female (one is 3lbs/4lbs is the other) they are small breed Norfolk terrier and are filled with energy. I also have a male mix breed Great Pyrenees/Akbash Livestock Guardian dog (120lb) who is easy going and only requires about 30 minutes of exercise a day. The small dogs are fed 2x a day while the large dog eats once a day. I feed the girls 1/2 cup each of this mixture a feeding, while my large male gets 4 cups a day. They are all at their optimum weight. I do have an electric roaster pan so I cook 2 whole chickens at a time (lasts about 2 weeks for all 3 dogs.
Love it got more meat ideas
Hi there- Do you know how many calories are in each cup of this recipe?
I just read spinach is bad for dogs. Impacts calcium absorption and could cause kidney issues to mention a few
I don’t know where you read that at but spinach can be bad for dogs that have kidney issues, besides that it is extremely high in a lot of vitamins that are necessary for a dog to have. The only con with spinach is that it has a certain chemical in it that can start to block any calcium absorption if it is said to a dog all the time.
I have made it with frozen fish fillets (my husband fishes a LOT) using this recipe for my ratios. I substitute frozen mixed veggies, white rice, and dumped it all in the crockpot to cook until the rice was done. I freeze single portions flat in sandwich bags. My picky dog loves it.
I used ground pork, my dog loved it!
Interesting post, has anyone tried this homemade dog food recipe with different protein sources, like fish or beef, instead of turkey?
I made it today with ground beefalo. He loved it!
How much to feed a 100 lb lab and a 50 lb lab? I’m anxious to try this recipe but don’t want to underfeed my kids
It doesn’t say. If using 3lbs of ground turkey is 1 1/2 cups rice cooked with that measurement or uncooked. As you know, rice will double and not one single recipe including this one tells us. By the way, my doggie a 9lb. 3 year old apricot toy poodle loves this recipe. When traveling, I have had to exchange chicken breast for turkey breast when I could not get turkey. Sometimes I can get whole frozen turkey breasts here at Stater Brothers in Southern California which is really tasty to my girl. Thanks for the great recipe. My Maggie Rose absolutely craves it!
Well considering it says you have to COOK the rice, I am going to use my common sense and say it more than likely means it is measured as DRY rice.
geez, don’t have to be rude.
Your homemade dog food recipe is undeniably healthy for our furry friends! It’s definitely worth sharing with our fellow dog lovers! Definitely will try this!
How much and how often should I feed my 8-month-old Cairn Terrier (8 lbs) and 8-year-old bulldog mix (85 lbs) this recipe? Is it ok to add cooked beef liver and chicken livers every other time I make the recipe instead of cooked turkey?
I’ve made this before when my cairn was 4 months old and am transitioning both dogs from dry kibble to home made food. Please let me know. Thanks!
I read on another site that if you were feeding kibble and transition to this, you should feed twice as much. I have a 9 lb shih tzu who was eating 1/2 cup of kibble a day (reluctantly). Now she gets 1/2 cup of fresh and 1/4 cup of kibble in case there are vitamins in the kibble that she needs. She sometimes leaves about 1/2 the kibble, but she gobbles down the fresh. I usually use chicken instead of turkeyJo Marie and always leave out peas since she will eat around them.
How much to feed an overweight Samoyed. She gets two feedings a day
Huge Question – When we say 50% 25% and 25%, what is that a percentage of? Weight Measurement? Volume measurement? Caloric value? I’m totally confused and need help