DIY Homemade Dog Food
This post may contain affiliate links. Please see our privacy policy for details.
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?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
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
Thanks for the recipe! I read on the AKC that spinach isn’t really recommended for dogs. Perhaps replace with Brocolli?
I’ve been making homemade food for my border collie since she was a puppy. About once a month I make a crockpot full of pinto beans, brown rice, broccoli, pumpkin puree, carrots, flax seed, eggs inc the shells, and sardines. If I’ve got dog-safe veggies that are about to go bad, such as green pepper, beets, spinach, etc I add them as well. Separate into containers or Ziplock bags and freeze. She gets this stew plus cooked chicken every day. When I have it on hand, I add a small amount of chicken or beef liver, liquid whey protein from homemade cheese, or bone broth to her daily nutrition.
My only concern is BROWN RICE. My dogs can’t seem to be able to digest it. It always causes some sort of trouble, starting with vomiting and ending with constipation. I have two sporting dogs: English pointer and Gordon Setter.
Try replacing with Quinoa, it increases the protein and is a seed, not a grain. This has worked well for my Boxer and Olde English Bulldogge, both with “delicte tummies” 🙂
Just thought I’d mention Bull Breeds shouldn’t have more than 18/20% protein or they could suffer bone deformities. X I’m juggling the recipe to accommodate this (trying) hate math. Llol
Try sweet potato instead of brown rice they may be able to digest it better
This recipe is fantastic. I’ve been cooking for my dog now for the past couple of months. I would love to know how frequent I should be feeding him as he appears to have lost quite a bit of weight I currently feed him twice a day. I have made alternative recipes through research with ox liver, tuna etc I feed him good portions am I worrying unnecessarily?
I have 2 German/Matiffs. They loved it. Still not sure what portion to feed them?
How many cups do u feed your dogs daily? Thanks
How mny cups of homemade dog food do you feed per day. tks
I made this recipe today for my dog and she absolutely loved it.
My dog loved this, but I boiled the meat and veggies and added fish oil instead. Thank you for this recipe
My dog is very picky and would starve herself I made this recipe with chicken and turkey my dog loves it she would always turn her head to any dry kibble we got expensive cheap it didn’t matter this stuff does the trick.