Easy Crockpot Dog Food
DIY dog food can easily be made right in the slow cooker. It’s healthier and cheaper than store-bought, and it’s freezer-friendly!
If you didn’t know what your slow cooker is capable of, you’ll be very happy to know that you can now add dog food to the crockpot list.
Remember that DIY homemade dog food recipe I made recently? Well, this is pretty much the crockpot version, using a blend of different veggies that will hold up a little better in the slow cooker.
Now the best part about this, just like all slow cooker recipes, is that you can simply dump everything right in. That’s it! Simply set it before you go to work and then you can come home to 2 weeks worth of dog food by the time you get home.
It’s easy, it’s healthy, it’s nutritious, and you know exactly what’s going into your pup’s bowl. This recipe is also completely customizable to veggies that you have on hand – just be sure to double check what your pup can and can’t eat. You can simply do a “can my dog eat xyz” search on Google.
But as always, please consult with your pet’s veterinarian for possible allergies and when applying this information to your own dog’s diet.
Easy Crockpot Dog Food
Ingredients
- 2 ½ pounds ground beef
- 1 ½ cups brown rice
- 1 15-ounce can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 ½ cups chopped butternut squash
- 1 ½ cups chopped carrots
- ½ cup peas, frozen or canned
Instructions
- Stir in ground beef, brown rice, kidney beans, butternut squash, carrots, peas and 4 cups water into a 6-qt slow cooker.
- Cover and cook on low heat for 5-6 hours or high heat for 2-3 hours, stirring as needed.
- Let cool completely.
Did you make this recipe?
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style=”text-align: center;”>Please consult with your pet’s veterinarian and use personal judgment when applying this information to your own dog’s diet.
So glad I found this and tried it. Thank you for sharing. I was out of my mind buying about 10 different brands of food for my picky eater. He gobbles this up and I know what’s in it.
I see many people use vitamin supplements. Any suggestions as to which ones? I just started cooking for my dog a couple of months ago.
My Charlie couldn’t wait to eat this he loved it , it was still a little hot from crock pot but I put in freezer a a few minute to cool off lol he stayed by the ice box till I took it out
Can I add eggs and apple cider vinegar to the mix in the crock pot? What about yogurt plain?
Thoroughly enjoy these recipes.
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment.
Love your comment about the use of crock pot. I started making my 5 year old GSD home made food only recently. As she has a sensitive stomach I have used white rice and started off with too much.
I am about to try in the crock pot.
Your comment on my recipe would be appreciated if this is appropriate.
White rice and extra lean beef with yams and parsnips and carrots and celery and parsley. I then cook skinned and deboned chicken breasts and chicken thighs by boiling with celery leaves and add to the above. I add this separately and mix into the meal.
Due to overloading wih rice which I cooked to death, she started having sporadic episodes of leakage at night. I researched and now give her HOME 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar with yogurt before her evening meal. Two to three hardboiled eggs a week and eggs shells baked and ground sprinkled into her meals. I wonder about adding the eggs to the crock pot and am concerned that something might be
missing. What about a crunch for her teeth, which are brushed. Any comments would be appreciated. My vet is excellent, but not into home cooked advice. Also give fish oil daily. She will be going to a kennel for two weeks and so I must minimize the work.
My dog can only have “exotic” meats. So no beef, chicken, turkey or pig. Any suggestions on how to use duck, lamb or venison in this recipe?
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment.
I have been cooking for my fussy pugs. I use boneless and no skin chicken breasts and thighs, 95% lean ground turkey, all kinds of veggies, broccoli, green beans etc. (no corn or potato) no rice but steel oats. I keep my egg shells and cook in crockpot with all of this stuff. My dogs will not eat chunks so I put this in a food processor and put in containers. I add (if I don’t have egg shells) 1 tsp of calcium to 5 cups of the food after it cools and fish oil when serving.
Louise how do you incorporate egg shells? Does it need to be ground finely and if so, how do you do that? I have been cooking a recipe similar to this for three years for my bichon (due to allergies and all the preservatives in dry food). Our vet is aware and supportive, but I am curious about the egg shell thing… 😉
Wow! Looking more delightful and healthy! I must do double check what my pup can and can’t eat.
Do you have a recipe book for dog food that is available to purchase?
Not at this time. Sorry!
check out the book: Feed Your Best Friend Better by Rick Woodford. It is an excellent resource on dog nutrition, homemade dog food and dog treat recipes, and also provides information on how to determine calories for your dog 🙂
Tracey, if you want dog food for purchase that is fantastic, check out http://www.Darwinspet.com they are fantastic. Their dog and cat foods are made with the best products for your dog or cats (cat formula is different then what I just listed). When we lived in the states, I would order every three months, it would come freeze dried in dry ice in 2 lbs packages that were divided into 4 portions (1/4lb each). We would take it out of the freezer the night before, and in the morning, open two of the portions, put in the dog bowls and our two dogs ate it up. Since I have moved to Costa Rica, I can not get their food 🙁 and our border collie is now in big trouble from allergies from the grains in dog food here. I just ordered 4 bags of Taste of the Wild, grain free ($75 for a 30 lb bag) and 2 Senior bags ($55 for 30#’s) for our three dogs. I am going crazy trying to figure out how to help our little guy that is obviously allergic to the grains.
The best thing about Darwins, you can call them, talk to them about your dogs needs, allergies, weight etc and they will recommend the best way to go. By the way, they will send you a sample pack for you to try on your dogs or cats. I hope this helps you and check them out.
I took the following off their website for you:
Our formula for both lines of raw dog meals:
75% Meat
25% Vegetables
Gluten-Free & Grain-Free
No Steroids, No Hormones, No Antibiotics
Nutritionally Balanced Complete Meals
High Protein, Moderate Fat, Low Carbohydrate Formula
Made with:
Grass Fed Beef, and Cage-Free Poultry
Organic Vegetables
We have 100 lb. Dog, 45 lb. 1 yr Dog, 40 lb. 6 month puppy. How much would u feedback one of this food?
Debi, it is best to consult your veterinarian/nutritionist to see how much food is best suited for your pups. The serving size is listed as 1 cup for caloric purposes only.
I just discovered this recipe and am making it for the second tome for our boys! I have found that if there is any fat on top that I drain this off. The leaner the beef of course, the better. My question is; how much for Newfoundland dogs? They are huge, 175 and 145. I give them two cups of dry per meal and try to give them some wet to mix in. Does anybody else have a large breed using this recipe? I don’t want to over-do it because of the bit of fat. Thanks.
How much water?
Please refer to the instructions:
Stir in ground beef, brown rice, kidney beans, butternut squash, carrots, peas and 4 cups water into a 6-qt slow cooker.
My dog is 13 pounds. Does not like the kidney beans. Any suggestions for a substitute. Also what vitamins should be added
Janice, these questions are best answered by your pet’s veterinarian.
I have a 7 year old Yorkie. She refuses to eat wet or dry pellets (I use Royal Canin – a good quality dog food in South Africa), but when I add poached chopped chicken to it, she eats most of the pellets. When I saw your recipe I thought i’d try it, but she fishes out the meat and leaves everything else! How can I get her to eat the vegetables? Any suggestions?
My dog has a habit of doing the same thing. I took an emulsion blender and blended the whole thing up so it’s a very mushy consistency. My dog scarfed it down no problem!
I have bee making food for an 80lbs adult lab and a 60lbs 8 mo old husky/border collie pup. I make a full 16q every 8 days. The dogs are supposed to get daiky: weight in lbs X 10 = grams of muscle meat/bones PLUS 25% of this at in veggies (80lbs X 10 = 800 gr of meat + 200 gr veggies So, 500 gr twice a day) They also need vitamin/mineral supplements and probiotics, according to vet’s.
I hope I get the chance to try this. Our little furbaby is fighting for her life right now due to some horrible treats made in China that have shut her kidneys down. Btw, I just found you via Flipboard and love your blog and can’t wait to explore it.
Please tell me what treats they were we give our yorkie treats
Do you brown the meat before putting it in the crock pot? Or does it brown while cooking? Or is this more of a “raw” type meal?
The meat will brown and cook through in the slow cooker.
After the crockpot ordeal, will you be able to “can” this?
Unfortunately, without having tried this myself, I cannot say with certainty. Please use your best judgment.
I would avoid canning this, for a few reasons – it has squash, which is not recommended for canning (hard to heat it through to kill the bacteria), and the rice would probably turn to mush. If you were inclined to try it, it would need to be high-pressure canned because it contains meat.
This looks great. I actually make something like this in the oven as a meatloaf (with cooked rice). I will try it with ground turkey and chicken to lower the fat content. Great!
Hi I was just wondering about the serving sizes. its listed as 1 cup. I feed my dogs by their weight and feed them the dry kibble 2 cups 2 times a day as per instructions. So I was planning on feeding once a day the normal 2 cups of dry food then for the second meal of the day I was going to feed them 2 cups of this crockpot recipe. Does that sound about right? or is 2 cups too much for one meal serving?
Chelsea, it is best to consult your veterinarian/nutritionist to see how much food is best suited for your pup. The serving size is listed as 1 cup for caloric purposes only.
We’re still establishing Ronnies diet at present, but after seeing the vet will definitely be giving this one a try. We’ve another pup on the way you see, and I was thinking more of the expense. With crockpot dog food like this I’ll be saving the pennies!
Good stuff.
Mark and Ronnie x