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.
I’m so extremely confused…I tried this recipe two times. One with white rice a couple weeks ago, and today with brown rice. 1st time I made it, I put it on low for 8 1/2 hours and the rice was still not cooked, (but everything else was) so I ended up putting it in a pot with more water and boiled it. My dogs didn’t even like it and I had to throw it out.
Fast forward to today and I tried the brown rice this time, and cooked on high. Now it’s 3 1/2 hours later and rice is still hard as a rock!! But everything else is cooked. What exactly am I doing wrong? I followed the recipe to a T, including the 4 cups of water and stirring occasionally. This isn’t something that can be failed
twice, on two different cooking settings with two different color rices.
You and others must be feeding the dogs uncooked rice, which is extremely dangerous for dogs. Please let me know what I’m doing wrong because ground beef is like $11 and that’s not including all the other stuff that I had to buy in the recipe. So twice this recipe went bad and lost all my money over this. I would take this recipe off the internet, or at least change the recipe ingredient to “cooked” rice instead of uncooked. Ugh, so disappointing!
Mindy, I’m sorry this recipe did not turn out for you. Please note that user error can be a culprit here, especially when there are over 100 comments from readers with successful results with cooked rice in the allotted time listed in the recipe. What kind of rice are you using? Is your slow cooker malfunctioning?
Uncooked rice is NOT extremely dangerous to dogs. It’s not a good idea, but besides possibly getting a stomach ache and a little diarrhea they would be fine. Only in very rare case that the rice would “ball” up which can happen with other types of food and like I said is rare. If you put uncooked rice in a crock pot with water for 3 1/2 hours and it still wasn’t cooked, then there is something wrong with your rice or your crock pot. Also, who the hell pays $11 for 2 lbs of ground beef!!!
I always use long grain brown organic rice and I put mine in first so it’s on the bottom then pour in the water then put in everything else. Cook mine on high. If I use burger I fry that before adding it.
I hope this has helped. I also use frozen veggies.
I made this as listed and my dachshund crapped all over the house ? I’m thinking the ground beef was to much for her . I wont be using ground beef any more .
Alan, I’m so sorry to hear that! Changes to your dog’s diet should be made gradually, taking 5-7 days to mix increasing amounts of the new dog food in with decreasing amounts of the old dog food. This reduces the chances that your dog will develop an upset stomach.
Just wondering if there are any photos of the finished product?
Not at this time.
Made this today and got just over 8 cups of food. Did I do something wrong? Also, what size dog are you feeding? I definitely don’t have 2 weeks worth of food for a 40lbs dog.
She does love it thought!!
Rache, portion size may vary depending on the weight of the dog. Butters is roughly 18-20 pounds.
We recently adopted a 9-year-old longhaired chihuahua mix from our local animal shelter. He weighs 6 pounds. He has only two teeth–almost all his teeth were rotten & fell out at the shelter–so we feed him only wet food. He is VERY finicky. He won’t eat beef. He’ll eat Trader Joe’s lamb & rice wet food one day & refuse to do so the next. We have to chop up Dasuquin with a rolling pin and mix it into his food once per day; one leg was badly broken and deformed years ago, but he uses it as a crutch, to push things aside, & to do high 5s, so the Dasuquin is to help him with pain. I’m wondering if I should make his food. Perhaps he’d find that more palatable. He just ate tiny pieces of turkey with gusto and enjoyment, while he will NOT eat wet dog food with turkey. Our vet does NOT want him to lose weight, & at the shelter it was difficult to keep weight on him. We don’t want him to starve, but we don’t know what to do.
This post is unclear as to portion sizes for different size/weight dogs. My dog is 75lbs and normally gets 4.5-5.5cups of dry dog food per day but it depends on the brand.
We cannot give advice to the dietary needs of your specific dog, so while we provide the recipe, we ask that you use your best judgement when it comes to feeding your pet. Please consult with your pet’s vet if you are unsure.
You can check the calorie count in 5 cups of your dogs usual dog food and then compare to the calories in this. The information is usually on the dog food website, but you can email them if you can’t find it. I found out my 25 lb beagle eats 400 calories per day of kibble.
How much of this food, per day, is the appropriate amount to feed my dogs? I have a 55lb dog and two 35lb dogs.
Please consult with your pet’s veterinarian and use personal judgment when applying this information to your own dog’s diet.
How much does it make? And how long does it last in fridge? And of course I’m
Assuming you can freeze it?
This recipe yields about 12 cups. It can certainly be frozen to extend shelf life but methods for optimal food storage and shelf life should be based on good judgment and what you are personally comfortable with. Hope that helps, Sky!
I don’t have a crockpot, is there anyway to make this in a regular pot/stock pot on the stove?
You can try this recipe instead! 🙂
https://damndelicious.net/2015/04/27/diy-homemade-dog-food/
Do you happen to know if I could feed this recipe to a cat instead? Obviously cut up into smaller pieces. Thank you!
Unfortunately, this is not something I can answer. It may be best to consult your veterinarian.
Do you have this recipe for a instant pot? please email me. I am a fan of your website and I make my own dog food thank you for your time.
Not at this time. Sorry!
We have 3 dogs, 2 mini dachshunds & a lab shepherd mix that weighs 85 pounds. My question is how much to feed the dogs using this recipe? We feed the dogs twice a day, dry food lower calorie blend.
Please consult with your pet’s veterinarian and use personal judgment when applying this information to your own dog’s diet.
Ive been making my own dog food for a little over a year but I never use a recipe. Im loving this one and am getting ready to try it. I was reading comments because I have a silly question and was too embarrassed to ask. After seeing some of the brutal/rude comments Im not so embarrassed!! LOL. Gosh people are so rude!!! My silly question is….. Do I put the brown rice in raw? 😛
Yes, that is correct. 🙂
Hi! I’m researching homemade dog foods to switch my dog to. He used to be on a raw diet but I don’t have enough freezer space to keep up with it. This recipe looks very promising but my dog doesn’t do very well with rice and other grains. Would quinoa be a suitable substitute to the rice? It’s found in a lot of high quality commercial dog foods so it’s safe to eat but I wanted to ask before jumping into it. I’ll be consulting my vet once I have my final recipe together, of course 🙂
Hi Jay! I have personally never fed my dog quinoa but upon further research, it looks like dogs can consume cooked quinoa in small amounts. But as always, please consult with your pet’s veterinarian. 🙂
thank you so much for there reciept . i am staring to make treats for my groomer to give to her dog she does. thanl you again for the help.bcmylly
Thank you for this recipe! And all your others too! I will try it this weekend. I make something similar, baked, with hamburger. oats, carrots, broccoli and eggs. But it will be great to have an alternative and crockpot too! I also cook boneless chicken breasts and thighs in the crockpot with a little water for recipes and for dog treats.
I do usually have some kidney beans, but can chickpeas be used or other types of beans? I notice that in a lot of the grain free dog foods they use chickpeas. Now you have my imagination going and I’m thinking about something with canned butternut squash or pumpkin too! Thanks!
Hi Tina! Yes, you can add or omit ingredients as you like, but please use your best judgement when making modifications and consult your vet if you have any dietary-specific questions.
Are the ground beef and rice pre-cooked?
No, they are not. They are cooked through in the slow cooker.
Love this recipe! super healthy ingredients and my dog loves it! We have recently been short on time around the house and we’ve been on this subscription from RawWild! Our dogs love it and they’ve never been happier! check out https://www.rawwild.com/ for some great food your dog will love!
Thanks, George!
Hi. I have been feeding my 3 yr old caboodle this recipe for about 4 months now. He loves it and his poops are normal whereas before he had a lot of issues. However, I have noticed that his coat around the mouth is going a lot more red/ruby in color. He is white/apricot in color. Could the food be changing his coat or is there something else that could be causing it?
Hi Erica! I’m so happy to hear that his poops are normal! As for the changing of his coat, unfortunately, I am not entirely sure. It may be best to ask your pet’s veterinarian. Hope that helps!
would this be ok for a 8 week old newfoundland puppy?
Please consult with your pet’s veterinarian and use personal judgment when applying this information to your own dog’s diet.