Worried about commercially made, store bought dog treats? So am I and I have been for a while to the point I completely stopped buying treats. Now, I always make treats for my “kids”, usually jerky treats from a variety of meats; chicken, pork loin, lean beef, venison, etc.
Since I stopped buying treats I know they miss their “cookies” but I’ve stayed away from making typical biscuits since they both have bad allergies.
Well, today I decided to try to make something new for them. The pic shown is some of the ingredients. I’m making these in a dehydrator but of course you can also make them in your oven.
Super healthy… whole house smells like chicken, sweet potatoes and cranberries and Jezzie and Bruti are walking around with their noses in the air….
When it comes to ingredients, I’m more of a “toss in some of this” and a “handful of that” kind of cook so just bear with me with the recipe and ingredient list.
Ingredient List
2 whole boneless skinless chicken breast – cooked and chopped (I poached in a pan and reserved the stock)
2 medium sweet potatoes, cooked and chopped (I microwaved with skin on)
1 cup peas (can substitute green beans, spinach, broccoli, etc)
1 cup fresh cranberries
2 med carrots, cooked and chopped (I microwave steamed)
*All measurement are approximate, make substitutions as you like. I tend to make all my treat recipes meat heavy and little to no grains.
Optional Ingredients for Texture
Water/chicken stock
Oats or flour (oat, barley, potato or wheat if they have no sensitivities)
Apple sauce or eggs
You can also add dog friendly seasonings if you like or even a spoon of honey or molasses.
Add ingredients to a blender or food processor and process until you have a thick, heavy paste. You can add chicken stock, water, eggs or applesauce if you need to moisten. If too moist or runny, add oats or flour to the mixture. |
A “cookie-dough” consistency is approximately what you’re aiming for. Try to make sure everything is processed well with no large chunks remaining. |
 Next, I used a “jerky-gun” to create my treats but you can also just drop by the spoonful onto your trays. |
Completed trays, ready to start dehydrating. If you have temp control, around 150-165 degrees is good. Otherwise, just turn it on. If using your oven, set to low temp with oven door opened slightly open to allow moisture to escape.
The amount of time will vary depending on thickness of “cookies”, temp and how dry/crisp you want them. Using the jerky-gun my treats were about 1/8″ thick. About an hour gave me a crisp outside with slightly soft center.
And here we have the finished treats and my furry taste testers highly approve!
Best to store them in a sealed container in the refrigerator. If they’re completely dried you can keep some out. They’ll easily stay good for 3 weeks or so… if they last that long. If you make a large batch, you can also store in the freezer.
Oh HEY! I’m gonna make these. Give ‘em the Diddys taste test.
Let me know what he thinks… Jezz and Bruti are enjoying them…alot!
Thanks so much for the recipe and this site! A friend of mine sent me photos from here and being a person who generally likes dogs more than people, I have already bookmarked this site and will be returning often. I’m going to make these treats soon and will let you know how much Cyrus drools over them!! Thanks again for all you are doing!
Thanks and welcome Beth! Hope Cyrus enjoys…
Hi Deanna,
Thank you so much for this recipe. I DO have a dehydrator and this will be a good use for it! My little Belvedere (a reject from the breeder and was to be euthanized at 3 weeks old) is now 5 years and 4 months old and still acts like a puppy. I swear it is because he is on a RAW food diet, gets an hour and a half walk, and has his teeth brushed daily! He is our little JOY!
Thank you also for this wonderful site!
Enjoy your holidays!
Ingrid and “B”
I’m inspired! I might try this with steamed fish, since my guy is sensitive to most other proteins. Looks like I have the same dehydrator and jerky gun as you do! I’ll let you know how things turn out. Thanks for the idea!
Would love to hear. I just finished doing a batch and made some changes… added potato flour instead of oats… broccoli instead of peas and threw in a couple of eggs, some broccoli and an apple instead of applesauce and a little olive oil. They’re in the dehydrator now and the dogs are walking around with their noses in the air sniffing away… LOL
Can you do these in the oven instead? I don’t have a dehydrator…Thanks
Of course you can Lisa, just turn your oven to the lowest temp, usually warm, leave to door open a little to allow the moisture to escape and let them dry slowly. Just keep a check on them to see how quickly they are drying. Remember, they’re suppose to dry, not cook.
This is basically the same recipe for the food I make for my dogs as meals – boneless skinless chicken breast, ground lean turkey, sweet potatoes, peas & carrots, spinach, barley, and then I add a supplement (Dinvovite) and fish oil. I cook it all together weekly and make meal sized bags and freeze for the week.