Making homemade dog food can be a great way to add variety to your pet’s diet while providing them with a healthy meal that doesn’t contain any harmful chemical preservatives or mystery ingredients. But with so many recipes available on the internet, it can be difficult to know which ones are actually good choices.
So, we created a list of the best meals that you can make for your dog. Each entry has a list of the ingredients and the preparation steps. All these recipes are easy and can make great substitutes for your dog’s dry kibble once or twice per week.
The 4 Homemade Dog Food Recipes
1. Easy Homemade Dog Food Recipe
Rosemary & Turkey Homemade Dog Food
Equipment
- Dutch oven or large saucepan
- Airtight container
Ingredients
- 6cupswater
- 1poundground turkey
- 2cupsbrown rice
- 1tsp.dried rosemary
- 8oz.frozen broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower blend
Instructions
- In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, mix the water, turkey, rice, and rosemary until the turkey breaks up evenly.
- Bring mixture to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes.
- Add the frozen vegetables and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
- Remove from heat and cool.
- Store in the refrigerator.
Notes
2. Homemade Dog Food by The Farmer’s Dog
The Farmer’s Dog’s Homemade Dog Food is a fantastic recipe that gives your dog the taste of beef. One batch makes 5 pounds of food, and it is easy to scale up as needed.
- 2¾ pounds ground beef (85% lean or better)
- 1 cup lentils
- ¼ pound beef liver
- ¾ pound fresh sweet potato
- ½ pound carrot
- ¼ pound spinach
- 1 tbsp. safflower oil
- 1 tbsp. omega-3 fish oil (optional)
- Boil liver and sweet potato.
- Cut liver into small pieces.
- Boil lentils.
- Dice greens and chop carrots.
- Cook the ground meat.
- Add optional omega-3 fish oil.
- Add sweet potato, liver, lentils, greens, and carrots.
- Mix well.
- Separate into individual servings.
- Freeze or refrigerate extra.
If you want to give your dog the best healthy food possible but don’t have the time to cook it up, you can actually get The Farmer’s Dog delivered to your door!
3. Homemade Dog Food Recipe by The College Housewife
The College Housewife’s Homemade Dog Food is a high-quality dog food based on turkey. This recipe adds in several vegetables and even an option to add omega-3 fats, which help produce a shiny coat and reduce inflammation.
- 3 pounds ground turkey
- 2 pounds sweet potatoes
- 3 carrots
- 2 zucchini squash
- 1 cup broccoli
- 2 pounds macaroni
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- Grind sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, and broccoli in a food processor.
- Add all the ingredients to a crockpot or Dutch oven, and cook on high heat until the meat and macaroni cook completely.
- Allow to cool, and portion into single-serving containers.
4. Raw Homemade Dog Food Recipe by Running to the Kitchen
This Raw Homemade Dog Food is the only recipe on this list intended to be raw when you serve it. It can make a great treat if your dog enjoys it, and a single batch makes enough for plenty of servings.
- 2½ pounds ground beef
- 4 oz. chicken livers
- 2 whole eggs (including shells)
- 1 carrot chopped
- 1 small apple (cored)
- ½ cup baby spinach
- ½ cup plain yogurt
- 1 tbsp. ground flaxseed
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- Chop the carrot, apple, and spinach in a food processor until fine.
- Add other ingredients except ground beef to the processor and blend.
- Transfer to a large bowl.
- Add ground beef and mix by hand until combined.
- Form into patties, and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Place in bags or storage containers and store until needed.
- Remove the next day’s patty from the freezer at night, so it can thaw in fridge.
Summary
These high-quality recipes are great alternatives to your pet’s regular dog food, and we included different recipes for different kinds of dogs. We feel that most dogs will enjoy our first pick because it has turkey for protein, brown rice for fiber, and plenty of vegetables for healthy vitamins and minerals. The Farmer’s Dog and The College Housewife’s recipes are also good and will provide your dog with helpful omega-3 fatty acids, which will help reduce inflammation and create a shiny coat. Lastly, the raw food recipe is a great option if you want to give that diet a try.
Featured Image Credit: Miriam Doerr Martin Frommherz,
