Healthy Homemade Dog Treats: 4 Easy Recipes Your Dog Will Love
Every week someone in my exam room asks me which treats are “the good ones.” My honest answer: the ones you make yourself. So this time, I didn’t just hand out recipes. I tested them at home.
Our 15-year-old son, Wyatt, loves to bake, and he took on this project with the seriousness of a pastry chef. Our three dogs served as the tasting panel. They were enthusiastic and unpaid, and their standards were questionable. Each recipe below gets a rating on our 5-bone scale, based on how fast the treats disappeared, how much begging followed, and how easy Wyatt found them to make.
When you bake your own treats, you know exactly what’s in them: no fillers, no preservatives, no ingredients that read like a chemistry exam. They’re also cheaper, and most of these recipes take less than 15 minutes of hands-on time.
The short version: Stick to simple, unseasoned ingredients like pumpkin, oats, sweet potato, lean chicken and blueberries. Never use xylitol, grapes, onions or chocolate. Keep treats to about 10% of your dog’s daily calories.
What’s safe and what’s not
Good to use: plain canned pumpkin (not pie filling), xylitol-free peanut butter, rolled oats or oat flour, whole wheat flour (if your dog tolerates wheat), sweet potato, plain cooked chicken or turkey, eggs, plain unsweetened yogurt, and blueberries, banana or apple (no seeds or core).
Never use: xylitol (also sold as “birch sugar”), grapes and raisins, onion and garlic (including powders), chocolate and cocoa, macadamia nuts, nutmeg, raw yeast dough, artificial sweeteners, or added salt, sugar and spices.
Always read the label on peanut butter and yogurt, every time. Xylitol can be deadly to dogs even in small amounts, and it shows up in more products than you’d expect.
Five recipes, taste-tested at our house
- Pumpkin Peanut Butter Biscuits (about 30 small biscuits)
Rating: 5 / 5 bones
Mix 2 eggs, ½ cup canned pumpkin and 2 tablespoons xylitol-free peanut butter. Stir in 2½ cups whole wheat or oat flour, adding water a tablespoon at a time until a firm dough forms. Roll to ¼ inch, cut into shapes and bake at 350°F for 20 to 25 minutes. For extra crunch, leave them in the turned-off oven for an hour.
Wyatt’s note: Depending on how much peanut butter you use, and whether you mix it in or drizzle it on top, this one can be a little messy, but the pups love it. - Frozen Yogurt Blueberry Bites (about 24 bites)
Rating: 5 / 5 bones
Blend 1 cup plain, unsweetened yogurt with ½ cup blueberries or a mashed ripe banana. Spoon into a silicone mold and freeze for at least 2 hours. Not every dog handles dairy well, so start with one bite and see how their stomach does.
Wyatt’s note: Of all of the recipes, this one the dogs came running for when they heard the freezer drawer open. - Sweet Potato Chews
Rating: 4 / 5 bones
Slice 1 or 2 sweet potatoes into ¼-inch rounds and bake on parchment at 250°F for 2½ to 3 hours, flipping halfway, until dry and leathery. It’s a single-ingredient treat, which makes it a great pick for dogs with allergies.
Wyatt’s note: Our 5-month-old puppy especially loved this one. She really likes gnawing on things–better dried sweet potatoes than the couch, Mom says. - Apple Oat Bites (about 20 bites)
Rating: 4/ 5 bones
Combine 1 cup rolled oats, 1 grated apple (cored, seeds removed), 1 egg and 2 tablespoons pumpkin or xylitol-free peanut butter. Roll into small balls, flatten slightly and bake at 350°F for 15 to 18 minutes.
Wyatt’s note: This is is just like the pumpkin biscuits but with apple . . . and no peanut butter, so actually, not too similar. But good! The dogs loved these too.
How much is too much?
Treats should stay under 10% of your dog’s daily calories. Our tasting panel would argue otherwise, but dogs don’t measure love by the size of the treat. A pea-sized piece works just as well as a big one. On heavy training days, trim dinner a little. Introduce new treats one at a time, and watch for itching, vomiting or loose stools.
Storage
Homemade treats have no preservatives, so they won’t last as long as store-bought ones. Crunchy biscuits and sweet potato chews keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Soft treats and chicken jerky keep in the fridge for up to 1 week. Nearly everything freezes well for up to 3 months, and the yogurt bites keep about 2 months in the freezer. If anything smells off, feels slimy or shows mold, throw it out.
The bottom line
All it takes is a few wholesome ingredients and an afternoon in the kitchen, ideally with a teenager who’s happy to run the oven. Keep portions small and check every label, and your dog gets a snack you can feel good about. If your dog has allergies or a health condition, or is watching their waistline, check in with us before changing their diet. We’re always happy to help.
