Homemade Dog Treats Recipe
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Homemade Dog Treats are so much easier to make than I would have ever thought a few years ago.
For a while now, whenever the notion strikes me, I like to bake a couple of batches of dog treats for our dogs as a special little goodie.
Let me just tell you, my dogs love these homemade dog treats so much more than any store-bought treat I’ve ever given them!
I’m very particular about what my pets eat, too. I only feed them the dog food that was recommended by our veterinarian and a few extra little things occasionally that he told me was okay to feed them.
So, when I found a recipe from Cesar Milan, even though I trusted him as a great resource, I still checked the ingredients against those that I’d been told by my veterinarian were safe for my dogs before I made it.
I modified the recipe for simplicity of ingredients as well as for things that I knew I’d have on hand in my pantry and refrigerator.
Homemade Dog Treats How To
Four ingredients are all you need for these homemade dog treats.
Simple, right?
Oats, salt, beef bouillon or beef broth, and an egg. If you use salted beef broth, then you could cut the ingredients list even more and remove the additional salt.
And the instructions for making them are just as easy, making these dog treats simple enough to make on a regular basis or for giving to friends over the holidays for their pets or for celebrating.
You can use whatever cookie or biscuit cutter you have to make these, but I loved using a bone shaped cutter. The mini cutter yields about 30 dog treats and the large yields about 8. It’s great to make a variety of sizes and shapes.
Here’s the recipe for my homemade dog treats. Be sure to let me know how your pooch loves them!
Homemade Dog Treats Recipe
Ingredients
- 2.5 cups rolled oats divided
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup beef broth unsalted, low-fat or unsalted, low-fat chicken broth
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- Add 2 cups oats, salt, beef broth, and egg to a large mixing bowl. Combine well. Add remaining 1/2 cup of rolled oat and combine.
- Pour onto wax paper and knead dough for about 3 minutes. Let stand for about 3 minutes to begin to become firmer. Press to 1/2-inch thickness.
- Cut with cutter and place onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.
- Store in an airtight container for use or store in a ziptop bag in the freezer for later thawing and use.
How soft are these supposed to be? I baked for 20 minutes and let cool. I noticed they are quite soft and was wondering if that was normal or if they didn’t bake long enough
Lisa, these are not hard treats, soft but not super soft.
Decided to make these as we’re in a farm and the closest pet store with treats is a good ways away. Wasn’t that huge a success with my own dogs, but the neighborhood strays loved them! And so did the horse in our farm, which was surprising. They’re also surprisingly nice as little snacks for humans, I found out! Amazing with a cup of coffee. Overall, every creature loved it, except the ones these were meant for, lol
Do you need to adjust the liquid if using steel cut oats?
Brenda, I’ve not used steel cut oats in this recipe, so I’ve not tested the changes that would be needed to use them here.
Hello,
I work in a personal care home for the elderly, and we have dog owners who bring their pups in to visit from time to time. February 23rd being Nation Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day, I thought perhaps it would be fun to make these treats for the residents to hand out to the puppies when they come in. My question is what is the shelf life of these treats? I don’t want them to go to waste if we can’t use them fast enough. Hope to hear from you soon!
Josh
Josh, you will need to store these dog treats in the freezer in an airtight container. They are good for about 6 months frozen. Take out the number you need and let them thaw 15-20 minutes before giving to the dogs. Thanks.
My dog is on an elimination diet, only oatmeal and white fish. Can this be modified to work. No egg right now
Hi April,
I’m not sure how you could modify these treats to meet your dogs diet requirements. Good luck with the elimination diet.
Can a person put them in dehydrator??
Hi Milissa,
I’ve never used a dehydrator when making these. If you try it, let me know how they turn out. Thanks!
I was curious if you used store bought Beef Stock doesn’t that contain onion and garlic which are poisonous for dogs?
Hi Kia,
You can either make your own beef or chicken broth without the onions or garlic or bouillon without onions and garlic to make these treats. Hope this helps. Thanks!
Dog biscuits are a fav with my 13 yr old Cairn Terrier. She has only a few teeth left so these are not only healthy but softish and crumble easy for her. Thank you for this great recipe
Thanks, Joy. Go glad these worked for you Cairn Terrier. My golden retrievers love them, too.