Meaty Homemade Dog Treats

  4.6 – 55 reviews  • Pet Treat Recipes

Even though my dog passed away three years ago, I still prepare these hearty homemade dog treats for the dogs of my neighbors since he adored them. Any sort of cooked meat may be substituted for the pork, and bacon fat or meat drippings may be used in place of shortening.

Prep Time: 25 mins
Cook Time: 25 mins
Total Time: 50 mins
Servings: 36
Yield: 3 dozen dog treats

Ingredients

  1. 2 ½ cups sifted whole wheat flour
  2. ½ cup dry milk powder
  3. 1 cube beef bouillon, crumbled
  4. ½ teaspoon salt
  5. 1 cup cooked ground pork
  6. 1 cup grated carrot
  7. 6 tablespoons shortening
  8. 1 egg
  9. ½ cup cold water

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly oil two cookie sheets.
  2. Stir together whole wheat flour, milk powder, beef bouillon, and salt in a medium bowl. Add ground pork, carrot, shortening and egg; mix in to the flour mixture while gradually adding water to form a stiff ball of dough.
  3. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes using cookie cutters. Re-roll and cut scraps until no dough is left. Place cookies 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets.
  4. Bake in the preheated oven until the bottoms of the cookies are browned, 25 to 30 minutes. Allow cookies to set for a few minutes on the cookie sheet before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

Reviews

Michael Maldonado
Recipe does not say if they shelf stable or need refrigeration. It doesn’t give a give a shelf life.Wondering because of the inclusion of meat These are for both an elderly dog and an 8 week old puppy,so both have lower immune systems I still have to rate it ,so I am giving it a 3 star because the ingredients list does otherwise look good.
James Savage
I can’t help but chuckle when I read that some people actually throw out the dough or, the treats…becuz they cooked them for too long or, “it made too many”! My goodness, I’d keep that dough! It can be refrigerated for another time…or, given to another dog’s “Mommy/Daddy”! My lil guy, Rosco, would be SO happy to have a special, healthy HOME MADE treat, he sure wouldn’t care if they had a little burnt edge or there were “too many of them”!!! He’d share w/his 2 g.f …, BeIle & Bella! ?? I also added 3/4 cup of pureed pumpkin & 1/8 cup of Flaxseeds too, for extra fiber & it makes ur pups feel full!!!
Danielle Wood
I read through the reviews and made some of the changes suggested. And I tweaked it to make it my own, and based on what was on hand. I used beef broth instead of water and bouillon cube, used oil instead of shortening, used 1/2 the carrot and added 1/2 cup grated cheese, and used 2 jars of baby food beef. These cookies were like crack for my dogs. I will be making them again, and again.
Danielle Huynh
It’s an excellent base and you can change ingredients based on yor dog’s needs and likes. We have a small Maltie mix with arthritis. We maintain his weight (gain would be bad) with these snacks. We use a small spice jar for cookie cutter to make mini snack to make dozens of treats. These freeze well, we use some bacon drippings, no salt and chicken or beef baby food and carrots. He dances for snacks. We have made recipe as is then modified ingredients to meet our dog’s likes, best recipe ever for dog treats and our vet agrees.
Mary Horton
This was helpful for me, but since I changed so much I wouldn’t really feel right giving it 5 stars as is. I used chicken bullion and leftover chicken scraps which I ran through the food processor, upped the meat and omitted the carrots and salt, added a teeny bit of garlic (evidently dogs like it– look at your dog food ingredients and you’ll probably see it), added some velveeta chunks, and used less fat (the chicken bits were quite fatty). I also made a quick cream cheese icing with just milk and cream cheese and corn starch. I made a big batch of these for Christmas, I usually send out baskets of homemade cookies and brittles and toffees for the humans but basically every extended family member has a dog/s so I thought I’d try this out this year; all the dogs from me and my husband’s families (all 12 of them), plus our 3, went nuts for them. In the end I think this recipe is very forgiving. The important parts to remember are whole wheat flour, a significant amount of dry milk (it seems to kind of take the role of sugar in cookies), egg, and some fat. From there you could make these with virtually any meat or add ins, I think. If not making them for a special occasion but just regular treats, be sure to refrigerate them, they do go off quickly.
Joshua Simpson
I don’t buy dog cookies anymore..my dog and her 4 legged friends love these cookies. Sometimes I replace carrots with oats. Great recipe!
Renee Barry
My pups and neigbors’ dogs loved these. Added twice the meat (cooked ground beef), and cut back on shortening due to fat in meat. Plus threw in some cornmeal & wheat germ. I used 1/2 cup of 1% milk for milk powder (had none) & water. Turned out great!! These should be kept in fridge or freezer to avoid spoilage. Next time will try making the oatmeal recipe but substituting peanut butter for grated cheese (or might half the recipe and try both). That recipe also sounds great like a good one.
Scott Johnston
Both of my furry children love these, and I make them regularly. Here are my tweeks: I use any leftover meat, dicing it. Rather than rolling the dough out and using cookie cutters, I drop small spoonfuls on the cookie sheet and flatten them a bit. I bake them until the edges get brown, and after removing them from the oven and cookie sheet, I leave them out for awhile. This hardens them, which I think is better for my dogs’ teeth. Thanks for this recipe!
Christine Castaneda
good recipe. I subbed zuchini for carrot, just cause I had it in the freezer, worked great. Smelled delicious in the oven. My bull mastiff loved em.
Derrick Webb
this recipe is really helpfull, but since i live in Indonesia and so hard to find a cheap whole wheat flour(mostly i found with expensive import products), can i substitute with all purpose flour?
David Wise
My dog is crazy about this biscuit. Instead of pork, I used ground beef and my pooch love it!
Michele Jones
Dog LOVES these; heck, I ate 3! They’re savory, a little cheesy, and quite filling for tiny cookies. I used a half-cup milk instead of the dry milk + water, as someone suggested. Instead of hassling with cooking ground pork, or buying that CRAZY expensive babyfood meat, I used one 3-oz. can of Armour Potted Meat (it’s not gonna kill us). Added a handful of grated cheese in with the carrots. Also, I mixed the final batter with my hands, shaped it into balls, rolled gently in flour, and smashed them with a fork like peanut-butter cookies… easier than rolling and cutting if you have limited space. Butter-flavor shortening worked fine, too. I’ll make these again.
Natasha Ramirez
I subsituted beef and liver for the pork. Dogs should NOT eat any pork. Other than that, and the omission of salt, they were okay.
Mr. Henry Vasquez
I made these today with the following modifications: for the meat I used 1 jar of chicken w/gravy baby food and 1 jar of chicken w/vegetable… Threw in a teas. peanut butter and T of shredded cheese. No salt no boullion… I also didn’t have milk powder so I used milk and less water… I know the recipe is quite different but hey she loved them! 🙂
Alison Johnston
my nonna(thats italian 4 grandma) has 2 dogs and they bolth liked them but i can only count one of the becuase bella will eat ANY thing so i give this recipe a 3 out of 5 stars by the way my dog loved them too!
Meredith Hammond
I used 2 jars of beef and vegetable baby food and 1 tsp of beef bouillon paste. I recommend more flour if you go the baby food route. I had to knead in more flour because it was sticking to my counters badly but in just a couple minutes I was able to get it to just the right consistency. Then I cut them out with a halloween cat cookie cutter and they turned out great. I oiled one cookie sheet and not the other and found that the oil wasn’t needed at all. The dogs loved these and my cats even ate a piece that was dropped on the counter.
Suzanne Johnson
The neighbors dog loves them. I added some left over ground upliver, used juices from last nithes beef roast and omited the powdered milk because I did not have any. The dog was doing tricks before I asked hime to, he loved them so much.
Max Moreno
I replaced the ground pork with a leftover hamburger and enough shredded cheese to make 1 cup of protein– pulsed with 1/2 the dry ingredients in the food processor and our dog is suddenly very interested in obedience training– anything to get one of these cookies! Great recipe, thanks!
Sara Allen PhD
No doubt about it, these are a sure fired winner in our home! The cat loves em too which is a bonus. This is a great way for me to use up the pieces of chicken that don’t normally get eaten when I roast a chicken. I used chicken broth in place of water & the fat from the broth in place of the shortening (it skims right off the top of refrigerated broth). I didn’t have any milk powder so I omitted it, but my pets didn’t complain. Thanks for a wonderful, healthy, & much favored treat!
Cassandra Adams
I don’t have dogs, but I made these for a dog’s birthday party with beef and they all went crazy for it. One even bit through the bag to get to the treats. Very easy to make. I pureed the batter in a food processor to make the dough smooth. Then I scooped them out with a cookie scoop and flattened them with a fork and flattened them with the fork for a little design.
Emily Herman
My dog really likes these treats – I use chopped bacon instead of ground pork.

 

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