This meat cake is a favorite among my dogs. I have four dogs, all terriers, with ages ranging from 5 to 17 years old. I tried to come up with a nutritious recipe for them because I didn’t want to take any chances in the wake of the major dog food scare. This is what I came up with since I needed something that would provide them all the nutrients and fat they require. This recipe’s wonderful feature is that it may be consumed by people as well.
| Prep Time: | 35 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 15 mins |
| Additional Time: | 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs |
| Servings: | 36 |
| Yield: | 36 meat cakes |
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups brown rice
- 3 cups water
- 2 large potatoes, grated
- 4 large carrots, grated
- 2 large celery stalks, chopped
- 6 pounds ground beef
- 8 eggs
- 1 dash salt
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 ½ cups regular rolled oats
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Grease 36 cups of 3 large muffin tins.
- In a medium saucepan, combine rice with water. Bring to a boil over high heat, uncovered, and cook 10 minutes. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 20 minutes. Remove from heat, let cool for several minutes, then fluff with a fork and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine potatoes, carrots, celery, ground beef, and eggs. Mix ingredients together using your hands or a sturdy spoon. Add salt, olive oil, rolled oats, and rice; mix well.
- Fill each muffin cup with some meat mixture, and pat down to make it firm. Bake 45 minutes, or until surface feels set. Cool on a rack 10 minutes or longer.
- Remove meat cakes by turning the muffin tin upside down over a sheet of aluminum foil. Tap each muffin cup to release the cake. Refrigerate or freeze in sealed plastic bags. NOTE: Do not feed dogs while still hot.
Reviews
I made the recipe for my Bernese Mountain Dog ‘s 2nd Birthday. Added sweet potato to the recipe. I used a large roasting pan ( big enough to roast a turkey ) to mix all the ingredients Used large (24) and small (36) muffin pans Did have to bake another set of 36 muffins because I only had one set of each muffin pans. It does take longer to prepare and cook ; however, well worth it ! I have 3 large Berners and they loved it’ I gave some away to other dogs and they loved it ! I froze the remaining batch I will make again and will try ground turkey or chicken , perhaps experiment with adding more veggies I also used regular plain yogurt as the frosting for the Birthday Girl’s meat muffin. ( see photo)
I made this as it is described and it is a hit! I also made it with a few changes and will post a new version.
definitely will make again. my dog loved it
My dogs love it. I used ground pork. Didn’t have fresh potato, I substitute with frozen hash brown.
This recipe would be perfect if not for the ground beef. Never feed your dog regular ground beef. You must use extra lean. A high fat content is bad for the intestinal track. Causes cramping, twisted intestines and/or diarrhea!
I had to modify a little only because of ingredients on hand. I used 2 lbs meat to make 1 loaf pan full. Ground 1 potato, 1 celery, and 3/4 cup frozen mixed veggies in my Ninja. Added the oats and used flax seed oil. I did not use eggs only because my dog does not like them. Baked 50 min. @ 400. He is a picky eater but did eat this for breakfast instead of letting it sit in the bowl all day.
My old chihuahua who turns to 19 years old next year loves this recipe. He eats everything except for chicken due to food allergy. I don’t have brown rice. I used barley, frozen hash brown and mixed vegetable. It made it healthy and nutritious.
My Yorkies love this. I use sweet potatoes instead of russets, and add no salt chicken bouillon to the rice. They especially like it when I toss in some spinach, green peas, or green beans. I toss everything in the stand mixer, so it’s very easy. I bake in small muffin tins, and have had to reduce the cook time to around 20-30 minutes. This is a go to for us!
So good I would eat it myself. I substituted garlic powder for salt and sweet potato for regular potatoes. I put the veggies in my food processor to make digestible. I mixed the veggies with the eggs meat and rice. As per another review I used 2 – 9×13 pans and after patting in the mixture I sprinkled on top ground egg shells for calcium and sprinkled some nutritional yeast for added vitamins. My 6 month old puppy who was not eating the very expensive dry dog food I was feeding him just loves this recipe. The 2 9×13 pans make 24 servings. And by my estimate the cost per serving is about $1.25.
Made these last night. Great recipe and you can use whatever you have on hand or your dogs loves. I did use ground turkey and instead of the celery I put some cheese in as I didn’t have any celery on hand. I mixed a half of one in each of my dogs kibble and they gobbled it up. They thank you for this yummy recipe.
We’ve been so concerned about our little pomeranian and his dry skin. I started looking for some alternate diet. It’s too soon to know if it is going to help his skin issues but he sure does love love love it! I did substitute ground turkey and added a couple apples. Just put all the vegetables and fruit in the food processor and made quick work of chopping it up. Didn’t have muffin pans so just put it all in a large casserole dish and baked it. Cut up into serving size pieces after it had cooled and set them on a cookie sheet in the freezer to freeze individually. Threw all the frozen pieces in a couple ziploc bags and just take out what I need each day. Adding 1/2t of UltraOil to it, (he only weighs 5lbs) and keeping my fingers crossed this will give him some relief! I am surprised how much he loves this recipe!Thanks Shelly for sharing!
My husband is an avid hunter so I made these with a ground goose and venison mixture. everything else was the same. I baked them in mini muffin pans per someone elses’ comment. My Jack Russell baby LOVES them! the next time I did add about 1 cup of flour , spread them out very thin on a jelly roll pan and made little snack crackers for treats.
Very easy to make but next time I will cut the ingredients in half. I made it for my rotties 11th bday as a cake and it was perfect! He and my two other dogs swallowed it up! They love the left overs too. I’m just adding some in their dog food until it’s done. Very healthy and again, they loved it!
YUMMY. I was looking for a healthy treat for my puppies. Not only did they love them but so did I. Definitely a keeper.
I love this recipe! More importantly my dogs do too. My shih tzu had all but stopped eating store bought dog food and wouldn’t get out of bed in the morning. Now he bounds downstairs ready to eat! I also substitute ground turkey and works perfectly!
Small changes. Made the recipe for 48. Modifications – Eliminated salt, shredded enough carrots, zucchini, and white potato to equal more than four cups, used maybe 6 or more celery stickes, reduced my ground beef to six pounds, added four cloves of garlic, about 1/2 cup more of oatmeal and 1/2 cup of rice. I would also recommend eliminating the olive oil -meat contains plenty of fat already. Used two 8″x13″ pans and two cookie sheets and patted the recipe out to about 1/2″. The end results were more like brownies in size and I got about 24 per pan. My Danes, well, except for one, devoured their juicy meat brownies. The one who was the least interested wanted to make sure the others realized he had some left and savored each bite that was hand fed. Overall this was a savory treat enjoyed by each of my puppers.
I have not tried this recipe, but I have been making my cockerspaniel food like this for years. I have never used eggs to hold it together. I use either ground turkey or beef or chicken, and mix rice, and any vegetables I have; brocolli, cauflower, carrots, peas, green beens usually. I cook my rice in chicken broth, mix all of the above together and weigh it out to a serving, and freeze in individual freezer bags. He actually likes the chicken or turkey better than the ground beef. I like the idea of the eggs, and either the 9×13 pan or muffin tins, and I will try it. Thanks.
My dog is crazy about them, however I thought they took along time to make, and the meat sticks to the pan.
I changed the potatoes to sweet potatoes, dropped the carrots, used spinach instead and added a couple of apples. I just wanted a bit more nutrition. I also grind egg shells to add calcium, a much needed nutrient for dogs. I have added berries, squash, beans , millet, and flax seed for substitutes as well. You can use what ever a person is comfortable with as long as it is dog friendly! I have even cut back on the hamburger and added tofu! But the overall concept is excellent! I also found it easier to make into patties and use cookie sheets.
We live on a farm and always have an abundance of ground meat! I made these exactly as the recipe stated, and both of the dogs absolutely loved them! I’m also going to try in replacing the white potatoes with sweet potatoes, since the dog food I’m presently buying has them in it and both dogs like it. THANKS for a great recipe!
Ok so I didn’t have this much ground beef and my dogs are spoiled so I used what I had in the freezer which was sausage n beef cubes. I cut the cubes up in small pieces and made the recipe as called for. My very spoiled beagles loved it. The only other change I made was I don’t have this many muffin tins so I used a bread pan and made it like a meatloaf. I will cut off a slab for each of the dogs. Dogs went nuts for it. Not sure if they will ever go back to dog food.