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A lot of people think that it has to be a ton of work to make dog treats at home. It doesn’t have to be – not if you’re making dehydrator dog treats.
To be honest, they can be right. If you want to make the fancy stuff, like liver filled whoopie pies or intricately marbled banana carob dog cookies, then sure, it’s going to be a bit of work. What people don’t realize is that there is a really easy way to make dog treats at home without ever turning on your oven. Some of the easiest treats I make and the ones my dogs love the most are made in our countertop dehydrator.
Making homemade dehydrator dog treats can be easy as easy as slicing. Anyone can slice something right?
So today, instead of the fancy stuff, we wanted to showcase a few ridiculously easy dehydrated dog treat recipes that anyone (and I do mean ANYONE) can make in their own home.
A few things you need to know about dehydrating meat at home: in order to do so safely, it has to be cooked through and reach an internal temperature of 165F for poultry, 145F for beef or fish. Some dehydrators have a “meat” setting or a temperature dial to ensure this is met. If yours doesn’t, you can cook your meat in the oven before you dry it.
1. Homemade Chicken Jerky Dog Treats
Buy boneless, skinless chicken breasts and trim off any fat.
Slice the breasts with the grain, into 1/8″ to 3/8″ thick pieces.
Layout on your dehydrator trays and dry for 3 – 12 hours (They thicker your slices, the longer they will take.)
To check if it’s done, slice a piece in half. The middle should be dry and moisture free, with the same colour throughout.
To make sure all of the bacteria has been cooked out and your homemade dog treats are safe to eat, preheat the oven to 275F, layout your chicken jerky treats on a pan and bake for 10 minutes.
Want to get a little fancier?
Try making flavoured homemade chicken jerky for dogs.
2. DIY Sweet Potato Dog Chews
Scrub sweet potatoes or yams. (No need to peel them, your dog doesn’t care, so why waste the time.)
Trim off any green areas on the peel. Slice into 1/8″ to 3/8″ pieces. Layout on your dehydrator trays and dry for 3 – 12 hours. (They thicker your slices, the longer they will take.)
Sweet Potatoes are done when you can twist and flex them without the chew breaking apart or if you prefer a crunchy chew made from thinner slices when the chew breaks crisp.
To make chews that will help freshen breath, try these Mint Sweet Potato Dog Chews.
3. Super Easy Liver Dog Treats
Buy your liver in any protein you like. (You don’t have to stick to the basic chicken and beef, my dogs love it when I make these from lamb or game meats).
Slice into 1/8″ to 3/8″ pieces. (Kol’s Note: You can also buy liver presliced if the thought of slicing it grosses you out.)
Layout on your dehydrator trays and dry for 3 – 12 hours. (They thicker your slices, the longer they will take.)
The middle should be dry and moisture free, with the same colour throughout.
To make sure all of the bacteria has been cooked out and your homemade dog treats are safe to eat, preheat the oven to 275F, layout your dried liver dog treats on a pan and bake for 10 minutes
Want to be a bit different? Don’t limit yourself to liver, try making dehydrator dogs treat out of any organ meat.
4. Dried Banana Treats for Dogs
Choose firm bananas. Slice into 1/8″ to 3/8″ pieces.
Layout on your dehydrator trays and dry for 3 – 12 hours. (They thicker your slices, the longer they will take.)
Want to kick it up a notch? Try tossing the banana pieces in melted peanut butter or coconut oil before drying.
5. Dried Green Bean Cruncher Dog Treats
Green beans are super low calorie and when they’re dried, they have a fantastic crunch that a lot of dogs love.
Cut or snap ends of beans, lay out on dehydrator trays and dry for 3 – 6 hours.
Beans are done when they snap crisply.
Want to trick your veggie hating dog into loving these treats? Dressing them with a bit of meaty treat dust can convert even the pickiest dog.
6. Homemade “Pupperoni” Sticks
These were some of the easiest dog treats I have ever made and some of the dog’s favourite. Buy plain, unspiced low-fat turkey sausage. (Go for the thin, regular size ones, not the crazy big ones.)
Layout the sausage on the trays and dry for 6 – 12 hours until they are flexible, but the same colour all the way through with no moisture in the centre.
To make sure all of the bacteria has been cooked out and your homemade dog treats are safe to eat, preheat the oven to 275F, layout your dehydrated sausage dog chews on a pan and bake for 10 minutes.
Want smaller bite sized treats? Slice the sausages into 1/4″ rounds instead of leaving them whole.
7. Canned Dog Food Training Treats
For dogs with allergies or diet restrictions, finding treats can be so difficult. Taking your dogs favourite canned food and dehydrating it makes for an easy treat.
Spoon 1/4 tsp. amounts onto your dehydrator trays and dry for 6 – 8 hours.
If you’re good with a piping bag, it’s really easy to pipe small designs.
To make sure all of the bacteria has been cooked out and your homemade dog treats are safe to eat, preheat the oven to 275F, lay out your ccanned food dog cookies on a pan and bake for 10 minutes.
8. Tuna or Whitefish Chunk Dog Treats
Canned fish is my go to “holy cow this is easy” meaty treat to make when I don’t even feel like slicing.
Buy bone free canned fish, break it into chunks with your fingers and toss it onto your dehydrator trays.
Dry for 6 – 10 hours until it’s dried all the way through.
To make sure all of the bacteria has been cooked out and your homemade dog treats are safe to eat, preheat the oven to 275F, layout your crunchy tuna treats on a pan and bake for 10 minutes.
Want to kick it up a notch? Toss with dog-friendly herbs before drying.
Lots and Lots of great recipes here Kol!! Happy Tasty Tuesday!! OMG! I just realized the title of your previous post…I love it!! 🙂
Has anyone made chicken and brown rice doggie treats in dehydrator? Just curious. I bought a dehydrator and trying to figure out how to do it
I haven’t, but I will add it to my list! Are you hoping they’d be like a cookie?
Thank you for sharing these recipes! Whee, I’ve got to try one, I think the sweet potatoes first. We’ve always used our dehydrator for backpacking meals. Good luck to all the entrants, having a dehydrator rocks and that’s an awesome looking one.
I did sweet potatoes last night and my pup loves them. 6 hrs at 325.
That’s excellent! I’m glad your dog loved them!
THESE recipes I can get behind. I hadn’t even though of doing canned fish. Turkey breast, liver, and hearts are some of my go-to things to dehydrates, and I haven’t really experimented otherwise.
I just made sliced bananas yesterday and had them dry overnight. Unforuntately, Bailey was not a fan. I had tried to give her sliced banana in her food last week, but she ate around it. I thought maybe if I dried them into chips, she’d be more in favor. Nope.
But, she does love dried apples and dried sweet potatoes. I never thought to cut them lengthwise. I should try that next time.
Is she a Peanut Butter fan? If she is, you could still toss them in melted PB on them and put them back in to dry again. Kol loves them that way.
Hmm…she is. I’ll have to try that. Maybe I’ll coat one or two in peanut butter and see if she likes it before I dry them. Thanks for the tip!
peanut butter banana and get this Powdered egg shell. dehydrate egg shell and grind to powder. Great source of calcium and protein. Mix in peanut butter and banana and dehydrate again til dry.
Not one egg shell goes to waste in our house! We heat them in the oven and grind them with a little counter top coffee/nut grinder, then add to their nightly meals 🙂 My Bernese Mountain Dogs love egg shells! But you really have to grind them even with the big dogs or you’ll get blood in their poo from the shells cutting them, 🙁 ouch!
If you get blood in poo as it passes through then surely they are not digesting them in the upper part of the digestive tract! So although the shell contains xyz it is not available to the dog’s digestion and will become roughage to help with passing stools rather than “bone food”
It is generally suggested to grind eggshells (as the OP noted) in order to make them safe, prevent bleeding and make nutrients easier for dogs to process. If it is ground, eggshells can be a good source of minerals and calcium.
First time dehydrator user: can I dry chicken and sweet potatoes at the same time on different trays. Or, in fact, can I dry any 2-3 different items at the same time?
Yes, absolutely! Just keep in mind foods with high moisture content (ie. meat or fruit) may drip while drying and get bits of flavour on the tray below. Also, different foods will have different dry times, so you’ll need to remove different foods at different times!
Recently I bought chicken wrapped dried banana slices and I thought Sam would eat the chicken but she ate the banana.
What temperature did you set your dehydrated for these sweet potatoes
I usually dry them on my lowest setting or around 125 degrees
Thank you for this amazing post! I’ve just bought a dehydrator and searching for recipes. I can’t wait to try these for my Delia.
That’s so awesome! We absolutely love love love our dehydrators. It’s probably the most used appliance in our house. If you go to our recipes page (from the menu bar in the top) We have a whole section dedicated to just dehydrator recipes. I hope you’ll share pictures here or on FB if you make something!
I have tried several times to dehydrate sweet potatoes wrapped with chicken and they shrink so small and the chicken just falls off of the sweet potato. What am I doing wrong?
Hey Lisa,
I would try drying the sweet potato until it shrinks, THEN wrap it in chicken and keep drying it. sweet poatato and chicken dry at different rates, which is why this happens.
I’m going to do an example post in a few weeks with how long I did each part and I’ll come back and add the link for you!
I just tossed a cup of rolled oats with 2 overripe bananas in the blender for a few secs then scooped them onto a plastic screen in the dehydrator & they my dogs love them!
What a fabulous idea and SO EASY. I would love to share this as a recipe post, if you don’t mind? I would (of course), give you credit. Feel free to email me at kolchakpuggle – at – gmail – dot – com if you’d like to chat 🙂
This looked so yummy, so I decided to try it since I have the dehydrator going for sweet potato treats. Thanks for the idea!
I’ve got some hearts and livers in the dehydrator as I type this! We’ve done sweet potatoes and chicken jerky in the past and the dogs really love them. There are some great additional ideas here, thank you! The best tip I can add to the mix is to watch when certain things go on sale and buy a bunch. Either make them up all or freeze for later. I can’t wait to try the bananas, apples and fish treats. They sound super easy and very tasty, and we love knowing exactly what our dogs are eating. Thanks again!
With the chicken, do you have salmonella worries? I was wanting to try this but was wondering. My dehydrator has a heating coil, but it’s not the type that I can adjust the temperature. I mostly use it to make my own kale chips and broccoli bites.
My dehydrator has a setting that is meat safe, but if yours doesn’t, you could absolutely bake the sausage in the oven until it was fully cooked and then out it in the dehydrator to dry out!
Your dog will not get salmonella, mine have been raw fed for years…going on 12, never one issue and the vet can’t believe how healthy thru are and how much better they have done since their first few 3 years on kibble.
What do you feel about raw vs dehydrated?
What do you find is the best way to store them ( other than IN your dog?)
Your dog votes in your dog is the best place. LOL!
I store them in an airtight container, in a cool dark place.
I do the sweet potato treats and store them in the freezer in a zip lock bag. My ShihTzu will do back flips for these as long as I feed them to her. My vet is a huge fan of sweet potatoes and loved that I was doing this. My dog has skin allergies and can only have turkey, fish and these. I tried storing them without refrigeration but they got moldy after a couple weeks. The tuna is a great idea. Gotta try that.
How long do these stay good? Made an impulse but if a dehydrator with drying herbs in mind then left it sit lol. Never thought about dog treats til I read it in a book….I have 4 dogs and am kind of excited at this point lol
Hi Dorianne, Welcome to the world of dog treat making!
Store fully dehydrated jerky treats for dogs in an airtight container in a cool dark place for 2 – 3 weeks.
With fattier treats, like salmon, I usually store them in an airtight container in the fridge as fats spoil faster than lean proteins.
For longer-lasting storage, you can freeze for up to 3 months. I prefer to vacuum seal treats going into my freezer to preserve their best quality.
I actually shared a whole post with all of my tips and tricks for making great dehydrated dog treats here, so it has a lot of good tips and advice. (The first half is equipment recommendations; the second half is frequently asked questions.
https://kolchakpuggle.com/2020/09/dehydrator-dog-treat-faq.html
Instead of a dehydrater what temp in the oven. Thanks
The lowest temp your oven will allow, usually 150F or 200F? Make sure you keep a close eye on them and flip them often to get them dried evenly. Usually foods dried in the oven cook a bit faster than in the dehydrator.
Thank you for answering. I was going to ask the same thing. I don’t have a dehydrator, just an oven. What about cooking bacon and dehydrating that somehow. That way the bacon grease can be used as well, or some of it at least. Mine LOVE bacon
I might consider using a tiny bit of bacon, but not a lot, due to the fat content. I make a turkey bacon jerky that is mostly ground turkey with just a bit of bacon that might be a good fit for that?
I’d be careful with canned fish. Watch what you buy. Depending on the type, there may be mercury present. Here’s a link to help.
https://www.edf.org/oceans/mercury-alert-canned-tuna-safe-eat
Tonight I am making my first dehydrator dog treats. I sliced sweet potato and then basted one side with blended liver. I can’t wait to see the result, has anyone tried this before?
I have! I used chicken paste, not liver, but I’m sure they’ll turn out pretty similar. The dogs loved them. They weren’t pretty, but they were definitely a hit. Hmmmmm, maybe I should share a how to post with this one? Would you and your dog like to be featured? email me at [email protected] if you are!
Hey! I found myself! We love banana chips. Love the coconut oil idea! Those are all great idea except for the green beans as we won’t eat those but we know a lot of dogs who love them.
How long does the treats last? Do you have to store if the fridge?
Dehydrator treats will last up to 60 days, as long as they are *completely* dry in the center and no moisture remains.
Store in a cool, dry place, but definitely not in the fridge as the condensation with start to rehydrate them and they will spoil faster 🙂
Our boys love dehydrated sweet potatoes but I think that is all they have tried. All of these recipes look amazing – maybe we need to get a dehydrator!
Concerned about the parchment paper on the trays, so I poked holes between the treats to let air circulate. My dog has pancreatitis and a very sensitive stomach. We have finally found a canned food that doesn’t make her sick so I made my treats with her canned food. I emptied two cans of food in the KA mixer and beat it with enough water to make a mixture that would pipe. I used a piping bag without a tip, just a cut the end off of the bag. My dehydrator only has an on/off switch. I’ll let you know how they turn out.
The holes are a great idea! I’ll definitely try that next time too. I can’t wait to hear how they turn out 🙂
Felix, they turned out great. After an hour, they were dry enough that I could pick them up, so I removed the parchment and replaced all the treats on the trays.Mainly because I was still worried about the parchment paper. They continued to dry for another couple of hours. Even though they’re dehydrated and crunchy, I only stored a couple of weeks worth in a sealed jar on the counter. The rest I placed in the freezer. So happy I found this site. THANK YOU!
Watched Pet Fooled on Netflix. Check it out. It is an eye opener. Store bought dog food is not regulated and what goes into it is sickening! Causes ill health and even death. Claudia you may want to make your own dog food
Is that the one with Dr Becker? I love her and follow her.
I love this place! I want to try to dehydrated green beans. I need the instructions for “dressing them with a bit of meaty treat.” I cannot get the link the work. Thank you!
Link to recipe with “meaty dust”. http://kolchakpuggle.com/2016/01/tasty-tuesday-lean-mean-and-green.html
Hi love the recipes! Just went thru a treat scare my dog Pepe was hospilazed for over 2 weeks from illness store bought treats. I’d like to make my own. Any tips on an average fairly priced dehydrator that does the job it would be just for all these fab dog treats. Thank you!
Oh boy…Brooklyn is going to LOVE you!! A beagle with allergies. You just upped his treat list. Dehydrated green beans and oh my gosh, bananas with peanut butter. Yikes. He will be in heaven. He already gets sweet potatoes. I slice them long ways to make longer strips. I wonder if carrots would work too?
My dogs love, love, love carrots. I feed them raw, but today I sliced them lengthwise and into the dehydrated they went. They also love sweet potatoes, apples and green beans raw or dehydrated!
These all look very tasty! Naturally we’re big fans of Dehydrated Dog Treats. The canned food treats look like a great idea.
When we train our golden retriever, Mhershey, we sometimes give tidbit of fresh carrots (peeled). She loves it!
These dog treat recipes are amazing, my Labradoodle especially likes the Chicken Jerky.
Screw my puppy. I’m having the peanut butter banana treats. she can have the dehydrated offal.
Ha ha ha ha – no word of a lie, these dogs are totally used to sharing their treats with me. I really like the pork jerky with a little cracked black pepper and salt on it.
i have wanted a dehydrator for a long time to make things for both my dogs and me. i think it is a great way to make treats. thanks for the recipes.
What dog friendly herbs/spices do you recommend – or do you know where to find a link?
We use a lot of parsley, cilantro, oregano, basil, & rosemary,
Dog treats are NOT hard to make at home. The fact is, people are lazy and would rather buy prepared chemical laden treats in non biodegradable plastic bags. People are just plain l a z y.
How long are the dehydrated treats good for?
Generally, this depends on how dry you made them in the first place, how they are stored and the humidity in your area. I store mine in a cool, dark place in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
Having trouble getting my lab to take a huge pill for her heart. Can I crush it up and miss, it in canned dog food and dehydrate? Or mix it with one of the recipients with baby food for a microwave???
Some medicines cannot be crushed and I definitely wouldn’t expose them to heat. I would definitely talk to your vet about ways to deliver this medicine or ask if it comes in a liquid form. Good luck!
I find hiding meds in chunk of cheese.. piece of meat.. works well especially if something they’ll basically gulp down..
Felix is a ninja master at extracting his pills from cheese. Like, so good and fast I don’t know how he does it. I have never had a dog that didn’t for before thoughm so this is agreat tip!
Mine is also picky with pills, vet said it was Ok to crush up and mix with a small amount of something that would mask the taste(like mashed up liver or mine loves heart- cooked). Don’t cook it.
I don’t have a air tight container, but I do have a vacuum sealer. What about storing small amounts in the vacuum bags and keeping in a dark cupboard.
Absolutely! I vacuum seal treats all the time and it works great!
I use Mason jars, it has worked well for storage.
You can use your seal a meal for jar sealing. Just get the jar attachment for large and/or small mouth mason jars for seal a meal. Mason jar and lids and you can reuse the metal lids.
I am looking to make my own dehydrated dog treats as well after reading about all the sick dogs and dogs that lost their lives to the same store bought treats that I give my 4 dogs! I’m overwhelmed reading reviews of dehydrators. Does anyone have a recommendation for me, on which dehydrator to buy? Fairly easy to use/learn, good results and if possible, under $100??
Thank you!!
As a good entry level dehydrator under $100, this Nesco is a great option (affiliate link) https://amzn.to/2KlQDXN I’ve been using one for almost 6 years with no issue. That said, if you want to spend a bit more (well, a chunk more) the Excalibur is my “gold standard” and my favourite of my dehydrators: https://amzn.to/2HUzOFa
Hello, Thank you for having the recipes for our dogs to have to eat :).
Can you dehydrate shredded cheese? I need tiny training treats for a papillon dog.
Please stand by. I’m testing this recipe this week and I will definitely let you know!
Great suggestions! I’ve done swet potato, chicken, turkey, beef, and pork jerky treats, I’m going to do deer lungs, liver, kidneys, tongue, and perhaps brain, if I can get it. It helps having a son in law that hunts.
I saw a question about doing chicken and sweet potato in the same batch. They could be cooked, tossed in blender together with a touch of the broth they created to help with whipping, make a paste, then piped on the trays.
Don’t forget, too, that you can add coconut oil, pumpkin, beans, and herbs to pastes! Herbs like parsley, oregano, dill, thyme, cinnamon, and so many others.
Please share how the deer lung, kidneys and brains turned out and how you cooked each of them. Funny story in our family that my grandpa (born in 1878) loved deer brains scrambled with eggs for breakfast. I have never tried it but if grandpa loved it I bet the dogs would too 🙂
Hi Judy! I’ve never actually used brain in my treats, so I’m not entirely sure how they would turn out. Because of the prions and potential (albeit rare) potential for food bourne disease from the brain, I would recommend fully cooking the brain before you kill it, but I’m not certain what the texture would end up like. If you try it, I really hope you’ll come back and share what you learn. I’m very curious now!
As for the lung and kidneys, you can find my full instructions for making both crumbley and crunchy versions of these treats here:
http://kolchakpuggle.com/2014/02/diy-organ-meat-dog-treats.html
Thank you for sharing this information, I really liked your storytelling fashion.
Hello, Great treat ideas! I got tired of buying very expensive Freeze Dried liver treats for my German Shepherd. One note though, the USDA recommends cooking meat to at least 165F before dehydrating to kill any potential bacteria and to dehydrate at a minimum heat of 160F to be on the safe side. The way you make your treats from raw meat do you have to refrigerate them afterwards? Thank you very much
Hi Louise, In the case of raw meat, we use a dehydrator that has a temperature setting to ensure the meat is heated well enough to kill of any bacteria. With the canned fish or canned food, we use a lower end dehydrator model.
If your dehydrator doesn’t have a safe setting, then we recommend pre-cooking the meat in the oven before you dry it.
Yes, I made this sweet potato dog chews on the dehydrator, and this was the first time I DIYed any dog recipe. My little pup actually liked it. Other than this, I always use canned dog food to feed a doggie. Thanks for your suggestions.
I’m so glad to hear that! What a lucky pup you have that you made homemade treats!
thanks for sharing your recipes! I bookmarked your page so I can come back and try some. My dehydrator is full right now but I bought some tuna and oats to make some treats for the dogs and cats later! I normally make cinnamon sweet potatoes for my dogs and the shelter dogs. I have a friend that donated 15 lbs. of sweet potatoes. I scrub, peel, slice and dehydrate. He’s gonna get me more this week so I can start another batch. They’ll go to the shelter as soon as they’re accepting gifts from the public again. When my husband and I adopted our 2 kittens 2 months ago the shelter was FULL! They were turning people away who needed to surrender dogs. It was so sad. Being animals lovers we decided to do something for them. But they can’t accept the treats just yet. It’s so sad! All those dogs in cages and with no treats! The volunteers can’t even go walk them. The workers have to do double duty. Covid is really hurting everyone!! I hope it ends soon!! Thank you again for sharing. I will certainly make some for the shelter pups too!
I’m so sorry to hear your shelter is so full! Ours is almost the opposite here, with COVID shelters have been clearing super fast – which is wonderful! Cinnamon sweet potato treats sound delicious! What a great idea!
Wow… I have a dehydrator and use it sporadically to make my dog’s treats. What I use it for is sweet potato treats (not very popular, unfortunately) and a hit is is either Chinese fondu beef or I slice sandwich steaks into strips and dehydrate those from min 4 to 7 hours (yes…depending on the thickness). I like your ideas here and will definitely be doing more home-made treats! Thanks for the tips!!
Lol, dogs can eat raw meat, why would you cook chicken chews after dehydrating them??
Cooking off the bacteria is to prevent spoilage in your storage container. Raw dog food is kept in the fridge to inhibit bacteria growth; if bacteria remains on a dehydrated chew, they will spoil and mold faster than a chew that has had the bacteria cooked off.
I made the chicken jerky and my cats loved it just as much as my dogs. I pounded the chicken to get it super thin before dehydrating. It made iT dehydrate pretty quickly and easier to break up for my cats. My dogs aren’t super happy about sharing though. Thank you so much for the recipes.
That’s so funny! Kolchak wouldn’t like to share either. He’s a treat hog. I love the idea of flattening the chicken though. I bet it’s fantastic. I’ll have to try it!
My one and a half-year-old Maltese mix her name is Bailey and she loves everything I cook for her. For food I use my instant pot with two or three chicken breasts, 1 pound of low-fat ground turkey and a package of frozen mixed vegetables, maybe add a sweet potato or anything else I may have in the house. After it’s done I use my emulsifier to make it less chunky. Some of it I freeze in bags portioned for 4-5 days and freeze it. the rest of it I hydrate and use her treats. I also have the option of rehydrating what I have dehydrated and take that with me when I travel with her. I also give her dehydrated carrots, sweet potatoes, string beans, and of course chicken strips
the dehydrator i just got is got temp and timer on it what would i put dog treats on?
Does anyone know how to make the meat dust for the green beans? I couldn’t find the directions. Thx!!
Hi Wendy, my apologies! I can’t imagine how that link broke.
To make the meat dust, I placed crispy jerky treats in a pepper grinder 🙂