If you’re looking for dog treats to help you in training your pooch (or just to tell them you love them), the brands sold at your local pet store aren’t always ideal. Quality treats are expensive, while cheap ones may contain all sorts of funky filler ingredients. The solution? Homemade dog treats, of course!
We already shared our recipe for oatmeal peanut butter dog treats, and today we’ll expand the cookbook with three sweet potato dog treat recipes your furry friend will love.
Dehydrated sweet potato dog treats
Raw sweet potato can be a bit too difficult for your dog to digest, while cooked slices can’t be stored for very long and are messy to feed because they’re so soft. So do you have to go the more labor-intensive biscuit route for sweet potato dog treat success? Nope! We found a great easy solution: dehydrated sweet potato dog treats.
All you’ll need to make this extremely easy recipe are some sweet potatoes and an oven or dehydrator. Here’s how you do it:
- Wash and then slice your preferred quantity of sweet potatoes into 1.4” thick slices. No need to peel them: the skin can be left on.
- Preheat your oven or dehydrator to 125 °F. You don’t want it too hot, it’s best to keep it low and slow for perfect dehydrated sweet potatoes.
- Place the slices on an oven rack that allows air to reach them from the bottom. Keep some distance between the slices.
- Dehydrate the slices for around 10 hours, or a little longer if they’re not chewy enough yet.
- Place the slices in an airtight container and be sure to condition them if you plan on storing them for more than a few days. It really helps prevent your sweet potato dog treats from going off!
Did you know? The reason sweet potato dog treats are so great for dogs isn’t just due to their attractive color and flavor. It’s also because they’re high in fiber, vitamin A and C and various important minerals. A healthy addition to your furry friend’s diet!
Chicken and sweet potato dog treats
Prefer treating your dog to biscuits? There are some great sweet potato dog biscuit recipes that no pooch will be able to resist, like this one that contains chicken. Super easy to make and unlike with premade treats, you’ll know exactly what’s in them.
Here’s what you need:
- 8 oz plain boiled chicken breast or canned chicken (in water)
- ½ cup plain boiled sweet potato cubes or ⅓ cup canned sweet potato.
- 2½ cups flour (preferably whole wheat)
- 2 medium eggs
Here’s how you make them:
- Preheat your oven to 350 °F.
- Puree the ingredients, except the flour.
- Mix in the flour and keep mixing until you’re left with a dough ball.
- Lightly knead the dough to mix everything together and then roll it out to about ⅓” in thickness on a well-floured surface.
- Use a cookie cutter or pizza roller to cut the dough into shapes of your choice.
- Place the cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Bake the cookies for about 40 minutes or until they’re golden brown and crispy.
The treats will keep for about a week. Think your furry friend won’t be able to finish them before that time? No problem, the dough freezes well. You can also freeze the cookies themselves, although they’ll need some more oven time after thawing to crisp them back up.
Sweet potato and oatmeal dog treats
No chicken? No problem! These sweet potato and oatmeal dog biscuits are meat-free, but still nutritious and much better for your dog than store-bought treats. Like the other recipes in this post, they’re also super easy to whip up.
Here’s what you need:
- 1 cup boiled sweet potato cubes or ¾ cup canned sweet potato
- 1 egg
- 1½ cup whole wheat flour
- 1½ cup oat flour or fine instant oats
Here’s how you make them:
- Preheat your oven to 350 °F.
- Puree the egg and sweet potato together.
- Add the oats and flour and keep mixing until a dough ball forms.
- Lightly knead the dough to mix everything together properly and then roll it out on a well-floured surface, to around ⅓” in thickness.
- Use a cookie cutter or pizza roller to cut the dough into shapes of your choice.
- Place the cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Bake the cookies for about 40 minutes or until they’re golden brown and crispy.
Like the chicken and sweet potato dog biscuits discussed above, the dough or finished cookies can be frozen just fine. This way you can easily thaw a batch every week and make sure you never run out of yummy sweet potato dog treats.
Conclusion
If you still buy commercial, pre-made dog treats, hopefully this post has made it clear there are plenty of alternatives that can be made at home with very little effort! We always feel much better feeding our pooch something homemade and with just a few healthy ingredients. If you do too, give these sweet potato dog treat recipes a try!
