Looking for a special gift for a friend – or, better yet, a friend’s dog? We’ve put together this helpful gift guide for dogs, and everything is homemade: homemade dog treats, training treats, or grooming products. You’ll save a bundle, improve the quality of the products, and even have fun customizing them. Healthy homemade dog treats can be customized with fun cookie cutters, and you can pick your ingredients to match the lucky dog’s diet and tastes.
For homemade grooming products, see our article, DIY Gifts for Dogs: Homemade Dog Shampoo.
Jump to: Homemade Dog Treat Recipes
How to Make Dog Treats
Years ago, wheat was the main ingredient in dry dog foods and biscuits. To meet the demand for gluten-free foods and treats, some manufacturers substitute peas, beans, and other legumes for wheat and other grains, but those ingredients have become controversial, too. Today, a range of alternative flours are widely available, making it easy to create biscuits and treats for dogs with any sort of dietary restrictions; you can easily make treats that are free of gluten, legumes, fat, sugar, nuts, or salt. Experiment with substitutions!
Watch the Whole Dog Journal team make some homemade dog treats!
When making homemade dog biscuits, combine dry ingredients with a mixer, food processor, or by hand, then add other ingredients to create a stiff or soft dough. Line cookie sheets with kitchen parchment paper or lightly grease them before baking to prevent sticking.
Stiff doughs can be rolled flat with a rolling pin and shaped with a cookie cutter, pizza cutter, or knife. Alternatively, shape stiff dough as a log or cylinder, wrap it in plastic wrap, refrigerate until firm, then slice the roll into discs and bake.
Soft doughs can be pushed through a cookie press to create different shapes or rolled into balls and pressed flat with your hand or the tines of a fork.
If using a silicone mold, spray it lightly with oil to prevent sticking, then add the dough and press firmly.
Leaving treats at room temperature for a day or two after baking helps harden biscuits, making them sturdier and crunchier. Depending on ingredients, home-prepared dog treats may last several days to a week or more at room temperature or longer in the refrigerator. For long-term storage, freeze in air-tight containers.
For holiday baking, mix cookie doughs ahead of time and refrigerate or freeze them until a few days before gift giving, then bake and gift-wrap.
Ingredients that are perennial dog favorites and are delicious additions to homemade dog treats include peanut or other nut butters, carob (which tastes like chocolate but is safe for dogs), shredded coconut, carrots, cheese, bacon, and diced or pureed meat, fish, or poultry.
Avoid adding ingredients to your DIY dog treats that are not dog-safe. These include chocolate, raisins, macadamia nuts, onions, and the sweetener xylitol (check peanut butter labels to avoid products containing xylitol).
Homemade Dog Treat Recipes
To test recipes for this article, I used all of the ingredients mentioned here in a variety of cookies, crackers, and training treats, which were enthusiastically tested by 30 dogs of different sizes, breeds, and ages. Here are their favorites:
Ingredients:
- 3 1⁄2 cups almond, equivalent (see sidebar), or all-purpose flour blend
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1⁄4 cup butter
- 1⁄2 cup finely chopped cooked bacon, fish, meat, or chicken
- 1⁄2 cup milk or coconut milk
Instructions:
Combine ingredients and mix well to create a soft dough. If you have a cookie press, experiment with different shapes and press cookies onto parchment. If you don’t have a cookie press, create balls and press them with the tines of a fork. Bake at 275 ° F for 30 to 45 minutes or until light brown.
Download the recipe card for Meaty Dog Biscuits.
Ingredients:
- 3 cups almond, equivalent, or all-purpose flour blend
- 1 cup blueberries
- 2 ripe bananas, mashed
- 2 eggs
- 2⁄3 cups unsweetened peanut butter or nut butter
Instructions:
Combine ingredients, roll to 1/2 inch thickness, and cut to desired size and shape. Bake at 350° F for 20 to 30 minutes or until slightly brown.
Download the recipe card for Blueberry Banana Dog Biscuits.
Ingredients:
- 1 3⁄4 cup tiger nut, almond, or equivalent flour
- 1/2 cup toasted carob powder
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1⁄2 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 cup milk or coconut milk
- 1/2 cup diced cooked bacon
- 1/2 cup unsweetened peanut butter or nut butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil or coconut oil
Instructions:
Combine ingredients and form 1/2-inch balls. Press into lightly greased silicon molds or place on parchment-lined cookie sheets and press to flatten with your hand or the tines of a fork. Bake at 350° F for 18 to 20 minutes or until brown.
Download the recipe card for Peanut Butter and Bacon Dog Biscuits.
Ingredients:
- 1 3⁄4 cup almond, equivalent, or all-purpose flour blend
- 1⁄2 cup canned pumpkin puree
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened peanut or almond butter
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup grated carrots
- 1 cup shredded dried coconut
Instructions:
Combine ingredients, roll to 1⁄4- to 3⁄8-inch thick, and shape with cookie cutters. Bake at 350° F for 30 to 35 minutes or until light brown.
Download the recipe card for Pumpkin, Carrot & Coconut Dog Biscuits.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups almond, equivalent, or all-purpose flour blend
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- 1⁄2 cup cold cubed butter
- 1⁄4 cup milk or coconut milk
- 1 tablespoon Herbs de Provence or dried savory herbs such as rosemary, thyme, basil, marjoram, lavender, parsley, and/or oregano
Instructions:
Combine ingredients and mix well to create a soft dough. If you have a cookie press, use a star-shaped or sawtooth tip and move the tip while pressing the plunger to create ribbons. Cut the ribbons into 2- to 4-inch lengths. Bake at 350°F for 18 to 25 minutes until light brown.
Download the recipe card for Savory Cheddar Cheese Dog Treats.
Most packaged “soft” treats contain vegetable glycerin, a plant-derived sweet syrup that acts as a moisturizer and preservative. Food-grade vegetable glycerin is easy to find online and in natural food stores. I experimented with soft treats by adding vegetable glycerin to different recipes with good results. Honey also works well in soft treats.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups cooked, mashed sweet potato or pureed pumpkin
- 1/2 cup grated apple or 1⁄4 cup applesauce
- 1⁄4 cup honey or vegetable glycerin
- 1 egg
- 1 1⁄2 cups almond or equivalent flour
Instructions:
Combine ingredients and scoop the dough with a spoon to form mounds on prepared baking sheets. Bake at 350° F for 20 minutes. Refrigerate after baking to maintain soft consistency and prevent mold growth.
Download the recipe card for Double Sweet Soft Dog Treats.
Homemade Sweet Potato Dog Chews
Sweet potato chews are incredibly easy to make, cost a fraction of what you’d pay for them in a pet supply store – and most dogs absolutely love them. If you’ve ever picked up a $20 bag of sweet potato chews and thought you could make them yourself for a lot less, you’re right. In fact, nothing could be simpler. Here’s how to make these dog treats.
Cut raw sweet potatoes or yams into slices (lengthwise or crosswise) between 3⁄8 and 1/2 inch thick. Bake at 250° F for an hour, turn slices over, bake for another hour, and repeat until they’re completely hard. Or let them finish drying in a food dehydrator set to low heat. Once completely dry, these chews have a long shelf life and do not require refrigeration. Several of my tester dogs preferred these to all the other treats.
Gummy Gelatin Dog Treats
Gelatin is the key ingredient in sweet or savory dog gummies. Unflavored gelatin powder is available from Great Lakes, Knox, and other widely sold brands. Compare labels if you prefer gelatin from grass-fed cattle. Gelatin is recommended for aging joints, increased mobility, improved digestion, strong bones, and skin and coat health. Unfortunately, gelatin does not freeze well. Use these homemade dog gummies as training treats or additions to your dog’s dinner.
To make gummies for dogs, sprinkle 2 tablespoons gelatin powder over 1⁄4 cup unheated
coconut water, bone broth, soup stock, or other liquid and let stand a minute or two until the gelatin is absorbed. Heat 1⁄2 cup of the same liquid until almost boiling, add it to the gelatin, and stir.
If desired, add 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 cup chopped meat, fish, chicken, pumpkin puree, or other additions. Pour into a lightly oiled silicon mold, loaf pan, or tray. Refrigerate until firm. Remove gummies from silicon molds. If using a loaf pan, remove the single slab of cold gelatin and cut it with a knife or cookie cutters. Refrigerate gummies, tightly sealed, for up to 2 weeks.
- Several gluten-free flour blends contain almond flour, coconut flour, arrowroot starch, tapioca starch, cassava flour, rice flour, potato starch, or other ingredients designed to replace equal quantities of wheat flour. Look for “gluten-free flour” or “Paleo flour.”
- Almond meal (ground whole almonds) or blanched almond flour (ground after skins are removed).
- Buckwheat, millet, rice, or sorghum flour.
- Oat flour (use rolled oats, quick-cooking oatmeal, or make your own oat flour by grinding oats in a blender or food processor).
- Sunflower seed flour (may be labeled as “sun-flour”).
- Tiger nut flour (made from a tuber, not a nut).
OTHER REPLACEMENTS
- Cassava flour: Replace 4 cups wheat flour with 3 cups cassava flour.
- Coconut flour: Replace 4 cups wheat flour with 1 cup coconut flour and add 1 or 2 eggs or additional liquid (coconut flour quickly absorbs liquids).
- Green banana or plantain flour: Replace 4 cups wheat flour with 3 cups banana flour.
- Carob powder, plain or toasted: Replace 1/4 to 1/2 cup of wheat (or equivalent) flour with an equal amount of carob powder.
GLUTEN-FREE FLOURS These widely sold gluten-free blends and many like them are available in supermarkets, natural food stores, and online.
- King Arthur Gluten-Free Measure-for-Measure Flour. Contains: Rice flour, whole grain brown rice flour, whole sorghum flour, tapioca starch, potato starch, cellulose, and xanthan gum, and is vitamin fortified.
- Krusteaz Gluten-Free All-Purpose 1-to-1 Flour. Contains: Whole grain sorghum flour, brown rice flour (rice flour, stabilized rice bran with germ), whole grain millet flour, rice flour, modified food starch, whole grain quinoa flour, xanthan gum.
- BakeGood Paleo Flour Blend, Gluten-Free 1-to-1 All Purpose Flour. Contains: Almond flour, arrowroot starch, coconut flour, tapioca flour.
Thank you, Nancy!
My goodness this is a ton of information! It will take me a while to sift through it all, but I am so grateful to have it.
When I first started feeding raw, Stella and Chewy’s was about it, although I love their food and have had great results. Now this article gives me so many options and I love options. Instead of rotating foods, I feed several at once. This will give me some brands I can switch in to my dogs’ food.
RE: the recipes, I LOVE them. I always wanted to cook for my dogs and this makes it safer and easier. There are ingredients I’ve never heard of. One reason I didn’t bake was I only knew about wheat flour and that didn’t seem like a good idea. Why feed raw if you turn around and give treats with wheat flower? It’s neat that you have different textures of treats too! These are awesome enrichment experiences!
Thank you so much for your comments! It was fun experimenting with these options. My dog, Blue Sapphire, is a black Labrador Retriever, so whenever I tell friends that the recipes were Lab tested, they just laugh and say that of course a Lab will eat anything. That’s why I recruited so many tester dogs. But when I gave a sample bag to my friend Laurie, whose Irish Terrier, Dash, is Blue’s boyfriend, she examined all of them – and then sent a text message saying, “The cheese ones are mine!” So far the sweet potato chews are the most popular among my test dogs but the savory cheese biscuits are the most popular among the dogs’ owners! CJ