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5 Homemade Dog Treats Made with Ground Beef

Fresh ground beef with a sprig of basil on brown paper surrounded by herbs and spices

When cooking for my family, ground beef always makes it to the top of my grocery list each week. There are so many recipes you can make using ground beef, but what about cooking with ground beef for your furry family members, too? Here are 5 homemade dog treats made with ground beef that your dog is sure to love.

Ground Beef Dog Treats Recipe

Jar of dog biscuits with a red lid on a white background

This easy and healthy 5 ingredient recipe can be made using cookie cutters or can be rolled into balls. Have a large dog and a small dog that you are baking for? No problem. Just make a variety of large and small balls or patties.

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb. ground beef
  • 1 cup pure pumpkin puree
  • 1 and 1/2 cups oatmeal, cooked
  • 1 bunch (about 2 cups) fresh green beans, rinsed and diced
  • 2 eggs, beaten

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
  2. Cook your ground beef and diced green beans in a large skillet over medium heat until they are browned.
  3. Add in your pumpkin puree to the beef mixture, stirring until mixed well.
  4. In a bowl, add your uncooked oats and enough water to moisten them. Heat the oats in the microwave for 45 seconds to cook. Remove the oats from the microwave and stir. If they are dry, add a small amount of water until they are moist.
  5. Add your oats to the beef mixture and stir well.
  6. Remove the beef, green bean, oat mixture from the heat and let cool.
  7. Line your cookie sheets with parchment or silicone mat.
  8. Once your beef mixture has cooled, add in your beaten eggs. The mixture should be slightly wet.
  9. Place your cookie cutters onto your lined pan and fill the half full with your beef mixture. Be sure to press the filling down to fill out your design.
  10. Gently remove from dog biscuit. Use your fingers to re-shape if some of the beef mixture comes off with biscuit cutter. Repeat until all mixture is used.
  11. Bake for 25 minutes at 350F degrees. After 25 minutes, turn oven down to 200F degrees and continue baking for 1 and 1/2 hours.
  12. For crispier dog biscuits, leave in oven after baking until cooled.
  13. Let dog biscuits cool completely on cookie sheets before giving to your dog.
  14. Store in an airtight container in your refrigerator until ready to give to your pups as a treat.

This great recipe comes to us from The Daily Meal.

Ground Beef Jerky Dog Treats Recipe

Close up of beef jerky

These ground beef jerky dog treats are great as the only ingredient is ground beef. This recipe uses the oven to dehydrate the ground beef, but a dehydrator could also be used. Just check the recommendations on your dehydrator for dehydrating meats.

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb mixture of ground beef

Instructions:

  • Preheat oven 130 degrees F or to its lowest setting.
  • Place the meat mixture on a parchment paper and use your hands or a greased rolling pin to flatten out the meat to about 1/8 inch thick.
  • Use a blunt knife to score the meat into a checkerboard pattern so you can later break them into bite sized pieces.
  • Place the entire thing on a baking sheet, and dehydrate in the oven for 8 hours.
  • Take out of the oven and tilt the baking sheet carefully over the sink to drain out any grease that seeped out.
  • Break the beef into pieces along the previously scored lines, then place them in a single layer on a cooling rack on top of a fresh baking sheet.
  • Place back in the oven for 4-5 more hours. There may be more drippings that fall into the baking sheet.
  • Store at room temperature for 3 weeks, or keep in the fridge if planning to keep longer than that.

We found this pawsome Ground Beef Jerky Dog Treats Recipe thanks to What Great Grandma Ate.

Dehydrated Ground Beef Dog Treats

4 tray food dehydrator on a wooden counter top

If you take your dog on hiking trips, you will want to check out this easy, light weight dog treat recipe. 4 cups of these treats only weighs 7 ounces.

Ingredients:

  • 1 – 1¼ Pounds Lean Ground Beef
  • ¾ Pound Sweet Potato (1 large)
  • ¼ Pound Green Beans (1 handful)

Instructions:

  1. Peel and cut sweet potato into chunks and begin boiling in two cups of water.
  2. Trim green beans and cut into smaller pieces. Add to pot with sweet potato when potato chunks are half way to soft.
  3. Continue cooking until sweet potato chunks are soft enough to mash.
  4. Pour off, but retain, the cooking water.
  5. Cook ground beef in a fry pan over medium heat until brown.
  6. When the meat is browned and cooked through, drain off liquid and pat meat dry with paper towels.
  7. Add cooked ground beef to pot with sweet potato and green beans.
  8. Add 1½ cups of the retained cooking water and mash with a potato masher.
  9. Divide mush into two or three parts and run through a blender until smooth.
  10. Spread thinly on dehydrator trays covered with non-stick sheets and dry at 145° F for approximately six hours. After four or five hours, flip dog bark over and dry without the non-stick sheets.
  11. Dog Bark is not brittle when dry, so it does not present a choking hazard for dogs. It should feel completely dry and will break into pieces easily.

A special thanks to BackpackingChef.com for this great recipe.

Homemade Dog Food with Ground Beef

plate of ground beef and rice dish with 2 wooden spoons on a black bamboo mat

As responsible pet parents, we can’t give our dogs only treats to eat. Here is an inexpensive homemade dog food made with ground beef, vegetables, fruit, and rice, that your dog will flip for. You can also change things up and replace the ground beef for ground chicken or turkey.

Ingredients:

  • 3 lbs 93% lean ground beef
  • 2 cups low sodium beef broth
  • 1 cup brown rice
  • 1 1/2 cups dried cranberries
  • 1 sweet potato, crunchy baked, cooled, chopped with skin on
  • 1 lb frozen, chopped cauliflower
  • 12 oz frozen peas and carrots

Instructions:

  1. Fry ground beef. Drain. Set aside to cool.
  2. While that is cooling, cook rice per package directions.
  3. Cut a slit in one side of the sweet potato and microwave with skin on until almost done (should be a bit crunchy-NOT mushy). Cool then chop into bite sized pieces.
  4. In large microwave-safe bowl mix peas & carrots, dried cranberries and cauliflower and add 1 cup water. Microwave 10 minutes or until completely thawed and cooked through.
  5. Core apples and remove seeds. Chop into small bite sized pieced with skin on. If using fresh apples or blueberries, do not microwave.
  6. Drain water from microwaved vegetables.
  7. Pour cooled cooked beef, cooled rice, microwaved vegetables/fruits and/or fresh fruits, sweet potato into large mixing bowl or pot and combine all ingredients.
  8. Portion out individual servings enough for 5-7 days. Freeze the rest for up to 1 month.

Ground Beef for Dogs recipe

Slow cooker on a white counter with a pink wall in background

Thanks to Damn Delicious this ground beef for dogs recipe couldn’t be simpler as it can be made in a slow cooker. Just dump in the ingredients, set it to cook, and come back when it’s done. Who knew it could be this easy to make homemade dog food?

Ingredients:

  • 2 1/2 pounds ground beef
  • 1 1/2 cups brown rice
  • 1 (15-ounce) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 1/2 cups chopped butternut squash
  • 1 1/2 cups chopped carrots
  • 1/2 cup peas, frozen or canned

Instructions:

  1. Stir in ground beef, brown rice, kidney beans, butternut squash, carrots, peas and 4 cups water into a 6-qt slow cooker.
  2. Cover and cook on low heat for 5-6 hours or high heat for 2-3 hours, stirring as needed.
  3. Let cool completely.

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