Homemade Dog Treats: Simple Recipes, Portions and Food Safety

Updated September 2026

Homemade dog treats can be useful when you want control over the ingredients or simply enjoy making something for your dog.

They are not automatically healthier than good commercial treats, though.

The ingredients still need to be safe, portions still matter and homemade treats still contribute to your dog’s overall food intake.

For training, I generally want very small rewards that are quick to eat. In many situations, part of your dog’s normal food works perfectly well, so you do not need to bake something special every time you practise recall or loose-lead walking.

This guide explains how I would approach homemade treats, what to avoid and a couple of simple options to try.

For my wider guide to choosing treats, start with Dog Treats: How to Choose the Right Treats for Your Dog.

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Are homemade dog treats healthier than shop-bought treats?

Not necessarily.

Making treats yourself lets you know exactly what went into them, but “homemade” doesn’t automatically mean low-calorie, nutritionally balanced, or suitable for every dog.

A homemade biscuit with peanut butter, cheese, or another calorie-dense ingredient may contain far more energy than a tiny commercial training treat.

Likewise, a commercial product is not automatically poor quality because it contains cereals or because the ingredient list looks less appealing to us.

The more useful questions are:

• Is it safe for this dog?
• Is the portion appropriate?
• Does the dog actually enjoy it?
• Is it suitable for what I am using it for?
• Does it fit into the rest of the day’s food?

If you are choosing ready-made products instead, my Dog Treats Guide explains how I compare different types of treats

How many homemade treats can my dog have?

Homemade treats still count.

Veterinary guidance often uses a simple rule: keep treats and other extras to about 10 per cent or less of the dog’s daily calorie intake, with the main diet supplying most of their nutrition. PDSA uses the same principle in its own vet-approved homemade treat recipe.

Remember that “extras” can include:

• homemade biscuits
• training food
• chews
• food in enrichment toys
• scraps
• dental treats
• pieces of cheese or chicken
• treats given by somebody else in the household.

If you train frequently, tiny pieces make far more sense than repeatedly giving full-sized biscuits.

For the wider portion question, see How Much Should I Feed My Dog?

Can I use my dog’s normal food for training?

Yes.

If your dog values their normal food, using part of the measured daily allowance for easy training is one of the simplest options.

That is particularly useful for:

• name response
• simple check-ins
• settling
• easy recall practice at home
• basic loose-lead exercises
• simple enrichment.

More difficult situations may need a reward your dog values more highly.

The individual dog decides what is high value.

My updated Dog Training Rewards Guide explains how I match the reward to the difficulty of the situation rather than assuming every exercise requires chicken or cheese.

What makes a good homemade training treat?

For repeated training, I want something small, safe and quick to eat.

A treat does not need to be large for the dog to value it.

If a reward is so big that the dog spends the next thirty seconds chewing, it interrupts the training and can add a surprising number of calories.

For many dogs, tiny pieces are enough.

Think reward rather than snack.

Which ingredients should never go into homemade dog treats?

Do not assume an ingredient is safe simply because it is sitting in your kitchen.

Important foods and ingredients to avoid include chocolate, grapes and dried vine fruits, onions and related alliums, xylitol or birch sugar, alcohol, caffeine and several other foods that can be dangerous to dogs.

If you use peanut butter, yoghurt, apple sauce, or another packaged ingredient, check the label for sweeteners and other additions before using it.

For the full safety guide, use my updated Toxic Foods for Dogs article instead of relying on this incomplete list

If your dog has actually eaten something potentially toxic, contact your veterinary practice rather than waiting to see whether symptoms appear.

Garlic does not belong in my dog-treat recipe

The old version of this page included garlic puree in the homemade chicken jerky recipe.

I would remove that recipe completely.

There is no reason to add garlic to a homemade dog treat, especially when the goal is simply an appealing training reward.

Plain is usually simpler.

This is also a good example of why older pet-care recipes deserve reviewing rather than being left online indefinitely.

Easy recipe 1: pumpkin and carrot dog biscuits

PDSA publishes a vet-approved pumpkin biscuit recipe using straightforward ingredients including pumpkin, carrot, unsweetened apple sauce, oats and flour.

What you need

• 55g grated carrot
• 60g unsweetened apple sauce
• 145g plain pumpkin purée
• 160g rice flour
• 25g oats
• a little plain flour for rolling.

Check that the apple sauce contains no xylitol or birch sugar.

How to make them

Preheat the oven to 150°C.

Blend or thoroughly mix the carrot, apple sauce and pumpkin.

Stir in the rice flour and oats to form a dough.

Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface to roughly 6mm thick.

Cut it into small pieces rather than large decorative biscuits if you intend to use them for training.

Bake for around 12 minutes, turning them during cooking, then allow them to cool completely before giving one to your dog.

PDSA recommends freezing the surplus rather than treating one batch as something a dog should work through quickly.

For a small dog or repeated training, I would make the pieces substantially smaller than a human biscuit.

Easy option 2: plain cooked chicken training pieces

You do not need to turn every homemade treat into a biscuit.

For many dogs, tiny pieces of plain, thoroughly cooked boneless chicken work very well as a higher-value training reward.

Keep it plain.

No garlic.

No onion.

No seasoning.

No gravy.

No cooked bones.

Once the chicken has cooled, cut it into very small pieces.

Because this is freshly cooked food rather than a dried commercial treat, handle and store it as perishable food. UK Food Standards Agency guidance says cooked leftovers should be cooled and refrigerated within two hours and eaten within 48 hours or frozen.

I would therefore freeze what you are not likely to use promptly rather than trying to turn ordinary home cooking into shelf-stable jerky.

Why I am not including homemade chicken jerky

The old page suggested baking chicken until very dry and then keeping it in an airtight container.

I would no longer give a generic room-temperature storage instruction like that.

Whether a homemade dried meat product is genuinely shelf stable depends on moisture, preparation, temperature and storage conditions.

That is more complicated than it needs to be for an owner who simply wants a few training treats.

Cooked chicken, refrigerated or frozen properly, is a much simpler option.

What about liver treats?

Dogs often find liver extremely valuable.

That does not mean I would build a large proportion of a dog’s treats around it.

Liver is nutrient-dense and is better used in small quantities rather than as an unlimited snack.

If you make liver-based treats, keep individual pieces tiny and count them with the rest of the day’s extras.

For frequent training I would normally rotate between normal food and small amounts of suitable higher-value rewards rather than using rich liver treats for every repetition.

Do homemade treats need honey or sugar?

No.

Your dog does not need added honey or sugar to make a training reward worthwhile.

The old liver-cake recipe on this page used several tablespoons of honey.

I would remove that.

If your dog already finds chicken, liver, pumpkin or another safe ingredient rewarding, adding sweetness does not make the treat more useful.

What about homemade peanut-butter treats?

They can be made, but check the peanut butter carefully.

The RSPCA’s own homemade dog-treat recipe specifically warns that peanut butter must not contain xylitol because xylitol is poisonous to dogs.

If you choose to make peanut-butter biscuits:

• use a simple peanut butter without xylitol
• keep portions small
• remember that peanut butter is calorie-dense
• do not assume it is suitable for every dog.

I would not use peanut butter for a dog on a restricted diet unless their vet has approved it.

Can I change ingredients in a homemade recipe?

Be careful.

Recipes do not always behave the same way when ingredients are substituted.

More importantly, the replacement ingredient may not be appropriate for your dog.

If you want to replace an ingredient because your dog has an allergy, food intolerance or medical condition, that is different from simply swapping carrot for pumpkin because you ran out.

For a dog with genuine dietary restrictions, I would rather use a treat already approved by their veterinary team.

My Dog Food Allergies and Intolerances Guide explains why this matters particularly during a controlled elimination diet.

What treats can a dog have during an elimination diet?

Only the foods your veterinary team has approved.

A homemade biscuit containing even one unapproved ingredient can interfere with a diagnostic food trial.

Sometimes the easiest solution is to use part of the prescribed diet itself as the training reward.

This is one of those situations where medical requirements take priority over finding the most exciting homemade recipe.

Are homemade treats suitable for puppies?

They can be, but the same rules apply.

Growing puppies need their main nutrition to come from an appropriate complete puppy diet.

Treats should not displace a substantial part of that food simply because training happens frequently.

Puppies are also often doing a lot of training, which makes tiny rewards especially important.

For the wider feeding picture, use my Puppy Feeding Guide.

What about homemade treats for older dogs?

Age alone does not mean an older dog needs special homemade treats.

Think about the individual dog.

An older dog may have:

• dental discomfort
• difficulty chewing hard biscuits
• a changing appetite
• reduced calorie needs
• kidney, liver or other medical disease
• medication
• a prescribed diet.

A softer tiny reward may suit one senior dog better than a crunchy biscuit.

Another may be perfectly comfortable with the treats they have eaten for years.

If appetite, weight or chewing suddenly changes, speak to your vet rather than trying increasingly tempting foods.

My Senior Dog Nutrition Guide covers the topic more broadly.

How should homemade dog treats be stored?

This depends on the recipe.

Do not assume a homemade treat has the same shelf life as a commercially manufactured product.

Treats containing fresh meat, egg, dairy or significant moisture deserve particular care.

For fresh cooked ingredients, follow normal food-safety principles. The Food Standards Agency advises refrigerating cooked leftovers within two hours and using them within 48 hours or freezing them.

For baked recipes from an authoritative source, follow that recipe’s storage instructions.

When I am unsure, I would rather freeze small portions than guess that something is safe on a kitchen shelf for a week.

Label the container with what you made and the date.

And if something smells, looks or feels wrong, throw it away.

Can I freeze homemade dog treats?

Often, yes.

Freezing is particularly useful when a recipe makes far more than your dog should eat in a few days.

PDSA specifically recommends freezing the surplus from its pumpkin biscuit recipe. (PDSA)

I would divide a batch into small portions so you can defrost only what you need.

Can homemade treats help with training?

Yes, if your dog finds them rewarding.

But making a treat yourself doesn’t automatically make it a better training reward.

I would choose rewards based on the dog and the situation.

Your dog’s regular food may be enough for an easy indoor exercise.

Tiny pieces of chicken may be useful outdoors.

A particularly difficult recall may deserve something your dog finds exceptionally valuable.

Food is only one type of reward.

A sniff, toy, praise, movement or access to something the dog wants can also reinforce behaviour.

My How to Train a Dog With Treats guide explains the difference between bribing and rewarding, timing, treat size and when to use higher-value food. D

A treat pouch is more useful than making treats enormous

When I use food on one-to-one walks, quick access matters more than elaborate treats.

A washable silicone treat pouch keeps small rewards easily available rather than buried in a coat pocket.

Can homemade treats be used in a KONG or lick mat?

Some homemade soft foods can be used for food enrichment where they suit the individual dog.

Again, they still count as food.

A stuffed toy should not become a completely separate meal added after breakfast and dinner.

Where appropriate, use part of the dog’s normal allowance.

If you want ideas for food-based enrichment, use Ditch the Bowl at Mealtimes and my wider Dog Enrichment Guide rather than making this article try to own the enrichment topic as well.

What if my dog is overweight?

Homemade treats do not receive a calorie exemption.

If your dog needs to lose weight, discuss the overall feeding plan with your veterinary team rather than simply replacing shop-bought treats with homemade biscuits.

A useful approach for some dogs is to use part of their measured daily food as rewards.

My Healthy Weight and Body Condition in Dogs guide explains how to look beyond the number on the scales.

Can I use fruit and vegetables in homemade treats?

Some fruits and vegetables can be suitable in modest amounts.

Others are unsafe.

Do not assume “fruit” or “vegetable” automatically means healthy for a dog.

I now have separate, updated guides for this:

Can Dogs Eat Fruit?

Dog-Friendly Vegetables

Safe dog food

If you are using a fruit or vegetable you have not given before, check that the exact food and the part you intend to use are suitable for dogs.

Should homemade treats replace complete dog food?

No.

Treats are extras.

A collection of homemade biscuits, chicken pieces, vegetables and other snacks is not a nutritionally complete diet simply because every ingredient is individually safe.

If you want to prepare your dog’s main food yourself, that is a completely different subject requiring nutritional balance rather than treat recipes.

How I use treats during walks

I carry food on many one-to-one walks because it is useful.

I might reinforce:

• a voluntary check-in
• loose-lead walking
• moving away with me
• recall
• waiting
• choosing a calmer response around a distraction.

But I do not spend an hour continually feeding a dog.

The dog still needs to sniff, explore, move and enjoy being outside.

Sometimes food is the useful reward.

Sometimes going to sniff the hedge is better.

That balance matters more to me than whether the reward came from a pet shop or my kitchen.

Frequently asked questions

Are homemade dog treats better for dogs?

Not automatically.

Their main advantage is that you know exactly what ingredients you used. They still need to be safe, suitable for the individual dog and fed in sensible amounts.

What is the easiest homemade dog treat?

For training, one of the easiest options is often simply tiny pieces of plain, thoroughly cooked chicken.

You do not have to bake biscuits for a treat to count as homemade.

Can I use flour in dog treats?

Many dogs can eat suitable flour-based treats.

The question becomes more important if the dog has a diagnosed allergy, intolerance or veterinary diet.

Can dogs eat oats?

Oats can appear in suitable dog-treat recipes, including PDSA’s vet-approved pumpkin biscuit recipe.

Can dogs have peanut butter?

Some dogs can have a small amount, but always check that it contains no xylitol or birch sugar. The RSPCA specifically warns about this in its dog-treat recipe.

Do dog treats need sugar or honey?

No.

You don’t need to add sugar or honey just to make a training reward more attractive.

How big should homemade training treats be?

Small.

For repeated training, I want pieces that can be eaten quickly. Several tiny rewards are generally more useful than repeatedly giving large biscuits.

How long do homemade dog treats last?

There is no universal answer because recipes vary in moisture and ingredients.

Follow the particular recipe’s storage instructions. Refrigerate fresh cooked food promptly and freeze surplus where appropriate rather than guessing at room-temperature shelf life.

Can I make treats for a dog with allergies?

Only use ingredients you know are suitable for that individual dog.

If your dog is undergoing a veterinary elimination diet, use only foods specifically approved by the veterinary team.

Can I give homemade treats every day?

Potentially, but they still need to fit into the dog’s overall diet and calorie intake.

For frequent training, using part of the normal daily food allowance can often be simpler.

Homemade dog treats should stay simple

You do not need to become a dog-food chef.

A useful homemade treat can be as simple as a tiny piece of plain cooked chicken.

If you enjoy baking, a straightforward recipe from a veterinary or welfare organisation can be a nice occasional option.

What matters is that you:

• use dog-safe ingredients
• keep portions small
• count treats within the overall diet
• store food safely
• avoid unnecessary sugar and seasoning
• respect allergies and veterinary diets
• remember treats are extras, not the main diet.

For the broader subject, continue with my Dog Food & Nutrition Hub.

To choose treats rather than make them, read Dog Treats: How to Choose the Right Treats for Your Dog.

I am a professional dog walker and pet sitter, not a veterinary surgeon or veterinary nutritionist. This guide provides general information about homemade treats. Speak to your veterinary team before introducing new foods if your dog has allergies, digestive problems, pancreatitis, diabetes, another medical condition or a prescribed diet.