Late last year I was gifted a dehydrator and in the past few months I finally decided to use it. I’ve been playing around with different types of dog treats. Its been like goldilocks and the homemade dog treats at my house. First up was turkey hearts. They came out fine but were a little hard and hurt my hands when I tried to break them into smaller pieces. Next up was lamb and veggie jerky using another raw ground mix from Oma’s Pride (I’m not sponsored by them in any way, I just like what they make and have easy access to their products). These came out fine but lamb is very fatty so it took FOREVER! After that, I tried turkey and veggie jerky using a raw ground mix from Oma’s Pride again. This worked pretty well and I will definitely be making it again with a few tweaks to my method. When I do, it’ll have its own post. But today’s blog is about the first true successful homemade treats! I’ve made them a few times but each time gets better and easier!
SALMON AND SWEAT POTATO!
The recipe is SUPER easy! Remember the raw ground salmon from the frozen paws: salmon edition? This uses the same stuff along with 2 medium sized sweet potatoes.
I peeled and cut them into chunks so they’d cook faster, then popped those suckers in the instant pot for 15 minutes and did a quick release when they finished. I drained the water, mashed the sweet potatoes with a spoon (super high tech), and let them cool for a bit. When they weren’t scalding hot anymore, I added in the 5lbs of raw ground salmon from Oma’s Pride and mixed well! The pink and orange remind me a little bit of my bedroom in high school.
Once it was all mixed, I spread it in a thin layer on a cookie sheet and put it into the freezer for a few hours. When they came out of the freezer, I let them thaw for a few minutes, scored them in strips and broke them apart. At this point they were starting the thaw rather quickly so if you decide to give it a go just be mindful. It’s not an issue that they were thawing, it just made them harder to get onto the dehydrator trays in one piece. I like this method because it makes predictable, somewhat uniform sized pieces that look nice and make for easy storage!
Then they went right into the dehydrator on 160 degrees for 18 hours. THEY CAME OUT PERFECT! They do smell a little fishy While dehydrating, so if you have a sensitive nose it might be a good idea to put the dehydrator in front of an open window. The mix made about 3 batches using the cookie sheet method (about 20oz of treats). While one batch was in the dehydrator the next batch was freezing. The boys definitely approve and couldn’t understand why they were put into containers in the fridge instead of just given to them right away.
***UPDATE – AUG 2020*** I am now using up to 6 sweet potatoes so it it more of a 50/50 mixture and using a jerky gun to make them. The pieces are thinner so they break easier but still maintain their shape for the most part in storage in the Talenti containers. They also dehydrate a smidge fast which is nice. The dogs still like them just as much and they’re a bit more cost effective.
Did you give this recipe a try? Let us know what you thought!
Radical Canines 
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