Homemade Dog Food Recipes: 5 Vet-Informed Recipes and How Much to Feed

Homemade dog food recipes work best when they follow a simple formula: roughly half cooked lean protein, a third cooked carbohydrate, some vegetables, a little healthy fat, and a vet-recommended calcium and vitamin supplement. The five recipes below follow that pattern, and each one lists its calories per 100 g so you can portion it properly. How much to feed comes from your dog's daily calorie needs, not from a cup measurement.

One honest note before the recipes: no homemade recipe is truly "complete" without a balancing supplement. A 2013 UC Davis study of 200 home-cooked dog food recipes found that almost all of them were short on at least one essential nutrient. So treat these as a solid base to take to your vet or a board-certified veterinary nutritionist, not as a finished long-term diet.

What Every Vet-Approved Homemade Dog Food Recipe Needs

Most vet approved homemade dog food recipes are built from the same five parts:

• Protein (about 40–50% of the cooked weight): lean turkey, chicken breast, lean beef, salmon or eggs.
• Carbohydrate (about 25–35%): white or brown rice, oats, quinoa or sweet potato.
• Vegetables (about 10–15%): carrots, green beans, peas or plain pumpkin.
• Fat: a small amount of fish oil or olive oil for essential fatty acids.
• A balancing supplement: meat is low in calcium, and home diets often fall short on zinc, vitamin D, vitamin E and choline. Your vet can recommend a product and dose for your recipe.

WSAVA's global nutrition guidelines recommend that any home-prepared diet be formulated or reviewed by a veterinary nutritionist, especially for puppies, which are very sensitive to calcium and phosphorus balance.

5 Homemade Dog Food Recipes

Each batch makes roughly 1.8–2 kg of cooked food. Cook proteins through, drain excess fat, and skip salt, onion, garlic and seasoning. Cool and portion into containers; it keeps 3–4 days in the fridge or about 2 months frozen.

1. Turkey, Rice and Veggie (about 159 kcal per 100 g)

• 1 kg cooked 93% lean ground turkey
• 600 g cooked white rice
• 200 g cooked chopped carrots
• 150 g cooked green beans
• 10 g fish oil (about 2 teaspoons)

A good everyday starter recipe. White rice is easy on the stomach, which makes this a common choice for dogs switching over from kibble.

2. Chicken and Sweet Potato (about 139 kcal per 100 g)

• 1 kg cooked skinless chicken breast
• 600 g baked sweet potato, skin removed
• 150 g cooked peas
• 15 g olive oil (about 1 tablespoon)

Lower in calories, so it suits dogs that gain weight easily.

3. Beef and Oats (about 130 kcal per 100 g)

• 900 g cooked 90% lean ground beef, drained
• 700 g cooked rolled oats
• 200 g plain canned pumpkin (not pie filling)
• 150 g cooked carrots

Oats and pumpkin add fiber, which helps some dogs with firmer stools.

4. Salmon and Quinoa (about 152 kcal per 100 g)

• 900 g cooked boneless salmon
• 600 g cooked quinoa
• 250 g cooked green beans

Salmon brings omega-3s naturally. Always cook it; raw salmon from the Pacific Northwest can carry the parasite that causes salmon poisoning disease.

5. Egg and Turkey (about 150 kcal per 100 g)

• 700 g cooked lean ground turkey
• 6 large eggs, scrambled without butter (about 300 g)
• 800 g cooked white rice
• 200 g plain canned pumpkin

Eggs are a cheap, well-digested protein and pair well with turkey.

Calorie values are estimates from USDA figures for the cooked ingredients. Your batch will vary with the exact cuts you buy, which is why weighing food beats scooping it.

How Much Homemade Dog Food to Feed: A Worked Example

Portions come from calories. Vets start with the Resting Energy Requirement (RER), the formula used in WSAVA guidelines:

RER = 70 × (body weight in kg)^0.75

Then multiply by a life-stage factor. A neutered adult dog usually uses 1.6.

Example: a 20 kg (44 lb) neutered adult dog.

1. RER = 70 × 20^0.75 ≈ 662 kcal
2. Daily need = 662 × 1.6 ≈ 1,060 kcal/day
3. Recipe 1 has ~159 kcal per 100 g, so 1,060 ÷ 1.59 ≈ 665 g of food per day
4. Split into two meals: about 330 g each

The same dog on Recipe 2 (139 kcal/100 g) would need about 760 g a day. Same calories, bigger bowl.

Want to skip the math? Enter your dog's weight, age and activity level into the dog food calculator to get a daily calorie target, then divide by your recipe's calories per 100 g.

Daily calories by weight (neutered adult dog)

Puppies, working dogs and intact dogs need more; seniors and dogs losing weight need less. The dog calorie calculator adjusts for those factors, and the RER calculator shows the formula step by step. For protein targets on active or growing dogs, check the dog protein calculator.

Switching to Homemade Food

Change over gradually across 7–10 days: about 25% homemade for the first few days, then 50%, then 75%, then 100%. A sudden switch is the most common reason for loose stools. Weigh your dog every two weeks for the first two months. If they're gaining or losing without meaning to, adjust portions by about 10% and recheck.

Common Mistakes With Homemade Dog Food

• Skipping the calcium. Meat-heavy recipes have far more phosphorus than calcium. Over months this can affect bone health, especially in puppies.
• Feeding by cup. A cup of the salmon recipe and a cup of the beef recipe carry different calories. Weigh portions.
• Adding toxic "people food." Onion, garlic, grapes, raisins, xylitol and macadamia nuts are dangerous. Check anything new in the food safety checker.
• Too much fat. Fatty trimmings and skin can trigger pancreatitis in some dogs.
• Changing recipes without redoing the math. Swapping proteins changes calorie density, so recheck portions.

For more on portioning, see our guide to homemade dog food serving sizes.

When to Call Your Vet

Talk to your vet before starting a homemade diet if your dog is a puppy, pregnant, a senior, or has kidney, liver, pancreatic or skin conditions. Call them promptly if you notice:

• Vomiting or diarrhea lasting more than 24 hours
• Blood in the stool or vomit
• Weight loss you didn't plan for, or a dull, flaky coat after a few weeks
• Lethargy, stiffness or limping (a possible sign of mineral imbalance)
• Refusal to eat for more than a day

A vet or board-certified veterinary nutritionist (ACVN) can check your recipe and recommend the right supplement so it meets AAFCO nutrient profiles.

The Bottom Line

Good homemade dog food recipes are simple: lean protein, a plain carb, some vegetables, a little oil and a vet-recommended supplement. Portion by calories, weigh the food, and recheck your dog's weight as you go. Run your dog's numbers through the dog food calculator before you cook your first batch.