Vegetarian Dog Treat Recipes

Are you a vegetarian or vegan and want to treat your precious pup to some vegan dog treats?

Anyone who gives their dogs plenty of goodies knows that frequently buying new dog treats is both costly and time-consuming. Of course you want to make sure that they are healthy, with good ingredients and that your dog loves them. Finding just the right treats can become a challenge. This is especially true if you are looking for vegetarian dog treats (or vegan ones) made with organic ingredients.

Let’s just make them ourselves! It is easier than you think and you have full control over what goes into the treats. There will be no more hidden ingredients like in the store-bought food. Sugars, stabilizers, preservatives – not in the ones that you make yourself in your kitchen.

It also is just plain fun to experiment with the ingredients and see which varieties your dog likes best. If you enjoy baking, you will love baking your own vegetarian dog treats.

I recently saw these wonderful vegetarian dog treat recipes on my friend’s Taylor Lima’s website and she kindly agreed to share them here.

If you have children in your life, this is a great rainy day activity to not only teach them something a fun and important skill (when I got to be an adult, I was so thankful my parents taught me how to cook at a young age), but it’s also a way to get them involved in the care of the family dog. Teaching kids how to care for another creature is a great way to help instill empathy for others and will give them a sense of responsibility. So let’s get in the kitchen and get cooking!

Vegetarian Berry Bites for your Dog

These yummy yogurt coated berries are a fantastic treat not only for your pups, but for yourself too! You can make these treats using any berry or dog-appropriate fruit or vegetable of your choice. These are perfect for upcoming warmer months too! You can make this recipe vegan by using soy yoghurt instead of regular yoghurt.

Coat your berries in a bowl with non-fat, plain Greek yogurt.
Place your berries on a parchment lined plate and place in the freezer.

You want to make sure the berries are separated out, otherwise they will freeze into one big block (which you might prefer depending on the size of your dog, just make sure you supervise them if they are eating anything that could present a choking hazard).

And that’s it! Once your berries are frozen, you can place them in a freezer-safe bag or container and store in the freezer to dole out as needed.

Variations

This recipe has many options for variations. You can use a variety of different berries. Many dogs really enjoy berries, so try out strawberries, raspberries, blackberries. Or you could even try out different types of fruit, such as watermelon or bananas.

Sweet Potato Chew Treats for Your Dog

This is a vegan dog treat recipe for a fantastic chew. Chewing is very important for your dog, whether it is a little puppy who needs to learn what is appropriate to chew on (the chews in this recipe) and what isn’t (your couch, your shoes, your wallet…) or a grown up dog who needs to calm down.

(Need more ideas on how to train your puppy? 6 Puppy Training Basics will be helpful)

This recipe definitely requires either lots of patience… or a dehydrator! If you do not have one, you can just use your oven for these. They take a long time to slowly dehydrate in the oven, but they’re a cheap, easy, and healthy vegan dog treat!

Slice up your sweet potatoes either using a mandolin or a very sharp knife (careful not to cut yourself!) about ⅓” thick. Don’t cut them too thin or they will disintegrate. The thicker you cut them, the longer they will take to become hard and chewy.
Lay your sweet potato slices on a parchment lined baking sheet and place in the top rack of an oven set to its lowest setting (mine was 175 degrees) or in your dehydrator
Allow to bake in the oven for 8-10 hours.

Hey, I told you this one required patience! You can up the temperature on your oven and cook them for a shorter amount of time, but the final product won’t be as good as letting them slowly dehydrate at a low temp.

These will be great to entertain your dog is he is bored or stressed. Chewing is a very calming activity that I often recommend for fearful or anxious dogs, as well as the over-the-top wild ones!

Cheesy Treats for your Dog

These are a great option for the dairy-obsessed dog! The dough is perfect for using a bone-shaped cookie cutter or any cookie cutter of choice. When choosing a flour to use for dog treats, try to stay away from white all-purpose flour and opt for something more nutritious like coconut flour, chickpea flour, potato starch/flour, quinoa flour, oat flour, or whole wheat flour.

You will need:

4 cups of flour
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2 tbspn-¼ cup oil (such as melted coconut oil or olive oil)
1 ⅓ cup water
1 egg

How to do it:

Combine flour and cheese in a bowl. If you’re feeling ambitious, you can combine them in batches in a food processor.
Stir in the water and egg.
Add 2 tablespoons of oil. You can add up to ¼ cup of oil to get a good consistency.

Once your mixture has formed a dough (it will be pretty stiff), roll it out on a floured surface to about ½ inch thickness. Use a cookie cutter to cut your dough into whatever shape you please and bake on a parchment lined baking sheet for 30-45 minutes at 350 degrees.

Variations:

You can try using different cheeses, such as mozarella, parmesan, feta, provolone. Which one is your dog’s personal favorite?

We hope you will enjoy baking and trying out these vegetarian dog treat recipes! If your dog seems to get bored with one kind, switch to another. It is important to not let them get too much of any treat at a time, as we want the treats to be special. It is highly individual just how much “too much” is for any dog. I have trained with dogs that would do best if they would get a different treat in every training session.

The owners of these dogs rotate the treats. They have half a dozen different ones and take a new one for every time they train.

Other dogs just love food as it is and do not care whether the treats are old or new! If you have a dog like this, congratulations. Training will be a breeze. You can still try out new treat recipe ideas though, and maybe you will find a new favorite of your dog.

Happy baking!

Taylor Lima is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer- Knowledge Assessed and Certified Trick Dog Instructor. She currently owns and operates Woof Who’s Happy Canine Services in Surrey, British Columbia, offering private training and group classes. She competes in lure coursing, nosework, and trick dog titling with her two Chihuahua mixes, Finley and Scarlett.