For any dog that has a sensitive stomach, these homemade dog treats are perfect because it only contains 6 ingredients and it's all natural.
Our furry little ones ask for so little and yet give us an unlimited source of love and companionship. That is why having a good supply of healthy homemade dog treats is a must because it's one of the few things that they absolutely love which is such a small price for what they give us. 🙂
I am a stickler for 0 sugar and low-fat treats. There are no added sugars and added oils and fats besides the peanut butter in this homemade dog treats recipe which is super important to me - especially since sugary treats can flare up infections and fatty treats are just bad for the pancreas, especially for older or overweight dogs.
If your dog is sensitive to grains, I also have a grain-free 3 ingredient dog treat recipe made with chickpea flour as well.
This year, for my little guy's birthday I decided to make him some homemade dog treats. I'm a stickler for limited natural ingredients in his food and snacks, particularly because he has a very sensitive stomach. So for anyone who has pups with the same issue, I hope this recipe finds it's way into your hands and it makes your pup a very happy puppy!
INGREDIENTS
There are only 6 ingredients for this homemade dog treats recipe (not including the water). They should be very easy to find at your local grocery store.
I used spelt flour for the recipe because it creates a dry and tough dough, which results in a more dry crunchy biscuit.
For the rolled oats, make sure the ingredients on the packaging only have oats in it. It should not contain any sugar or flavorings.
For the peanut butter, please use the all-natural peanut butter with no sugar added. The banana already has a natural sweetness.
PUTTING IT TOGETHER
Mix the wet ingredients together (the egg, mashed banana and water) and slowly mix in the dry ingredients and then knead away!
When you are making this dough, you will notice that the dough may be a bit dry, you can additional water, 1 teaspoon at a time to make it more pliable and easier to knead but the dough should be very tough and somewhat dry. We want these treats to turn out hard, crunchy and dry.
You can use any type of cookie cutter for this recipe, I prefer smaller ones since they are smaller dogs. If you don't have any cookie cutters, you can cut them up into little squares or rectangles.
We want to also bake this in the oven on a slightly lower temperature because our goal is to dry out the biscuits.
STORAGE & SHELF LIFE
As long as you dry them out really well in the oven they will keep for a month. I even managed to stretch mine to two months. The treats should be hard as a rock after they are cooled, and you should not be able to break them easily by hand. I usually like to keep these in treat jars or metal tin boxes as well out on the shelves. They don't need to be refrigerated as long as they have been dried out properly.
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Recipe Card
Homemade Dog Treats (6 Ingredients)
Joyce's Recipe Notes
- When you are buying peanut butter and oats, make sure there is no sugar and extra flavorings in the ingredient label.
- As long as you dry them out really well in the oven they will keep for a month. I even managed to stretch mine to two months. The treats should be hard as a rock after they are cooled, and you should not be able to break them easily by hand. I usually like to keep these in treat jars or metal tin boxes as well out on the shelves. They don't need to be refrigerated.
- [Optional] If you want to make sure they are dried out properly, once the oven has been turned off, keep the treats in the oven until the are cool. The residual heat in the oven will continue to dry it out even more. 🙂
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 2 cups rolled oats (not instant oatmeal)
- 2 cups spelt flour
- 2 cup all purpose flour
Wet Ingredients
- 2 bananas (mashed)
- ½ cup natural peanut butter (no sugar, or salt)
- 1 egg
- ½ cup water
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 325F (162C)
- Combine the wet ingredients into a mixing bowl
- Slowly add in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients bowl
- Knead for approximately 10-15 mins the dough until everything has been incorporated. The dough is supposed to be a little dry and tough. This is because of the spelt flour and it will produce a more crunch and dry biscuit.
- If the dough is hard to knead and doesn't stay together, add water 1 tablespoon at a time until it comes together in a dough ball.
- Roll out the dough to approximately ¼ inch thick and cut out biscuits with cookie cutter or cut into squares with a knife
- Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes. The bottoms should be golden brown but not burnt. The biscuits will be slightly soft in the center when you take it out of the oven, but it will harden when it cools down.
- Allow the biscuits to cool for 1-2 hours
- Ta da! Some treats for some happy dogs!
Nutrition
*Nutritional information is calculated using online tools and is an estimate*
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Nicki Gary says
What can i replace spelt flour with? I live on a 7-mile island and nearest wal mart is a 45min drive. I think my black lab 《Duchess》 would love these treats ♡ i really hope i can find a replacement . Thank you. Nicki Gary
Joyce says
Hi Nicki!
I have never tried substituting spelt flour before so I am not 100% but I can tell you what I would do and hopefully it would help! 🙂 I would probably try to substitute it for whole wheat flour. When you are adding the water, add it a little bit at a time and knead the dough until the water is absorbed before adding more. You want the dough to be semi dry (like in the pictures) but still held together well. A drier dough will give you a drier biscuit which means more crunchy! 🙂 Because you are working with a different flour, make sure to keep an eye on it in the oven so it doesn't get burnt. Hopefully this substitution works for you and Duchess gets some yummies soon! 🙂 Lucky puppy!
Romain says
Happy Birthday! My guy will definitely go crazy for these. I love that you can size them as needed too.
Joyce says
Thank you Romain! Yea sometimes I make the treats a bit bigger so that the boys need to actually chew the treats to scrape their teeth clean. I intentionally made the treats dry and hard for this reason 🙂 Great for teeth cleaning!
Riva says
I LOVE everything about this post! Happy Birthday, you two! I will have to try this recipe out for my two doggies; I'm always looking for new doggy recipes. We made Christmas dog treats for all the neighbor dogs year, and it was so much fun!.:)
Joyce says
Thanks for the birthday wishes Riva! 🙂 That is so sweet of you guys to make Christmas doggy treats! 😀 It's always nice to share the love to our little furry ones eh? I hope your two doggies enjoy these! 🙂
Marie @ Yay! For Food says
Happy Birthday Oscar and you too, Joyce! ❤️
Oscar sounds like such a sweetheart and he has the best mom. The blanket you made him is lovely!
The treat are so cute, all-natural, and it makes 150 treats! I'm saving this recipe for Teddy! BTW, how did you train Oscar to not eat all the treats in the picture? My dog would not be able to pose so well for a picture with all those treats around him.
Joyce says
Thanks Marie! ❤️
Even though I finished the blanket for him, he doesn't seem to want to share it with me and actually pulls it away from me when I'm using it. haha! 🙂
Yes, it makes a lot! but you dry them out til they are nice and hard so it should keep for a while! 🙂 Hope Teddy loves these!
Oh as a puppy, I would taunt him with food (because I'm mean that way!) I'd put treats and food on his paws or next to him and I'd scold him if he went near it. If he stayed away from it for a few minutes I'd give him a real treat. I kept doing that until it just stuck, so he knows if he leaves whatever I put there alone, he will get a better treat later. Lots of patience!
Alison @ The Sunday Glutton says
What a cute dog, and what nice treats for them! I get tired of buying dog treats and not really know what's in them. This is a nice, clean alternative for my fur-babies. They look good enough that I bet my husband will try to eat them too...haha!
Joyce says
Yes! I am the same way! Trying to find a cleaner way for them to have their treats! and they are much cheaper to make at home too, with the better quality ingredients as well.
Oh I ate a few haha! Dry and crunchy and I'm sure they were great for my teeth.
Erica Schmidt says
I don't know which is cuter, your Oscar or the treats! Such an adorable idea, you're the best dog mommy 😉
Joyce says
Awww thanks Erica! 🙂 The treats are more cuter, because if I tell Oscar he's more cuter it seems to get to his head haha 🙂
mikaela | wyldflour says
Oscar is such a cutie!!!! They really are the most special part of our lives, aren't they?? I can't wait to make these treats for Darwin. Happy birthday to you both!
Joyce says
Thanks for the warm birthday wishes Mikaela! They really are the best part of our lives <3 Hope you enjoy the treats as much as they do!