Chicken and Pumpkin Dog Food Recipe - nikki - pet nutrition (2024)

This chicken and pumpkin dog food recipe was formulated to be high in protein, high in fat and lower in carbohydrates. Making this complete and balanced chicken dog food recipe perfect for moderately active dogs, or picky dogs.

If you are not planning on transitioning 100% onto a fresh food diet – don’t worry. You can feed this recipe as a topper at 10% of your dog’s caloric needs without even needing the BalanceIT supplement. However if you plan to include this recipe in your dog’s routine at a higher percentage, I would recommend purchasing the supplement in order to keep your dog’s overall diet balanced..

Chicken and Pumpkin Dog Food Recipe Ingredients:

Chicken Thigh: An excellent source a protein in a dog’s diet – very high in essential amino acids, essential fatty acids, iron, zinc, vitamin B12, and Selenium

Chicken Liver: the addition of chicken liver covers our dog’s needs for vitamin B12, riboflavin, folate, and iron.

Salmon: a highly concentrated source of vitamin D, along with polyunsaturated fatty acids EPA & DHA to help balance our omega 3 to 6 ratio.

Oats: an excellent source of both soluble and insoluble fiber along with filling in our dog’s need for manganese.

Nordic Naturals Omega 3 Pet: A wonderful source of EPA and DHA, along with vitamin E. Nordic naturals fish oil is a purified, third party tested oil that has an excellent EPA to DHA ratio perfect for balancing out the higher omega 6 essential fatty acids found in the chicken and walnut oil.

Safflower Oil Oil: An excellent source of linoleic acid and alpha-Linolenic acid – which are essential fatty acids that dogs need in their diet.

Mushrooms, Pumpkin and Apple: All three of these foods are antioxidant rich and full of phytonutrients. They also fill in our dog’s nutritional needs for potassium!Research studieshas actually shown that adding vegetables in particular dark leafy greats and colorful veggies like carrots at least three times a week reduces cancer rates by almost 50%.

Composition:

• Protein:47% or 112g / 1000kcals
• Fat:41% or 46g / 1000 kcals
• Carbs:12% or 32g / 1000 kcals
• Calories:993 kcal per recipe / 1.36 kcals per gram / 38 kcals per ounce

This recipe was created to be high protein, and moderate to high in fat, and lower in carbohydrates. This overall composition typically works well for picky dogs, weight maintenance of moderately active dogs.

Since this recipe is high protein it would not be appropriate for dogs with kidney or liver disease, certain urinary conditions or those that struggle with protein metabolism.

If you have a senior dog make sure to follow-up with bloodwork as recommended by your veterinarian while on this recipe due to it’s higher protein content.

How to Make Homemade Chicken and Pumpkin Dog Food:

To start cooking your chicken in pumpkin dog food recipe you will want to pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.

On a large baking sheet or baking dish place 1 pound (about 454g) of raw chicken thighs (without skin or bones), and on a separate baking sheet or dish place 4 ounces (or about 115g) raw chicken livers. Do not add oil – instead either use parchment paper or a non-stick baking sheet. Place in the oven to bake liver for about 15 minutes, and bake thighs for about 30 minutes.

A special note - chicken will loose water weight when cooked, thus we start with more raw chicken than what the final recipe asks for. You will be measuring all ingredients after cooked.

While the chicken is cooking it’s time to prep your produce!

In a large shallow dish add water until it fills the dish 1/4 of the way. Bring water to a boil. Then add 3-4 medium-sized white button mushrooms into the water to cook. Boil until just cooked through – about 5 minutes – then drain away water using a colander, or simply use a fork to remove.

Next chop or shred your apples and mushrooms into bite-sized pieces. Depending on your dog’s individual digestive system they may do better with smaller pieces of raw fruit or vegetables included into their diet.

If you notice your pup has issues with raw fruit/veg shredding or pureeing the foods may be a better option. You can also lightly steam these foods if your pup prefers them offered this way.

Finally it’s time to cook your oats!

For this recipe you can use either instant or rolled oats. Keep in mind that the fiber content is slightly higher for rolled oats, and cook-time tends to be a bit longer.

We are going to use 1/4 cup of dry oats (plain, unsweetened) with 1/2 cup of water for this recipe. You can cook this either in a very small saucepan on the stove, or in the microwave. If cooking on the stove – place mixture on low-heat, stirring constantly and cook until water has been absorbed. If cooking in the microwave, cook in 1 minute increments, stirring between cooking until cooked through.

For oats you want to add 1 part dry oat to 2 parts water. We will be measuring by weight after cooking for this recipe.

Meal Prepping Chicken and Pumpkin Dog Food Recipe:

Know that there isn’t really a “perfect” way to meal prep for your dog. This section will largely depend on the kitchen equipment you have, and batch size you are creating.

The chicken and pumpkin dog food recipe is 993 kcals which would feed a medium to large breed dog daily, or a small breed dog for several days. You can check out the feeding instructions below for more details on daily portion sizes by weight. What this means is you may need to adjust exactly how you are measuring or chopping things according to the batch size you are making.

But there are two rules I want you to follow regardless:

1. Supplements & oils should be added once foods are completely cooled to room temperature, as some supplements are heat sensitive. Typically batches of food take about an hour to cool in the fridge, or 15-30 minutes to cool in the freezer.

2. All foods are weighed after cooking, not before. Water will be lost during the cooking process, thus if you weigh before cooking you will actually be adding less protein to the recipe actually requires.

Cooking Equipment:

The following links are amazon affiliate links, if used I will receive a commission on the purchase of the item at no additional cost to you.

How I Recommend Meal Prepping this Recipe:

Probably the easiest way to meal prep this recipe is if you have a large food processor. Personally I have a 12 cup food processor, which really helps me quickly throw together a recipe with minimal prep time.

I place my 12 cup food processor container with blade onto a the cooking scale.

First I do the chicken thighs. I use a knife to rough-chop them into thirds, then measure out 312g of cooked chicken thighs for the recipe.

Next I tare the scale. Then I add 86g of my cooked chicken livers.

Since a large portion of this recipe is meat – now is a great time to use the food processor to break up all that meat into smaller pieces to easy eating.

To this mixture I add 28g apple (without seeds or rind, but with skin), and 39g cooked button mushrooms. Then blend again to chop.

Finally add 123g canned pumpkin (pure 100% pumpkin without seasoning), your oats (88g), and 29gdrained canned pink salmon without skin and bones.

Blend once more. Now this bowl with all my cooked and raw ingredients is placed in my fridge to cool for about an hour.

After cooling completely I can add in my oils – the safflower oil and fish oil. Along with my supplements as per the recipe above.

A quick note on supplement choice. If you plan to re-heat the recipe before feeding it to your pup you will want to purchase the BalanceIT Plus. This Multivitamin is heat-stable and can be reheated. The BalanceIT Canine cannot be reheated.If you use human supplements they will need to be ground using a pill grinder, and cannot be reheated.If your pup does not like the taste of the supplements I would recommend either flavoring the supplements with a broth OR something sweet like honey (unless your dog is diabetic). OR choosing a recipe with more minimal supplementation.

Storage Instructions:

I suggest making this recipe in whatever size batch-size works easiest for your schedule and time management. The Chicken and Pumpkin Dog Food Recipe as written makes around 1000 calories of food which will feed a 5lb dog for about a week, or a 65 lb dog for about a day as the sole diet. You can find a full feeding chart by weigh

Since this recipe uses human-grade fresh food ingredients it should be stored similar to human food. You can keep up to 3 days of this recipe in your fridge and the rest should live in your freezer. When you freeze fresh food some foods will change texture – if you have a very picky dog you might want to consider smaller batch sizes so food doesn’t have to be frozen.

Chicken and Pumpkin Dog Food Recipe:

• 312g or 11 oz Chicken Thigh without skin or bones, roasted
• 86g or 4 oz Chicken Liver, roasted
• 29g or 1 oz Canned Pink Salmon, drained solids, without salt, skin or bones
• 88g or 3/8 cup Cooked Oats, regular or instant
• 123g or 1/2 cup Canned Pumpkin, pure pumpkin, without seasoning
• 39g or 1/4 cup cooked mushrooms, drained without salt
• 28g or 1/4 cup chopped or shredded raw apples with skin, without seeds or core
• 2.5g or 1/2 tsp Safflower Oil (high oleic) Oil
• 10g or 2 tsp Fish Oil (recommended brand – Nordic Naturals Omega 3 Pet)
• 3 and 1/8 tsp or 7.8g BalanceIT Canine OR 2 and 1/4 BalanceIT Plus

This recipe is formulated to be complete and balanced for adult dogs according to AAFCO and NRC nutritional profiles when full directions are followed and supplementation it added. This recipe is not balanced for puppies.

Without supplementation this recipe is not complete and balanced and should be fed at no more than 10% of your dog’s overall daily calories.

If you would like to use human supplements instead of using the BalanceIT Multivitamin you will need:- 5/8 tablet Centrum Chewables 400 IU Vit D with no Xylitol- 2 1/4 tablet Calcium Carbonate - 500mg per tablet- 1/2 tsp Morton Lite Salt Solution (source of iodine)- 3/8 tablet Solgar Chelated Copper - 2.5mg per tablet

Want MORE Dog Food Recipes?

You should receive your Free Dog Food Recipe Ebook within 24 hours of subscribing! Make sure to check your spam folder. The recipe ebook is over 90 pages long so make sure you have a good internet connection when you go to download it. Afterwards you will receive weekly Canine Nutrition Updates every Tuesday on different topics related to canine nutrition & homemade dog food!

Amount to Feed of Chicken and Pumpkin Dog Food Recipe

Below is a feeding chart for this chicken and pumpkin dog food recipe by weight. It is important to understand that every dog has their own unique metabolism. Some dogs will need more (or less) calories than others. In order to account for some of this variation there is a recommended feeding range.

This chart shows the amount to feed per day as a sole diet without treats or other diets. If you choose to feed twice daily simply offer half the listed amount in the morning, and half at night. Adjustments will need to be made to account for treats or if you choose to combo feed this recipe.

Calories: 993 kcal per recipe / 1.36 kcals per gram / 38 kcals per ounce

How to Transition to Chicken and Pumpkin Dog Food Recipe:

First understand that it’s not a race, and that transitioning to a homemade diet really isn’t any different than transitioning between different premade diets. The only difference here is YOU are preparing the meal. Thus we need to work around both your schedule, while also taking into consideration your dog’s needs.

Second – don’t make things more complicated than your need to. And YES – you CAN mix the food. Even if it’s kibble. It’s totally fine. I’m honestly not sure who started the myth that you can’t mix fresh food & kibble but it’s just not true.

Our Dog’s Digestive System is Adapting NOT Detoxing

Transitions are done in order to help your dog’s digestive system adapt to the new diet. Including both the ingredients and the composition of the recipe. Did you know that your dog adjusts the digestive enzymes and their stomach pH according to the types of foods that they are digesting? Yep – it’s pretty cool. But it needs time to adapt and make these adjustments.

But it goes beyond just digestive enzymes – the microbiome – or the helpful bacteria within your dog’s large intestine also need to adjust too! Certain bacteria help with the digestion and breakdown of nutrients and byproducts within a food. As your adjust the diet the gut microbiome needs to change – and this takes time.

The Transition Period

Typically most dogs do well on a 5-7 day transition from one food to another, slowly decreasing one diet, and increasing the other. However for those of that cook a 5-7 day transition leads to weird batch sizes and/or cooking on days where we might not actually have the time.

So instead what I typically recommend is the “Two Week Transition”

Basically what you do is cook a week’s worth of the chicken and potato dog food recipe, then you are going to divide it out.

• 4x 25%
• 6x 50%
• 4% 75%

Then you just fill in the old diet to equal 100% of daily calories. This will give you a two week transition.

If both diets are similar in composition & ingredients this timeline should work well for your dog. However it’s important to note that some dogs may need a longer transition – and honestly if you are just starting to cook for your dog you might need a transition period too!

Quick Tip!Consider adding on a quality probiotic during the transition period to help support your dog's microbiome during this adjustment period!

Transitioning is not a Race

If cooking the first batch was overwhelming. Do it at 25% of the diet for four weeks (a month). Then next time go 50% for two weeks, then 75% for a week. And if any part of the journey it becomes too much. Look at alternative options – 50/50 with a premade diet, or just hang out where you are.

Remember to monitor your dog’s stools during the transition. They should remain firm or normal during the transition period – if they don’t then stay at the percentage you are at. If you can’t seem to advance the transition it might be a good idea to re-evaluate your recipe.

Monitoring After the Transition to Chicken and Pumpkin Dog Food Recipe:

Monitor weight every 2 weeks for at least 3 months after transitioning onto the chicken and pumpkin dog food recipe.

Follow up with your vet to see if additional testing or monitoring is needing. Often for dogs on homemade dog food recipes examinations every 6 months are recommended, along with yearly blood values.

Looking for a Custom Dog Food Diet Plan?

About the Author: Nikki is a Registered Veterinary Technician (Veterinary Nurse) and Dog Mom with over a decade of experience with dogs and cats. Since graduation from college (BS Biology, Dip. Animal Nutrition, AS Animal Science) she has adopted two mixed breed dogs – Ranger and Ash, and has focused her time learning about pet food and nutrition.

Nikki shares information on a range of pet nutrition topics: from how to create a homemade complete and balanced dog and cat food recipes, to how to choose a pet food. Nikki strives to give dog and cat parents the information they need in order to make the best nutrition decisions for their pet!

You should receive your Free Dog Food Recipe Ebook within 24 hours of subscribing! Make sure to check your spam folder. The recipe ebook is over 90 pages long so make sure you have a good internet connection when you go to download it. Afterwards you will receive weekly Canine Nutrition Updates every Tuesday on different topics related to canine nutrition & homemade dog food!

CONTACT ME:

thecaninehealthnut@gmail.com

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram
• YouTube
• Pinterest