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

Your picky pup is going to love this balanced chicken and sweet potato dog food recipe. This recipe is great for pups with allergies to beef, or those that need a bit of help maintaining their weight. The high protein content is sure to impress even the pickiest of pups. But the more moderate to low fat content will help keep your pup lean, and be a good option for pups with a more sensitive stomach.

Make sure to check out our supplements section to learn more about how to balance this recipe using either a multivitamin or a combination of human supplements.

Chicken and Potato Dog Food Recipe Ingredients:

Chicken Thigh & Breast: This combination of both chicken thighs and breast allow us to provide a protein-rich recipe that still still lean. Keeping caloric density & fat content low.

White & Sweet Potato: We are using a combination of both white and sweet potato in this recipe in order to provide a diversity of vitamins and minerals along with adequate fiber. We don’t want to use only sweet potatoes within this dog food recipe as this would cause fiber content to be so high that it would potentially cause large stools or even loose stools in some dogs.

Carrots, Spinach & Apples: All three of these foods are antioxidant rich and full of phytonutrients. Research studies has 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%.

Walnut Oil: We use Walnut oil in this recipe as a source of linoleic acid – which is an essential fatty acid in dogs that helps with inflammation, skin health and organ function.

Fish Oil: As the chicken and potato dog food recipe is already high in omega 6 fatty acids due to the primary protein source being poultry, we need to add in some omega 3 fatty acids in order to balance out or fats. Omega 3 fatty acid supplementation has been shown to help with a variety of conditions such as allergies, heart disease, and even cancer.

Composition

• Protein: 50% or 118g / 1000kcals
• Fat: 30% or 33g / 1000 kcals
• Carbs: 20% or 51g / 1000 kcals
• Calories: 985 kcal per recipe / 1.36 kcals per gram / 38 kcals per ounce

This recipe was created to be high protein, and low to moderate in both fat and carbohydrate. While still being higher in fiber. This overall composition typically works well for picky dogs, weight maintenance of lightly to 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 Potato Dog Food:

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

On a large baking sheet or baking dish place 1 large sweet potato and one large white russet potato. Perce skin with a fork to allow air to release as it is cooked. Then place in the oven to bake for about 45 minutes.

On a separate baking sheet place about 10 ounces of raw chicken breast (without skin or bones), and 10 ounces of raw chicken thigh (without skin or bones). Do not add oil – instead either use parchment paper or a non-stick baking sheet. Place in the oven to bake 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 and potatoes are 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 either fresh or frozen spinach into the water to cook. Boil spinach until wilted – about 2-5 minutes – then drain away water using a mesh colander. If you don’t have a mesh colander you can place a paper towel or dish towel into a regular colander to drain away water, and then squeeze out excess.

Next chop or shred your apples into bite-sized pieces, and shred your raw carrots. 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.

Meal Prepping Chicken and Potato 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 potato dog food recipe is 984 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 potatoes – I use the shredding attachment and shred my russet potatoes using my food processor, and then weigh the amount I need for the recipe and place it in a large bowl.

Next I use oven-mitts while the sweet potatoes are hot and remove the skin, then use the same shredding attachment to shred the sweet potatoes as well. Then I place the large bowl that contains the white potatoes on the scale and tare that out. And weigh my sweet potatoes into the same bowl.

I will also shred the raw carrots and apples (without seeds or rind, but with skin) in the same way.

Then I remove the shredding attachment and put the blade into the food processor. I place the container with the blade on the scale and remove the kid.

Then after the chicken is fully cooked I take a pair of tongs and measure out 199g chicken breast, and 199g chicken thigh onto the scale. I make sure to “tare” or “zero” the scale between items so that the weights are accurate.

I then dump the chicken into the large bowl.

Finally I place the bowl on the scale and weigh out the cooked spinach.

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 walnut 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 Potato 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 Potato Dog Food Recipe:

• 199g or 7 oz Chicken Thigh without skin or bones, roasted
• 199g or 7 oz Chicken Breast without skin or bones, roasted
• 104g or 1/2 cup White Potatoes, baked with skin
• 100g or 1/2 cup Sweet Potatoes, baked without skin
• 28g or 1/4 cup shredded raw carrots
• 45g or 1/4 cup cooked spinach, drained without salt
• 28g or 1/4 cup chopped or shredded raw apples with skin
• 5g or 1 tsp Walnut Oil
• 5g or 1 tsp Fish Oil (recommended brand – Nordic Naturals Omega 3 Pet)
• 3 and 7/8 tsp or 9.7g BalanceIT Canine OR 2 and 7/8 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:- 1/8 tablet GNC iron supplement - 65mg pet tablet- 1/4 tablet Centrum Chewables 400 IU Vit D with no Xylitol- 2 1/8 tablet Calcium Carbonate - 500mg per tablet- 1/8 tablet B 12 - 250 mcg per tablet- 1/4 tablet Choline - 250 mg per tablet- 5/8 tsp Morton Lite Salt Solution (source of iodine)- 3/8 tablet Zinc Gluconate - 30mg per tablet- 1/2 tablet Solgar Chelated Copper - 2.5mg per tablet

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Amount to Feed of Chicken and Potato Dog Food Recipe

Below is a feeding chart for this chicken and potato 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: 985 kcal per recipe / 1.36 kcals per gram / 38 kcals per ounce

How to Transition to Chicken and Potato 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 Potato Dog Food Recipe:

Monitor weight every 2 weeks for at least 3 months after transitioning onto the chicken and potato 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

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