How to Make Homemade Dog Food That's Actually Balanced
Written by Tim de Jong
Cooking for your dog feels like the caring thing to do. You pick the ingredients, you know what went in, and your dog gets excited at dinner time. The catch is that a pot of chicken, rice and vegetables is not a complete diet, and the research on homemade recipes is not encouraging.
This guide explains why, who can write a recipe that works, and how to do the parts you can do yourself: portioning by calories, storing batches and switching foods without upsetting your dog's stomach.
Why are most homemade dog food recipes unbalanced?
In 2013, nutritionists at UC Davis published what they described as the largest nutritional evaluation of home-prepared dog food recipes. The study, in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, analyzed 200 recipes from 34 sources, including veterinary textbooks, pet care books and websites. The UC Davis summary reports:
- 95% of recipes lacked at least one essential nutrient, and more than 83% had multiple deficiencies.
- Only 9 of the 200 met the minimum standards for adult dogs set by AAFCO (the group behind pet food standards in the US). Eight of those nine were written by veterinarians.
- Only 5 met the National Research Council's minimum requirements, and all five were written by veterinarians.
- Of the 200 recipes, 4 were written by board-certified veterinary nutritionists. All four had acceptable nutrient profiles for adult dogs.
- 92% had vague or incomplete instructions, so the owner had to guess about ingredients, cooking or supplements.
- 85% gave no calorie information or the size of dog the recipe was for.
The deficiencies the researchers worried about most were choline, vitamin D, zinc and vitamin E. Long term, these can lead to immune problems, fat build-up in the liver and bone and muscle abnormalities.
Rotating recipes will not rescue you either. So many recipes shared the same gaps that the "balance over time" idea, where variety evens things out, is not likely to correct them.
None of this means homemade food is wrong. It means a recipe has to be built for a dog's nutrient needs, not just look healthy.
Who can write a balanced homemade dog food recipe?
A board-certified veterinary nutritionist. They hold the credential from the American College of Veterinary Nutrition (ACVN), and they have advanced training in nutrition. The UC Davis lead author said owners should avoid general recipes from books and the Internet and instead consult one for a customized recipe. The Merck Veterinary Manual gives the same advice: use a recipe formulated by a boarded veterinary nutritionist rather than one found on the internet or in a book.
How to find one:
- Ask your own vet for a referral.
- Tufts' pet nutrition blog points owners to the ACVN website, acvn.org, for a list of specialists.
- Bring your dog's age, weight, health history, medications and what you want to feed, such as the proteins your dog tolerates.
Be wary of recipe tools or sources that cannot say who formulated the recipe or what it was checked against. Tufts lists red flags: recipes that allow ingredient substitutions, leave out vitamin and mineral supplements, or suggest something vague such as "a human multivitamin/mineral tablet".
Tufts adds that there is no evidence that home-prepared diets are healthier than commercial ones. Home cooking is a choice, and the point is to make it a safe one.
What goes into a balanced homemade dog food recipe?
A formulated recipe has the same parts every time. The exact ingredients and amounts are what a nutritionist works out.
| Part | What it does | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Protein | Cooked meat, fish or eggs supply amino acids | Tufts notes (source) protein is usually only about 20 to 28% of a dog's calories, so recipes have less meat than owners expect |
| Carbohydrate | Rice, potato, oats or similar supply energy | Chosen for the dog's needs and tolerance |
| Fat | Energy and essential fatty acids | Adjusted for your dog's weight and health |
| Vegetables | Fiber and some nutrients | Plain and safe; see vegetables dogs can eat |
| Supplements | Fill the gaps whole foods leave | A specific vitamin and mineral product, in a specific amount |
The supplement line is where most home cooks go wrong. Tufts says commercial pet foods are designed to provide all essential nutrients, and home-cooked diets are designed to do the same, which usually requires specific vitamin and mineral products. Their 2016 article notes it can take several different products to cover everything. A general multivitamin is not the answer, and adding one can be risky in both directions: too little leaves gaps, and some vitamins and minerals cause harm in excess.
Do not swap ingredients on your own. A Tufts study found that only 13% of owners kept feeding the original balanced recipe, and almost all the changes were made without asking a nutritionist. Even a small change can shift the profile. Tufts gives the example that baking potatoes instead of boiling them results in about 20% higher potassium. If you must change a recipe's calorie amount, scale every ingredient by the same percentage instead of dropping one.
Tufts discourages homemade diets for pregnant or nursing dogs and growing puppies unless the recipe was professionally formulated for them, since these are the most nutritionally demanding times of life.
How much homemade food should I feed my dog?
Feed by calories and weigh the food on a kitchen scale. Cups are unreliable, because a cup of chopped vegetables and a cup of minced meat hold very different calories.
- Estimate your dog's daily calories. The calorie calculator uses the standard formula (70 x kg^0.75, adjusted for life stage, neutering, activity and body condition), or use the number your nutritionist gives you.
- Get the calories per gram of the cooked batch. A good recipe states it. If yours does not, add up each ingredient from USDA FoodData Central.
- Divide daily calories by calories per gram. The homemade dog food calculator does this for you and shows how long a batch lasts.
A worked example, to show the maths and not as a recipe: a 30 lb neutered adult with a few walks a day needs about 950 calories. The calculator's example batch (2,000 g roasted chicken breast, 500 g boiled carrots and 500 g boiled green beans) is 3,000 g and about 3,650 calories, or roughly 122 calories per 100 g. That dog would eat about 780 g a day, around 390 g per meal, and the batch would last nearly four days. That example is not a balanced diet, because it has no supplement and little else.
Homemade portions look big. Moist home-cooked food carries fewer calories per gram than kibble. At 3,600 calories per kg, the same dog would need only about 265 g of kibble. Tufts makes the same point: a chicken and rice recipe has just over 200 calories per cup, while a commercial kibble is typically 300 to 400, so a switch can mean roughly twice the volume. Judge the amount by your dog's weight and body condition over the following weeks, not by how full the bowl looks.
Treats still count. UC Davis recommends keeping treats and extras under 10% of daily calories, so the balanced recipe supplies at least 90%. The dog treat calculator shows the allowance. For fruit ideas that fit it, see fruits dogs can eat.
How do I store and batch cook homemade dog food?
Most people cook a big batch, portion it and freeze it. The safe-handling rules are the same ones you use for your own food. The CDC's food safety guidance says:
- Do not leave perishable food out for more than 2 hours (1 hour above 90°F).
- Keep the refrigerator at 40°F or below and the freezer at 0°F or below.
- Thaw in the refrigerator, in cold water or in the microwave, never on the counter.
- Cook ground meat to 160°F, poultry (including ground) to 165°F, and reheat leftovers to 165°F.
A routine that works well: cook, weigh the whole batch, divide it into daily or per-meal containers using the grams from the calculator, and freeze most of it. Move a container to the fridge the night before. Label each with the date and what it contains.
Weigh the batch after cooking, not before, because cooking changes both weight and calories per gram. Use the same cooking method every time, since a change in method alters the nutrients.
Check the label on every supplement for the amount to mix in, and add it per portion if your nutritionist says so, not on a guess. Ask your nutritionist how long the finished food keeps and in what conditions.
How do I switch my dog to homemade food?
Change gradually, over about a week, mixing more of the new food into the old each day. A common schedule moves from 10% new food to 25%, 50%, 75%, 90% and then 100%. Our dog food transition schedule builds the plan for you, using the Tufts 7-day table, with slower 10-day and 14-day versions for sensitive stomachs.
Because homemade food has fewer calories per gram, match calories rather than volume when you swap. The tool lets you enter calories for both foods so the daily energy stays steady. Watch your dog's stool, energy and weight, and hold at a step if things get loose.
What if I only want to add some fresh food?
Toppers are a lower-stakes way to add variety. If the main meal is a complete and balanced commercial food, a spoonful of plain cooked chicken or a few green beans is fine, as long as the extras stay under 10% of daily calories. That keeps the balanced food doing at least 90% of the work. Make sure whatever you add is safe, using the toxic to dogs checker and the lists in our fruit and vegetable guides.
For dogs that need to gain weight, see homemade weight gainers for dogs, and for dogs that struggle with hard food, how to soften food for a dog with no teeth. If you are weighing raw against cooked, read raw dog food for beginners first.
The short version
Home cooking for your dog can work, but only with a recipe formulated by a board-certified veterinary nutritionist, with the exact supplement it calls for. In the UC Davis review, 95% of 200 published recipes were short on at least one essential nutrient, while all four written by nutritionists passed. Portion by calories on a kitchen scale, store batches using standard food safety rules, switch over about a week, and do not change the recipe without asking.
