With all of recent scares over dog treats from China being dangerous for pets, I have only been giving the dogs homemade dog treats. Since sweet potatoes are loaded with vitamins, I tried making some sweet potato dog chews and they turned out great. These sweet potato dog treats are a great replacement for rawhide chews which are not easily digested by dogs.
All you need are 3 medium sweet potatoes and either an oven or dehydrator. I used the dehydrator, but am sure the oven method would turn out just as good.
Wash and dry sweet potatoes. Cut each sweet potato into 1/4 inch slices length-wise. A mandolin would be great for this, but I don’t have one. A sharp knife worked fine for this.
No lemon juice is needed for these chews, dogs don’t like citrus or care if they turn brown.
Dehydrator method: Place sweet potato slices on dehydrator trays, making sure they are not touching. Dry the potatoes for at least 14 hours. I did not get up in the middle of the night to turn my machine off, and they came out just fine after 18 hours. Cool on wire rack.
Oven method: Place prepared sweet potato slices on parchment lined cookie sheets. Heat in 250 degree oven for between 3 to 4 hours, turning half way through. Cool on wire rack.
Store sweet potato dog chew treats in refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.
Related articles
- Reducing Holiday Stress in Dogs (aboutamom.com)
- Mashed (Rooster) Potatoes with Tomato Gravy (aboutamom.com)
- Easy Recipes: Roasted Chicken, Potatoes, Asparagus and Lemon Recipe (miscfinds4u.com)
These treats look great. I’m going to try and make them for our dogs. Thanks for sharing. Your poochie is so cute!
I am seeing more and more bloggers talking about making their own dog treats…meaning I have to try it for myself! Thanks for sharing this easy starter recipe – I’m sure my Hunter will love it! 🙂
I have a yorkie poo and the scare about the China treats hurting animals are a huge scare to us, so we started trying to make treats ourselves, but these I havent tried, I cant wait to make them, maybe even try salt and pepper one or two and try them myself, lol
LOL! These actually inspired me to make some sweet potato chips for the family. Great minds!
sounds like a great treat for my dog.lots of manufactured treats give her bladder problems so we have to watch what we give her
What a great idea for a healthy dog treat! It is not easy to find these types of treats, and my dog loves treats, so thank you for sharing this. 🙂
Great idea! All natural, easy to make, tastes great with the added benefit of providing good nutrtion. It’s a win win.
Can these be frozen? I prefer to make a somewhat bulk type thing. I’m assuming it woud have to be in more of a total moisture proof method?
I honestly have never tried freezing them. My dogs gobble them up so fast!
I’ll have to test drive that one then and get back to you! He’s a tad on the heavy side so I worry about the calories. Stay tuned on the freezing.
Awesome! Please let us know how it works out.
Just want you to know that I made these treats . My dog loves them and so does my daughters dog. Thanks so much
Ruth
Yay! I’m so glad your dogs enjoyed them.
Sounds great … but do they turn the carpet orange where the pooch settles in for a chewing session?
I have a Newfoundlander – Landseer (means he’s black & white) 160 lbs. Big dog… His name is Bear. He salivates a lot as soon as he sees these treats, but there is no residue left after he eats them & no orange stain on the carpet or floor! Frankly, there is no trace of anything after he’s eaten them.
Bear has a very gentle constitution & any variation from his regular diet gives him diarrhea. Yuck! Thankfully, the sweet potato chews don’t upset his big body. With a beast of this size, you can imagine how unpleasant it is when his constitution is upset.
He loves these treats so much, he does all of his tricks without my even having to ask him before he gets his treat. We both love them!
We have been making our own dog treats for sometime now, but without sugar, margarine, egg, etc. We do a healthy recipe using Pumpkin, also good for dogs’ digestion, and we grind brown rice for the flour with some ground Flax seed. Best of all our canine companions love them,
I’ve been making my own sweet potato rawhides for about a year now. I slice them with a meat slicer and they all come out evenly cut. I dehydrate them in my dehydrator. My Kayla absolutely loves them and they are her treat of preference. I’m thinking of trying some with coconut oil brushed on them for added nutrition and flavor. Will try and post back on how that works out.
Would love to hear how that turns out!
We have been making our dog treats for a long time…buying the treats are too expensive and not good for them. We make ours without any added stuff. They love the sweet potato treats and the pumpkin ones. Plus we give them green beans. We have 2 chihuahuas and we cut them smaller.
I’ve been drying sweet potato chips for quite a few years. I have broke several mandolines over the years from slicing sweet potatoes. Instead of cutting them long way, I slice them the short way. I use the slicer for my Kitchenaide mixer, and I pack them onto the dehydrator trays-as they dry, they shrink (alot), them I shake them apart alittle bit. They are completely dry in about a day. I use them as treats and in the food bowl, to cut-down on calories abit (removing alittle kibble and replace with chips) The dogs LOVE them. My dad would always say dogs like things that sound like bird bones crunching (have you ever dropped macaroni or spaghetti noodles that wern’t cooked-crunch,crunch). I like that I know exactly what my dogs are eating. No Cr-p from China for my pets.
Your Dad is so right about that!
If these remove and prevent plaque buildup, that’s a big plus! No more doggie breath!
Hi,
Is it best to put the sweet potatoes in the dehydrator raw or can u even cook them a bit so they’re tender (I.e. microwave or oven). Does it matter?
I have only tried putting them raw into the dehydrator. If you slice them a little thicker they seem to be more crunchy on the outside and a little more chewy on the inside.
Sounds good. Thanks for the response
My dad found these at the store for this little girl of ours that has him by the heart strings. We have never seen her get so excited about any thing the way she does for these. The ones we get have a piece of chicken wrapped around the sweet potato and then dried. I am going to try making them both ways. Any one have any idea on the calories of just a plain dried piece of sweet potato.
No idea on the calories, but I don’t think it would be very much.
Carrots could be done like this also my dogs love carrots and are great for teething puppies
I am trying these right now in the dehydrator. What consistency should I look for ? Completely crunchy or still a bit chewy? I had to use a knife to cut them so I sliced them similar to scalloped potatoes due to not being able to slice lengthwise.
I like to leave them slightly chewy, but still with some good crunch. I hope your pup enjoys!
I have some of these in my dehydrator right now. There are 114 cal in one cup of cubed sweet potatoes. So I’m sure there are not very many in just one slice since I can get about six slices from one sweet potato.
I forgot to add that you do not say what temperature to put your dehydrator on, so I have put mine at 135°.
I’m doing mine at 150 so it will speed it up a bit. I will get back to you how it works out. 🙂 Thank you for posting this recipe! I’m sure my little doggie (and me) will love them.
Can’t wait to hear how it turns out. I’m sure your doggie will love them.
Are these sweet potatoe chews should they be very crisp or somewhat chewy. Because I did mine on my dehydrator for 12 hours & they are not chewy at all.
I find that if you cut the slices a little thicker they are a little more chewy. My dogs actually seem to prefer them a bit more crispy.
Very good idea ， need to cook？
I lightly coat mine with olive, or now coconut oil and put cinnamon On them. My dog loves them! After making them so often I’ve finally invested in a dehydrator. My dog will eat them either crunchy or chewy, but she seems to enjoy them a bit more when they are a little bit chewy and she can really dig her teeth into them. Any temp or timing suggestions for that outcome?
My dehydrator only has high and low settings. For the 14 hour time frame, so you think that would be high or low for me? My pup Baylee has a very very sensitive system and I am trying my hand at homemade goodies for her. I am so glad to have found this new treat for her and I know she will enjoy these!
I can’t say for certain. Personally, I would try it on low and do it longer if necessary. I hope this works out for Baylee.
Your dog looks exactly like my Bishon, Pixie. It was like staring in her eyes! I will definitely try your recipe. Pixie definitely loves sweet potato in her treats.
Thank you for this post. I got my dog sweet potato treats last summer and she loves them. I decided to make them by myself, but like the french fries. They shrunk a lot so she was getting 2 a day (she is an 11 lb.s maltese). Now I will do it second time, will try to slice them. The only problem I have is that sweet potatoes come in so many varieties. Last time I got ones which were orange inside but this time they are white. Not sure if it matters, hope it doesn’t.