Because I’m a big believer that homemade is almost always better than store-bought, I’m always trying to come up with fun, interesting, and delicious homemade treat recipes for my dogs. I must admit that when someone first mentioned the idea of using baby food, I was a little apprehensive. Baby food? Really?
But then I thought about it. Because it’s made with an infant’s tender belly in mind, you can’t get much more pure and wholesome than baby food. And have you looked in the baby food aisle of your local supermarket recently? Oh my goodness, there are so many flavors and varieties to choose from! Not to mention the fact that those little jars are pretty reasonably priced. That’s when I decided that maybe these simple and nutritious baby food dog treats were worth a try.
I opted to go with sweet potatoes and chicken baby foods, since those are two of Nike’s very favorite flavors. The great thing about this recipe is that you can choose any flavor of baby food, which means it’s super simple to switch things up, creating a variety of different flavors that I’m betting your dog will love.
As you can see, I created a little paw print design on my treats using the end of a wooden spoon, but if you’re feeling especially energetic, you might even want to roll the dough out with a rolling pin and then cut them into shapes with cute cookie cutters. Trust me, though: your dog will gobble them up either way!
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1/4 cup chicken stock
- 2 jars of baby food (8 oz total) - I used chicken and sweet potatoes.
- 1 1/2 T dried Parsley
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix until well blended.
- Add a tablespoon of flour at a time to get dough to a sticky but not wet consistency.
- Using a spoon, drop dough balls onto a parchment lined cookie sheet.
- Using a clean spoon, sprinkle a little bit of flour on top of each treat and use the back of the spoon to flatten out the treat. This is where I added the paw print design using the end of a wooden spoon.
- Bake at 350 F for 15-20 minutes.
- Let cool completely before serving to your pooch.
- Store in air tight container on the counter for 4 days or in freezer for up to 3 months.
- You can use any flavor of baby food that you choose. With so many varieties available, it's so simple to create lots of different flavors for your dog!
If you decide to whip up a batch of these baby food dog treats, be sure to snap a photo and share it with us on The Lazy Pit Bull Facebook page! Enjoy!
You always have the nicest images! I just read your Pet Blogger Challenge post and it’s so obvious that they are optimized for Pinterest. My DIY doggie board is my most popular and I’ll be sure to put this recipe on it as well.
Cool idea for sure. I am always looking for things like this for Miss Cocoa since she has a sensitive tummy. I like limited ingredients or homemade.
Great idea. I’d have to do some substituting, but that shouldn’t be an problem 🙂
Many of the baby food I’ve found at the store has onion in it; is that a problem or are there onion free (I hope so) brands?
Cute cookies. The recipe looks easy as well.
This is great! I had picked up some baby food to use to try to get our cat to take pills, but never ended up trying it. Now I have a use for it….I’m going to make these tomorrow!
Thank you for sharing the recipe! Gonna try to make it for my little puppy.