Natural Dog Treat Recipes: Pumpkin and Peanut Butter Treats

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We all want what’s best for our dogs, and it’s nice to be able to give them a treat – whether we’re actively training them or just giving them a little reward for being fabulous. But the vast majority of treats you buy from the store are seriously full of nasties. We use natural dog treat recipes that our dogs love.

Store-bought treats are filled with oil, “meat and animal derivatives” (which essentially means all the garbage that’s no good for anything else), chemicals, and synthetic flavorings. Yuk. Do you really want to put that inside your dog??

Why Pumpkin and peanut butter? Well, aside from the fact that your dog will go crazy for the sheer scrumptiousness, these treats are pretty good for your pooch, too. Pumpkin is high in fiber but low in calories, making these natural dog treats useful for maintaining healthy anal glands and nice, firm poops. The psyllium husk (this raw organic version is a good choice) is also great for providing fiber to help maintain a healthy gut and bulk out poop to effectively empty the anal glands.

Peanut butter, providing it doesn’t contain xylitol or palm oil, makes a healthy addition of protein. Yes, peanut butter is fatty, but a high-quality brand without added oil, or that uses peanut oil, isn’t too bad. You can also make your own incredibly easily without adding oil or lots of sugar. Plus, dogs (especially puppies), unless they’re on a strict diet or have a medical condition like pancreatitis should be having about 10-20% fat in their diet anyway.

In fact, you can make your own peanut butter ridiculously easily – just by putting peanuts in a food processor and blitzing them until they turn into peanut butter. It only takes about 2 to 3 minutes.

Most dogs adore peanut butter, so a fairly small quantity makes a fab addition to this natural dog treat recipe.

We use rice flour or oat flour as both better for dogs than wheat. Brown rice flour is easier to digest and doesn’t encourage bulking and weight gain, unlike wheat.

How to Make Peanut Butter Dog Treats

Peanut butter biscuits for dogs are quick and easy to make, so let’s jump right to it.

All you need is pumpkin puree (I buy it in bulk so I’ve always got some in. Plus it’s better value), peanut butter, rice flour, an egg, some goat milk or bone broth (get my bone broth recipe here), a little psyllium husk, and some seaweed powder (optional).

Making these healthy dog treats is super simple. Put all your dry ingredients in a bowl and mix them well. Then add your wet ingredients and mix it up into a thick, sticky batter. Prep the molds with some olive oil spray, then put the batter in the molds. Stick them in the oven for 10-15 minutes.

Once baked, you need to pop them out of the molds and, to get them extra dry and biscuity, I put mine into the dehydrator for a few hours.

If you don’t have a dehydrator (I do recommend you invest in one) you can just put them on a cooling rack and straight back in the oven. Leave the oven turned off and just leave the biscuits in there until the oven has cooled. This step is optional – it just helps to fully dry out the biscuits, which makes them stay fresh longer.

RELATED ARTICLE: Easy Fish Dog Treat Recipe

Variation Ideas for Peanut Butter Dog Treats

You don’t have to stick to this exact recipe, you can and absolutely should experiment and customize these treats to suit your own dogs. While this is my base recipe, I do vary it depending on their nutritional needs and if I want to mix things up for a change.

Replacing the Egg

If your dog doesn’t tolerate eggs, leave them out of this recipe and substitute for 1 tbsp of flaxseed (also known as linseed) or flaxseed meal and 3 tbsps water. Add the water to the flax and leave for about 3-5 minutes. The flax and water ends up being sticky and gloopy and helps to bind the mixture when there’s no egg.

Plus, flaxseed is high in fiber and a plant-based omega 3, alpha-linolenic acid (ALA). Although it should be noted that there is some disagreement about whether dogs can absorb and process this plant-based omega 3. I personally don’t rely on it for my dog’s wellbeing – they get plenty of fish-based omegas in their diet. But I also don’t see the harm in including it in recipes like this as an egg replacement for sensitive dogs.

The other solid option for replacing egg is to use a couple of spoonfuls of unsweetened natural yoghurt.

Swapping the Flour

It is possible to swap the flour in this recipe, although I’d never recommended wheat or gluten flour. You can add more psyllium husk and reduce the flour, but I’d only do half the amount of psyllium husk to flour because psyllium is so dry. It absorbs a lot of liquid and results in a really dry biscuit and mixture.

You can also switch the rice flour for oat flour if your dog needs to gain weight. You can also use coconut flour as long as your dog doesn’t have any pancreatic issues.

Additions to Peanut Butter Dog Treats

You can add all kinds of things to these treats. If your dog loves cheese, add a little grated cheese to the mix – but only a little because it’s so fatty.

Got some liver? Great! Chop it finely and add it to the mixture. Just remember – not too much. Liver is rich and will result in runny poop if you give too much.

I add seaweed for some extra crunch, added minerals and calcium, and a little bit of tooth-cleaning power. If you want to make easy dog chews that help with cleaning teeth, check out my beef jerky for dogs recipe.

You can also add their favorite veggies and fruits like blueberries, raspberries, and spinach.

FAQs

You can, but it’s not advisable. Wheat is an inflammatory and is not particularly good for dogs. It’s also a very common allergen for dogs, and it doesn’t have much bio-avaialble nutrition for our canine friends, either. Regular white flour has been stripped of most nutrients anyway, and is basically just a filler. And it can make dogs gain weight.

Instead, use brown rice flour which has some nutrition and is easier on the digestive system. You can also use other flours such as coconut flour and oat flour.

It’s insanely easy to make peanut butter for dogs (and humans). Take some raw peanuts, put them in your food processor, and mix them for 2 to 3 minutes. You’ll see at first you get chopped nuts, then super fine nuts, almost like almond flour, and then you’ll see the mixture get oily and peanut buttery – that’s when you stop. Or, if you don’t want your peanut butter crunchy, keep blitzing it until it gets smooth.

That’s it. Jusst some peanuts in a food processor. The simplest recipe for peanut butter – and the very best. If you and your dogs like your peanut butter a little sweeter, once the peanut butter has formed, add a little honey.

Yes! Use my ridiculously simple peanut butter recipe – blitz peanuts in a food processor until they give you peanut butter – and leave it fairly crunchy. Dogs love the crunch from crunchy peanut butter.

If you use store-bought peanut butter, make sure you do NOT buy one that contains palm oil or xylitol – both of these substances are potentially fatal for dogs.

Yes, in moderation. As long as it is a safe peanut butter – one which does NOT contain xylitol or palm oil – dogs can eat it in moderation.

An even better option is to make our pwn peanut butter just from blitzing peanuts in the food processor. There are no chemicals, fillers, or additives that way.

Just exercise good judgement – too much can cause loose stools and cause significant weight gain.

It depends. As long as you’re using a safe peanut butter, your dog can eat a small amount in treats like these ones every day. Just don’t give your dog a whole spoonful every day, or they’ll gain weight and probably experience digestive distress due to the high fat content.

The only peanut butter I really trust for my dogs is the one I make myself – because it only contains peanuts. And it’s so simple – just dump peanuts in a food processor and blitz them for a few miunutes. Et voila – peanut butter.

If you really do want to buy a commercial/store-bought one, please, please, please check the ingredients. Ideally it will only contain peanuts and maybe some peanut oil.

Brands of peanut butter that are safe for dogs are those that do not contain xylitol or palm oil.