Beetroot & Mackerel Dog Treat Recipe

Hey! I love to whip up my own dog treats from time to time to supplement those that I purchase. With Diego, I have to use treats while out walking him as a training tool, as well as some trick training at home to keep his mind busy. This means we go through a lot of treats and I prefer to make sure these are high-quality with good foods. For this Halloween, I decided to try and make some cookies more spooky by adding orange and purple foods. For this I used Diego's favourite, carrot, as well as beetroot. It is good to add vegetables to your dog's diet because they contain many health-promoting nutrients from a natural source. Many of those nutrients are the ones that are often lacking in commercial dog foods, and natural source vitamins are much more effective than synthetic vitamins.

I chose to add beetroot, not just for it's vivid colour but beets provide a great source of fiber and are particularly rich in folate, an important B vitamin for a healthy heart and essential for normal tissue growth. Beetroots contain good amounts of iron, potassium, magnesium and more. The benefits for dogs are much the same as humans and that is why I try to put beetroots into Diego and I's lives often.

Carrot is one of Diego's favourite vegetables. He would just sit there gnawing on a carrot if he had the opportunity, and whenever he hears me cutting carrots he comes racing over. Carrots provide Beta-Carotene, Vitamin A and soluble fiber, which all helps towards great eyesight.

For this recipe you will need:

1 Mackerel Can
2 Carrots
1 Beetroot
2 Eggs
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
2c Flour

This is a guess at the rough quantities of ingredients. This was the first time making this recipe, and I found I had to add a lot more flour to make sure it was dry enough to roll out. I would suggest making sure you have a lot of flour on hand so that you can add as you see necessary. An alternative would be to add in wholegrain oats as well. I decided to skip this step though.

First off, you will need to break up the mackerel into more of a mash. I kept half of the juice from the can, but I would suggest leaving about a quarter as it made the mixture quite wet. If you have a food processor, I would use that as it makes this step so much easier. However, I just used a fork and done an efficient job.

Putting the mackerel to the side, I grated both the beetroot and carrot and kept these separate. Once again, if you had a food processor this would be better as it would give you a finer grate. This would make cutting the cookies easier.

Next, I added all the dry ingredients and eggs (leave out the beetroot and carrot) to the mackerel. Make sure to stir well. Separate the mixture into two different bowls and add beetroot to one, and carrot to the other.

Roll out each mixture next to each other. I originally was going to make the cookies half and half with the mixture, but it was too wet when I rolled it out. In the end, I mixed them together which came out with a cool marbling pattern. Once rolled out, cut out your shapes and place them on a greased baking tray.

Your oven will need to be pre-heated to 180 degrees. Place the cookies in and let cook for 15 - 20 minutes. Flip them, and cook for a remaining 5 minutes. Once cooked, put them on a cooling rack until completely cool.

Finally step is to give to your pooch and watch them enjoy. These treats are a great healthy treat to be given any time, and depending on what cookie cutter you use, they can have a lot of different uses. Keep them in the fridge, and I find they last roughly a week.

If you make these, make sure to share photos with us on Facebook and Instagram!