Make Your Own: Sweet Potato Treats

I enjoy making my own dog goodies. In fact, I think I probably enjoy it more than making people food. While flipping through Modern Dog I came across a simple recipe for making sweet potato chews and decided to try it out. I grabbed a sweet potato at the store last week, but it was a busy week. So today was the first chance I got to start the endeavor.

First, I got my oven preheating to 250° - then I scrubbed the potato up. It is not necessary to peel it.

Although I skimmed for one I didn't see a potato that was a relatively normal shape, so I just found one and went with it. Next up, slicing.

Now I do have a mandolin, but I chose to forgo that and use a plain ol' knife. (Mostly because I wanted different thickness levels.)

Thicker pieces are going to need a little more cook time. Or, bake time. Whatever. There are some dog safe spices that you can use. For this test batch I only used cinnamon on about 4-5 pieces. (Again - test process.)

Arrange them on a plain, untreated cookie sheet. In a single layer. (You'll notice I have a variety of shapes and sizes. This is largely for test purposes. Also, I hate being wasteful.)

The recipe said about 3 hours cook time. Only the thickest pieces made it that long.

Pop them in your oven, and do not set and forget! Please keep an eye on things, especially if you're doing thinner pieces. I set a timer for 90 minutes and wandered back around the 60 minute mark to check on them. At that point, some of my smaller, thin slices were actually ready to come out.

At the 90 minute mark, a few more came out, but the rest stayed another 90 minutes.

Seemed to me like Miss Isabella & Angel preferred the chewy, thicker variety - while Ebony tended to enjoy the crunchier, thin pieces. To each dog their own, I guess.

Either way - they were winners. I look forward to making more of them. In larger batches, of course. (Angel took her snack to the other room and I didn't get a photo of her eating it. Sorry!)

Isabella, and her snack.

Ebony, investigating first - then later, eating.

1. Preheat over to 250°
2. Wash & scrub the potato. No need to peel.
3. Slice the potato. Thickness level is at your discretion, but don't go too thick.
4. Arrange them on a cookie sheet. Do not spray or butter the cookie sheet in any way. If you want to sprinkle any dog safe spices on, now is the time. (Not too much!)
5. Pop them in the oven. Keep an eye on things. Remember, my variety tray was all over the place. 
6. Take them out of the oven when done, allow the treats to cool, and share with your furbabies. Store any uneaten treats. I use a lidded container and keep them on the counter.

Categories: dog health, dog treats, green pet care, make your own, make your own dog treats, sweet potato treats