I never thought of myself as being one of those people who cooked for their dogs. Heck, I don’t even like cooking for people (though I do it almost every night).
So what has changed my attitude towards making my dogs’ food? Two very picky Yorkies with one having severe allergies.

My chihuhuas Lucy and Lucas will eat pretty much anything you put in front of them. My Yorkies are very picky and when they do like something, they may like it for a few days and then turn their noses up at it.

So we have some variety. I have several different kinds of meals that I feed them and we switch those every few days. The other foods I feed them aren’t homemade, but they are high-quality home-delivered food. Even though the home-delivered food is more expensive than many of the dog foods found in stores, they don’t aggravate Ziggy’s allergies and I feel better about giving all the dogs human-grade food. Also since I don’t feed it to them every day, it’ lasts longer than it would if they ate it daily.

So the way it works is I will do 2 days of the food I make, then I will do a day or two of home-delivered food, then another day or two of my food, and so on. This way they will always eat what I give them.
So you are probably thinking, get on with it, get to the recipe. Okay, here you go:
Cathy’s Dog Food Recipe for Picky Dogs
Ingredients:

- 1 pound ground beef or ground turkey
- 1-2 Tablespoons coconut oil or olive oil
- 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1 bag frozen mixed veggies, prepared according to directions
- 1 cup brown rice, cook according to directions ( I often switch this out for cubed sweet potatoes, quinoa, or sometimes pumpkin)
- 1 can of tuna
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 to 1 cup Beef bone broth
- Dog Vitamins (I use these. If these are out of stock, I have also used these vitamins)
Instructions:
- Cook up your ground beef or turkey in olive or coconut oil.
- While the meat is cooking, prepare your rice (or sweet potatoes) and mixed veggies.
- When the meat is almost done, add the eggs and scramble them with the meat until cooked through.
- Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and cool in the fridge.
- Transfer to a sealed container.
- I feed my dogs 1/3 cup of this at mealtimes. I will often add a small amount (about 1/8 cup) of dry food to give them something crunchy to eat with it.
- You can store this in the fridge for up to a week and you can also freeze it.
Homemade Dog Food Recipe

Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef or ground turkey
- 1-2 Tablespoons coconut oil or olive oil
- 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1 bag frozen mixed veggies, prepared according to directions
- 1 cup brown rice, cook according to directions ( I often switch this out for cubed sweet potatoes and sometimes pumpkin)
- 1 can tuna
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 to 1 cup Beef bone broth
- Powdered Dog Vitamins
Instructions
1-Cook up your ground beef or turkey in olive or coconut oil.
2-While the meat is cooking, prepare your rice (or sweet potatoes) and mixed veggies.
3-When the meat is almost done, add the eggs and scramble them with the meat until cooked through.
4-Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and cool in the fridge.
5-Transfer to a sealed container.
Notes
I feed my dogs 1/3 cup of this at mealtimes. I will often add a small amount (about 1/8 cup) of dry food to give them something crunchy to eat with it.
You can store this in the fridge for up to a week and you can also freeze it.
So is the extra work worth it to me to make their food? Yes! It doesn’t take long to make it. Maybe 20 minutes. And I control what is in their food.
Ziggy’s allergies are under control now and both Yorkies will eat this food as long as I vary it every couple of days with something different. Of course, Lucas and Lucy love the homemade food too and they would be fine with having it every night.
If you are interested in the other foods the dogs eat here is the list. I have written articles about them and will add the links to those if you are interested:
My vet has checked over my recipe and approved it. The only suggestion he had was to add some dog vitamins which I did.
Let me know if you try it and if your dog likes it. And feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions.


Cathy Bendzunas
Pet Blogger
Dora
Tuesday 26th of August 2025
How many vitamins do you add
Cathy Bendzunas
Tuesday 26th of August 2025
It's powdwewd vitamins and I just add a few teaspoons of it to their food. I'm sure there's a better way but I figure they are getting plenty of vitamins already in the food, so I don't need to be exact.
Yasmine
Thursday 31st of October 2024
Hi Cathy, thank you so much for the great advice and tips. I have my chi and 5 sausages on this diet. They love it! May I ask, what multivitamin would you recommend? Are you still using the same that you previously recommended ? All my babies (6) are seniors. I would love your recommendations. Thank you so much xxx
Cathy Bendzunas
Thursday 31st of October 2024
I'm so glad your dogs like the food! Yes, I'm still giving them the same vitamins I link to in the article. It's reasonably priced and easy to mix into their food.
Vanessa
Monday 7th of October 2024
Hello Cathy,
My chihuahua mix is 13 pounds. How do I determine how many times I feed her? I read you feed yours 1/3 cup, twice a day.
She loves the recipe. Thank you!
Cathy Bendzunas
Monday 7th of October 2024
I'm glad she loves it! Twice a day is fine for an adult Chihuahua.
Vanessa
Sunday 6th of October 2024
Hi Cathy, my chihuahua mix dog is about 13 pounds. How many meals of 1/3 cup should she get a day?
Thank you for the recipe. She really likes it.
Cathy Bendzunas
Sunday 6th of October 2024
Is she overweight or at the right weight for her build? If she's ocerweight, 2 meals of 1/3 cup a day. If she isn't overweight, you xan up it to 1/2 cup twice a day.
Kassie Green
Saturday 27th of July 2024
My 3 babies liked the first homemade dog food I gave them. I altered the recipe a bit putting blueberries, sweet potato, green beans instead of the mixed vegetables and used half turkey half pork. They picked the bowls clean!
Cathy Bendzunas
Saturday 27th of July 2024
Sounds yummy! I'm glad your fur babies liked it.