How to Make Homemade Sweet Potato Dog Treats in 3 Easy Steps
Inside: Easy step by step directions to make sweet potato treats in an oven or dehydrator.
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Healthy? Easy? Natural?
Sweet potato treats are just what we were looking for!
When you have a dog with allergies, it can be difficult to find treats that are ‘just right in the category of healthy and safe.
Long before we started experimenting with wheat-free, oat-free flours, we first found dehydrated vegetables to be safe treat options.
Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potatoes are one of those cost-effective, easy to use, readily available vegetables that make these treats simple and easy to make.
Look for sweet potatoes that are firm and fresh. One Sweet Potato will make quite a few treats depending on its size. You are going to be cutting the potato into 1/4 inch slices. Most often, when we make treats we will use 1-2 sweet potatoes at a time.
This fills a cookie sheet or dehydrator well.
The Tools
As much as I love new kitchen gadgets, I also hate clutter on my kitchen counter.
One of the best things about these treats is the lack of new objects on my counter. You can make these treats with a dehydrator if you have one handy. Or you can simply use a baking sheet in your oven.
We use our Nesco/American Harvest Square Dehydrator. We have had it for years and years and many hundreds of sweet potato treats and it still works like new. I also like that it has recommended temperatures right on top. I’m not great at referencing notes and I will 100% forget in between uses what settings and temperatures I like.
Decision Time- Size, Shape, and Equipment
This is the most stressful part of the process. Which means it is easy!
First Decision: Oven or Dehydrator?
If you have a dehydrator, I would recommend using it. The dehydrator will not heat up your kitchen and it does not mean your oven will be tied up for hours.
Decision 2: Size
Sweet potato treats can have different textures and be made at different speeds based on how thick they are cut.
If you cut the potatoes thicker, your treats will take longer to dehydrate and you will get a ‘chewier’ texture.
Thinner cuts mean the treats will be crisper and will dehydrate faster. We like to cut ours around 1/8 inch thick for a slightly crispy treat that still has some chew for Bones who will otherwise inhale treats.
Final Decision: Shape
Sweet potatoes naturally lend themselves to round treats. However, if you are looking for a different shape for fun, you can cut stick shapes, or even cubes if you plan to use them for training treats.
Dehydrating
If you use the dehydrator, simply place your sweet potato slices on the dehydrator racks, making sure to leave space for airflow in between them.
Our dehydrator recommends 135 degrees for vegetables. Yours may suggest slightly higher or lower. This process is forgiving so as long as you are between 135 and 175, you should have good results.
If you are using the oven method, set your oven as low as it goes. Our oven will go as low as 175 degrees so we use that as our dehydration setting.
The sweet potato slices can go right on a baking sheet and can be placed on any rack in the oven.
Some people recommend leaving the oven door open just a little bit to allow moisture out. We have used this method and while it does seem to help, it seemed hard on our oven door to have something placed as a barrier to keep it from shutting, so we do not use it now. Leaving the door shut seems to add a few minutes to the drying time, but nothing so significant that we are concerned.
Waiting
Sweet potatoes have a lot of moisture so will take time to fully dehydrate.
Unfortunately, due to the variables of thickness, temperature, size of cuts, etc, it is very difficult to say exactly how long it will take for the treats to be finished.
The last time we made treats, they were finished in the oven (set at 175 degrees) in about two hours. The treats in the dehydrator took about 4 hours.
It is a good idea to check in on your sweet potato treats every 30-60 minutes to see their progress.
When they look a bit like the photo below, it is time to start considering if they are done to the crispiness you desire.
Remember that like most treats, they will crisp up some as they cool, so if you are not sure if they are as crispy as you would like, take one out and place it on the counter to cool for 5-10 minutes.
We typically take ours out when they are slightly crispy on the edges but still flexible in the middle.
Let us know what your dog thinks of Sweet Potato Treats and connect with us on Instagram @bucketandbones
Sweet Potato Treats
Ingredients
- Sweet Potatoes
Instructions
- Wash and dry your sweet potatoes.
- Slice sweet potatoes to about 1/8 inch thick
- Place slices of sweet potato on dehydrator trays, ensuring space between each to allow for airflow.
- Start dehydrator, setting the temperature for approximately 135 degrees, or adjust to your dehydrator's recommended settings.
- Allow dehydrating until the sweet potatoes are slightly shriveled and are pliable.
- Place slices of sweet potato on a cookie sheet or baking tray, ensuring space between each to allow for airflow.
- Set oven to 175 degrees or as low as your oven allows.
- Allow dehydrating until the sweet potatoes are slightly shriveled and are pliable.
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