Raw Dog Food Recipes: How I Feed My Dogs a Balanced BARF Diet
A quick note before you read: I first wrote this back in 2010, and I’ve fed my dogs a raw diet for many years. I’m updating it now, in 2026, with a more balanced view than I had back then — what has genuinely worked for my dogs, what I’ve changed my mind about, and an honest look at the risks — so you can decide what’s right for yours.
Are you looking for a way to feed your dog a raw diet? It’s very doable to make raw food at home. Some people buy an expensive grinder and a cabinet full of supplements, gather a long list of ingredients, and grind it all together — a few even cook it after all that work. There’s nothing fundamentally wrong with going to that much trouble. But for most dogs, I’ve found there’s a simpler way that works just as well.
There are really two approaches, and I’ve used both for years. One is the ground method — you grind meat, bone, and organs together into a mix. The other is the whole, or “prey model,” approach — you feed appropriate cuts of meat and bone as-is and let the dog do the work. I’ll cover each below.
Here is a short clip of Akiva enjoying some raw meat. This is exactly what a meal looks like around here.
What I’ve changed my mind about since 2010
I’ll be honest: the first version of this post was pretty hardline. No grains, no vegetables, kibble bad, end of story. Sixteen years and a lot of dogs later, I’ve softened on a few things, and I think the advice is better for it.
For one, I was wrong to claim dogs simply can’t handle plant foods. The research actually points the other way: over thousands of years living alongside us, dogs evolved to digest starch noticeably better than wolves do. They’re not strict carnivores like cats — they’re adaptable omnivores that lean carnivore. I still prefer to keep my dogs’ diet meat-based, but “a dog can’t process a carrot” was an overstatement on my part.
I’ve also come around on kibble. Good modern dog foods are a lot better than they were in 2010, they’re nutritionally complete and convenient, and plenty of dogs live long, healthy lives on them. I still feed raw because of what I’ve seen in my own dogs over the years, but I no longer think it’s the only responsible choice. Do what fits your dog, your household, and your life.
First, the honest risks (please don’t skip this)
If you’re going to feed raw, do it with your eyes open. The mainstream veterinary world is genuinely cautious about raw diets, and the concerns are real:
- Bacteria. Raw meat can carry Salmonella, Listeria, Campylobacter, E. coli, and others. In one FDA study, raw pet foods were the only category that tested positive for both Salmonella and Listeria. That’s a risk to your dog and to the people in your home — especially young children, the elderly, pregnant women, and anyone immunocompromised. The AVMA discourages raw diets for this reason, and the FDA’s safe-handling guide is worth reading.
- Bones. Bone is part of a raw diet, but it carries risks too — broken teeth, choking, or an intestinal blockage. (Never feed cooked bones; those splinter and are dangerous.)
- Balance. A home-prepared diet — raw or cooked — can end up nutritionally lopsided if you’re careless about it. Variety, organs, and the right amount of bone all matter (more on that below).
None of this is meant to scare you off — it’s meant to help you do it responsibly. Handle raw meat the way you would for your own kitchen, wash up afterward, and — this is the big one — talk to your vet before you switch, especially if your dog has a health condition. A reader once asked me whether raw could help a newly diabetic dog; that’s exactly the kind of question for a veterinarian who knows your dog, not a blog. I’m sharing my experience here, not veterinary advice.
My approach to a simple raw recipe
With all that said, here’s how I actually do it. If you’re making a ground, mixed diet, a few guidelines have served me well over the years:
1. Lead with real meat. Don’t build the diet around cheap, bony cuts like chicken necks. A little extra bone helps firm up stools, but not at the expense of the muscle meat and organs that should make up the bulk of the bowl.
2. Keep it simple. Unless your vet has you managing a specific condition, you usually don’t need a shelf full of supplements. They’re often unnecessary, and a few can actually do harm if overdone.
3. Go easy on the extras. I keep my dogs’ food mostly meat, bone, and organs. If you want to add some vegetables and your dog does well with them, that’s fine — I’m just not convinced they’re necessary, so I’d keep them a small part of the mix rather than the main event.
4. Grains aren’t required. Dogs don’t need carbohydrates to thrive, and grains are in most kibble largely because they’re inexpensive. I leave them out of what I make — though plenty of dogs tolerate them just fine.
5. Watch the dairy. Milk is a common cause of digestive upset in dogs past the puppy stage, so I generally skip it.
Meats and ingredients to choose from
The key with the ground method is variety — and including at least one meat with bone, plus some organs. Good options include:
- Beef (any cut)
- Chicken (a whole bird, cut into pieces that fit your grinder)
- Turkey (whole bird, cut up)
- Pork (any cut)
- Duck (whole bird, cut up)
- Lamb (any cut)
- Rabbit (any cut, or a whole rabbit cut up)
- Goat or emu (any cut), if you can find them
- Salmon, perch, haddock, catfish, or other fish suitable for human consumption
- Chicken or duck eggs
- Liver, heart, kidney, and other organs from any of the sources above
Whatever you choose, try to rotate proteins over time rather than feeding one thing forever. It does a better job of mimicking the variety a dog would get in nature, and it helps keep the diet balanced.
Two ways to feed: ground vs. whole
Ground. This is what most people picture when they think “raw recipe.” You cut the meat, bone, and organs down to a size your grinder can handle, then grind it into a mix you portion out and freeze. I use a heavy all-metal grinder with a roughly 2¼-inch throat (mine came from a farm-supply store and ran around $400). Getting whole chickens or turkeys cut down to size is the real chore; once everything fits, the grinding itself is fast. The ground method is especially handy for picky eaters — and for cats, which can be much harder to switch to whole food. If you want the details on grinding, I wrote a separate post on grinding a raw diet for Akiva.
Whole (prey model). This is what I feed my dogs now, and it’s much simpler. Instead of grinding anything, you hand the dog an appropriate piece — say, a chicken leg quarter — and let them eat it raw. That’s exactly what’s happening in the photo above. Most dogs adapt to it quickly, but in the beginning you go slow and supervise every meal so they chew properly and don’t try to bolt something whole. Over a week I’ll rotate through chicken quarters, a beef or pork roast, fish, and so on — cutting off whatever size piece makes sense for each dog.
Don’t skip the organs and bone
If a home raw diet goes wrong, this is usually where. A reader once asked me a sharp question: his dog’s wild cousin gets everything it needs from what it kills, but that wild animal eats a lot more than the clean chicken breast you pick up at the store — so could a supermarket raw diet be missing something a complete kibble provides? He was right to ask. Muscle meat alone is not a complete diet.
The fix is organs and bone. Heart, liver, and kidney add nutrients that plain muscle meat lacks, and bone (in the whole method) or ground bone / a calcium source (in the ground method) provides the minerals a dog needs. Most of this is easy to find: groceries usually carry beef liver and chicken hearts and livers, larger stores often have kidney, and a local meat market can set you up with even more variety. Keep it varied, include the organs, get the calcium right, and you’ve addressed the biggest nutritional pitfall.
The one supplement I do recommend: salmon oil
If I suggest just one addition, it’s a good fish or salmon oil. Modern farmed meats tend to be high in omega-6 and low in omega-3 fatty acids, largely because of what the animals are fed — grain-fed beef, for example, has far less omega-3 than grass-fed. A little salmon oil helps make up that shortfall. It’s not strictly mandatory, but it’s cheap insurance and most dogs do well on it.
A myth worth busting: raw isn’t “high protein”
A lot of people assume feeding raw meat means feeding a sky-high-protein diet. It usually doesn’t. Raw meat is mostly water and fat; raw duck with skin, for instance, is only around 11% protein. Many commercial dry foods run much higher — you’ll find kibble at 44% protein and up. If you ever want to check the fat and protein content of a specific food, the USDA’s FoodData Central database is a great free resource — just search the item, like “raw duck.”
Allergies, itching, and rotating proteins
Over the years, the most common question I’ve gotten has been about itchy dogs. Food sensitivities are real, and switching proteins can genuinely help. Several readers found that a novel protein — duck was a recurring winner — calmed the scratching when other meats didn’t. My own dogs developed sensitivities to a couple of meats, and honestly I suspect those started back in their early kibble years. My approach now is simple: if a particular meat seems to make a dog itchy or licky, I switch to a different protein or brand next time. Rotation isn’t just about nutrition — it also helps you spot what does and doesn’t agree with your dog. If the itching is persistent, though, that’s a vet conversation, since allergies aren’t always about food.
What I’ve learned feeding raw over the years
Once a dog is established on raw, the schedule gets easy. Mine do well eating one good-sized meal every other day — a full meal one day, maybe a small egg the next, then a regular meal again. That works for all but the very smallest dogs; even my 9-pounder does fine on it, and it makes raw more convenient than people expect.
As for results, I’ll share what I’ve noticed, with the honest caveat that it’s my own experience and not a controlled study: my dogs have had noticeably good teeth, and I feel the raw diet has helped delay dental work that kibble-fed dogs often need sooner. I’ve also seen fewer of the fatty skin lumps that a lot of dogs develop with age. Are those entirely down to diet? I can’t prove it — there are a lot of variables — but it’s been consistent enough across my dogs that I keep doing it.
Getting started safely
If you decide to try it, ease in. Start slow, introduce one protein at a time, and supervise early meals closely. Freezing meat for a couple of weeks before feeding will knock out many common parasites — one reason I’d personally avoid wild game like bear, which can carry a freeze-resistant strain of Trichinella. And while we’re on the subject of safety, it’s worth knowing which everyday foods are genuinely dangerous to dogs; I covered a bunch of them in my tips for keeping your dog safe over the holidays. When you’re ready to make the switch, I walk through it step by step in how to switch your dog to a raw diet.
Frequently asked questions
Do you grind the bones in with the meat, or just give pieces?
Either works. With the ground method you grind meat, bone, and organs together. With the whole (prey model) method you skip the grinder entirely and hand the dog an appropriate raw piece, like a chicken quarter, to eat on its own. I use the whole method with my dogs and the ground method mainly for cats.
What kind of grinder do you use?
A heavy all-metal grinder with about a 2¼-inch throat, from a farm-supply store, in the $400 range. The grinding is fast; the real work is cutting whole birds and roasts down to a size that fits the opening.
Is a raw diet as complete as kibble?
It can be, but only if you do it right — variety, organs (heart, liver, kidney), and the correct amount of bone or calcium. Feeding nothing but muscle meat is not complete. If you want certainty, a board-certified veterinary nutritionist can formulate a balanced recipe for you.
Isn’t raw meat too high in protein?
No — that’s a common myth. Raw meat is mostly water and fat and is often lower in protein than dry kibble.
Is feeding raw safe?
It has real risks — bacterial contamination, bone hazards, and the chance of an unbalanced diet — which is why major veterinary groups urge caution. Many people (myself included) feed it successfully with careful handling and attention to balance, but it’s a personal decision best made with your vet, particularly if your dog or anyone in your household is medically vulnerable.
That’s a good starting point. If you’ve done this longer than I have, or you have questions I didn’t cover, leave a comment — this post has sparked great conversations over the years, and I still read every one.
So you grind the bones up with the meat? You don't just give raw pieces to your dog. I need better directions. What kind of grinder do you use? Sorry, I don't know more about this. I usually buy ground meat and mix with vegetables and seaweed, flaxseed and other stuff for my dog.
Hi Kaylani;
I am in the process of writing more articles for my blog, which will make these subjects much easier to understand, tonights article must seem like just one piece to the puzzle.
I have written hundreds of pages of information on raw feeding over the past 4 years on various forums and newsgroups. I’ll try my best to answer your questions here, but your welcome to respond with more questions if I am not clear.
There are 2 methods that can be used, one is what I was getting at with this article, where you grind the ingredients together, the meat, bone, and organs. I do this most of the time for my cats because it can be very hard to get cats to eat whole food. The same food I make for the cats can be used for the dogs.
I have a grinder with a 2 -1/4″ throat, is all metal from Fleet Farm in Appleton, WI. They are around $400. I’ll have to go dig it out if you want to know the brand. It works well, but you do have to get the meat / bones cut down to the size of the grinder opening. That can be quite a chore if you start with say whole chickens or whole turkey. Once the food is the right size to feed to the grinder, the process is quick and you can grind hundreds of pounds per hour.
The other method of raw feeding, which is what I use with my dogs now is where I just give them the food whole and allow them to eat it. It is much easier and the majority of dogs adjust to it easily. For example, tonight my dogs has a chicken quarter (leg and thigh). I just handed it to them and they ate it raw. That is actually what the dogs are eating in the photo on this article.
I would also feed my dogs meals of beef roast, pork roast, fish, basically all of the items I listed in the article, as I am able to obtain them. I cut off the size piece I want my dog to have, and give it to them to eat. In the beginning, you go slow and supervise to make sure they don’t choke or anything. I’ve helped hundreds of people switch over to this method of feeding and the dogs all just figure out what to do, some need a little guidance, but it has all worked very very well.
Feel free to post more detail questions, I’ll be happy to respond, and in the morning I will work on getting some more articles written up.
Regards,
Jamie Dolan
Hi Jamie,
This is actually quite funny. I just came to your blog because I ran a spyglass report on Terry Kyle's backlink website and I was dropping links wherever I saw he did. Then I came upon this post, which I found really interesting and I wanted to make an actual comment on. When I saw your avitar on the comment above, I instantly recognized you from Terry's forum. Small world wide web…
Anyway, nice blog. My actual question was if you think a raw diet provides any health benefits over a really good quality kibble. I use either Wellness or Solid Gold, which are grain free and have quality ingredients.
I have easy access to quality raw food, and cost isn't really a factor. Kibble is certainly more convenient but this isn't a deciding factor.
Optimal health and happiness of my dog is the deciding factor. And I'm a bit concerned that a raw diet might actually not be as complete as an engineered food.
Logically, I'd say sure, my dog's wild cousin will get all of it's nutrition from what it kills and it's certainly healthy enough for him. But that wild animal is also eating a whole lot more than the clean pieces of chicken breast I can pick up from the supermarket. Without a steady diet of the heart, liver and other organs that might provide some very necessary minerals, is it possible that a store bought raw diet could be lacking in nutrition? Or rather, is the quality kibble diet more complete?
Good seeing you here. And I'll be seeing you back at Terry's.
-Robert
Hi Robert,
Great to see you here. I just posted this article a few hours ago, and already got a couple comments (any noticed it got copied by at least 3 parrot sites within 2 hours). I’ve been using that avatar of me and my dogs for the past several months, and it is on hundreds of sites now. 🙂
Yes, I absolutely do believe that a raw diet if better for your dogs. Any kind of kibble, no matter how high quality is processed, cooked and extruded at high temperatures into the kibble shape. While some preservatives are more natural than others, kibble still has to have some kind of preservative(s) in it to keep it stable at room temperature. On top of that, any kibble is going to have some manner of plant ingredients as part of the formula, often a significant part. While some dogs appear to do find with vegetables and grains mixed in, I feel like it is not only unnecessary, but has the potential to lead to allergies down the road.
If we were to look at kibble vs fresh meats for a dog, and try to come up with an analogy along those lines for human food, it might be something like Whats better for me the fresh chicken breast of the bag of preserved Big Joes Jerky? You going to choose the fresh food that hasn’t been sitting on a shelf filled with extra stuff to keep it fresh.
I agree that kibble is a very convenient option. Once your dogs are established on a raw diet, they can easily eat on an every other day plan. You just feed one good size meal one day, the next you can give them a few bits of something if you want, maybe an egg, but that isn’t necessary, then the following day they get a regular meal again. That makes it even more convenient in my opinion, and that works well for all but the very very smallest dogs. I have a 9 pound dog that does well on this eating schedule.
In terms of how complete it is, I’ve been involved in multi-day debates with many highly educated people who have scrutinized everything that is in kibble vs what is found in real raw meats and referenced that against the Merck veterinary manual. I’ve never seen someone who has really educated themselves on the topic decide that there are things that kibble provides that you can’t get from a raw food diet. The one item that many people strongly feel should be added to most diets is some salmon oil. Factory farmed meats (and this applied to the mean in kibble as well) are higher in omega 6 due to the diets they are fed (grains being fed to cows). A cows natural diet is grass, and when fed grass that cow will have far more omega 3 fatty acids in it’s body. Using some salmon oil which is high in omega 3 helps compensate for this shortfall of modern meats.
I do feel that heart, liver, organs are an important part of a healthy raw diet. Almost all groceries carry beef liver, chicken hearts and livers are common as well. Walmart often has beef kidney and I think I even saw lungs and there. I know I saw some beef heart locally, I think that was at walmart. If you find a local meat market, they will likely be able to set you up with even more variety. I like to keep the food as varied as possible, to me that seems like it does a much better job of mimicking nature, as wild dogs / wolves would eat numbers kinds of prey from rabbits, to birds, to wild boar, to beaver to deer. If you ever get so inclined, it is not difficult to obtain whole complete (unprocessed) rabbits, chickens, rats and mice that you can feed as a more complete meal.
So you defiantly don’t want to just put them on a diet of only clean chicken breasts, that would not be adequate on it’s own, but you will find that you have many options just by looking at a local grocery store or two.
I’ve noticed that my dogs have far better teeth than dogs that eat kibble, my oldest who will be 7 this month will need some dental work, but I feel the raw diet has delayed the need for that work, and has kept many of his teeth in really good shape overall.
I’ve also noticed that my dogs don’t have those little bumps all over there skin that dogs often seem to get after they are a few years old. My parents dogs, some from the same family lines as my dogs all seem to have developed those fatty bumps / growths on their bodies. I stopped using flea and tick meds a long time ago, so that may be part of it also.
My dogs do have allergies to some meats, but I feel that these allergies developed primary from earlier in their lives when they were eating their premium kibble. I will find they get a little itchy / licky from a meat, and if I do, then I try to use a different brand next time or stick to a different meat source.
I’m really considering devoting more time to writing raw feeding / dog health materials again, possibly setting up a forum. My first forum, the Jeep forum was quite disappointing, as the status from google keyword tool were very very far off from the real world. So I am being a little more cautious this time before I put in the level of effort required to really setup a nice forum.
I hope I was of some help, feel free to write back with other questions, and I apologize in advance if any of this doesn’t sound right, it is quite late for me, about 2:30am here.
Best Regards,
Jamie
Hi Jamie,
Thanks for your detailed reply. I think I'm going to start incorporating a raw diet. I'm not so concerned about the convenience. I actually think I'll enjoy preparing it as much as my dog will enjoy eating it.
Thanks again for your great info. Talk soon,
-Rob
hi i have a huge problem. I have a 1year/ 4 month old shih tzu. he's been scratching alot especially his ears. When i gave him duck it stopped. i gave him every meat that was out there venison, rabbit, lamb and he's still scratching. but duck was the only one that worked. my question is since duck is very high in protein wouldnt it be bad for my dog(percy) ??? i do feed him raw food..stella and chews (brand)… please email me back with some help..ne 1 can… sheenamsolomon@aol.com
Hello,
In general raw meat is not considered a high protein diet. Raw duck with skin is only 11% protein, the rest is fat and water. Where the vast majority of commercial dry foods will be much higher than this in protein content, you can find commercial foods at 44% protein and perhaps even higher.
If he does well with duck, then I would stick with it. It's always best to rotate some other meats into the mix, but if you can't find anything else he will tolerate, then just using duck isn't going to be that bad. I would make sure you are feeding liver and either bones or a calcium supplement. I would add a high quality fish oil if he can tolerate it.
You can check the USDA nutrient database to find out how much fat / protein / etc is in a food. Just type "raw duck" into the search box and it will have a listing for raw duck.
I have just been informed that my dog has diabeties. He is 8yrs. old and he has been healthy (except for scratching in the summer months) all his dog life. I am shocked to say the least-my sister feeds her lab 50% raw and I am very interested. If I start this raw diet for my dog is it possible for him to be diabeties and itch free? PLEASE HELP
Nice article. I'm getting 4 to 6 beavers for my dog. Any tips on processing it? They're currently frozen and waiting for me. I was thinking of chopping them into thirds or quartering them into into 1/2 meals. I hear it's very rich meat. Any tips would be appreciated. Cheers, Michael.
Hi;
Yes, you just want to cut them up into whatever size pieces make sense for your dogs. I've fed beaver in the past, but the only way I could get it was ground. I suspect overall it is going to be on the fattier side, so depending on how your dogs do with fat, you may need to limit the amount you feed at one time. The fat isn't bad for them, some dogs just don't handle larger percentages of fat very well and will end up with some digestive upset / loose stools from a meal that is too fatty. If they are not already dressed, you may want to remove the guts before feeding, depending on how your dogs do with them and if your feeding somewhere that a mess could be a problem. The guts are fine for them to eat if they want to.
I don't know of any parasite problems with beavers; it wouldn't hurt to have them frozen for a few weeks prior to feed them, if they haven't already been frozen that long. Most parasites if present die off with a couple weeks of freezing; the only thing I know that is really resistant to this is a strain of Trich found in some wild bears, I would personally suggest avoiding bear.
Let me know if you have other questions. I have a pet forum setup called PawDogs. It has a section on Raw Feeding here: http://www.pawdogs.com/prey-model-raw-feeding/
Thank You!
Jamie