Because they deserve dessert too!
Could this recipe BE any more random? Cue Chandler Bing.
But if you’ve ever read my blog before then you know this recipe isn’t random at all.
Because I’m a total DOG LADY.
Look at how excited and happy Jude is waiting for a homemade treat!
“Quit your picture taking and fork them over!!”
I made these for Jude last weekend. His favorite homemade peanut butter bacon dog treats sounded perfect, but I decided to change things up a bit. With today’s homemade peanut butter dog treats, we have an added flavor: carrot.
The wonderful part about these homemade peanut butter carrot dog treats is that they’re super soft– perfect for senior dogs or those with sensitive teeth. Jude loves crunchy treats, but I think he loves these so much because they have a completely different texture to regular crunchy dog treats.
And they couldn’t be any easier to make! Simply combine the ingredients together in a large bowl, then the dough out to 1/4″ thickness and use cookie cutters to make shapes. The size of the dog treats is up to you. Jude’s about the size of a horse, so the big treats are perfect. We still break them up for him.
Bake the treats until browned. They’ll seem crunchy when you take them out of the oven, but they quickly soften up from the carrots inside.
Usually I bring half the batch over to other dog parents in our neighborhood, but freezing also works. See my make ahead tip in the recipe! 🙂
Before beginning, please check with your vet about any allergies your dog may have. If you have any questions or concerns about the ingredients I used, please consult with your vet.
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Soft Peanut Butter Carrot Dog Treats
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: fifteen 4-inch treats or thirty 2-inch treats
- Category: Dog Treats
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Soft-baked goodness for our pups!
Ingredients
- 1 cup (255g) natural creamy peanut butter
- 3/4 cup (180ml) skim milk
- 1 large egg (or 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce)
- 1 large carrot, shredded (or 8-ish baby carrot)– around 2/3 cup shredded
- 2 and 1/4 cups (290g) whole wheat flour* (spoon & leveled)
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 1/3 cup (28g) oats (either whole-rolled or quick oats are fine)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F (163°C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, gently mix the peanut butter, milk, egg, and carrot together with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. Add the flour and baking powder. You may need to turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and use your hands to work in the flour. Mix in the oats. The dough is extremely thick and heavy.
- Using a floured rolling pin, roll the dough out into 1/4″ thickness. Cut into shapes using cookie cutters. Arrange on the baking sheets. Bake for 15 minutes, or until very lightly browned on the bottom. Remove from the oven, and flip the treats to bake the other side for 10 more minutes. Want the treats to be a little more crunchy? Bake for 5 more minutes.
- Allow to cool completely before serving to your pup. Store at room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Since the pups can’t eat the whole batch in a week, I usually freeze them. Jude loves them right out of the freezer too! The treats freeze well up to 2 months.
- Flour: Unbleached all-purpose flour is safe for dogs, but whole wheat was more highly recommended by our vet because of its added health benefits. Again, please consult with your vet about any allergies your dog may have.
Keywords: peanut butter carrot dog treats, homemade dog treats
And just for fun, here is a picture of Jude as a pup. I can’t even handle it. His Eeyore stuffed animal was his absolutely favorite! ♥
Q: Do you have any pets? What kind? What is his/her name?
I love finding a recipe I have every single ingredient for with no hassle! Can’t wait to make these for my pup 😀
I just took my first batch out if the oven!! Ms Pennylane is sniffing around like crazy,because I told her mommy was making her treats!! Ty so much for this amazing recipe!!
OMG love this my dog loves the cookies and I made them around Christmas time so I shaped them as gingerbread man won hundred percent recommend just make sure to add flour when shaping cookie shapes
★★★★★
Hi Sally,
I am wondering if i could use water instead of milk because my dog gets an upset stomach when she eats milk.
Hi Ella, water would work great!
I just baked them and I decided to use oat milk and my puppy loves them soooo munch gobbled it right up on a few seconds!
★★★★★
I absolutely love this recipe. I am making this for my pup Lincoln’s 9th birthday today. This will be my third time making these. Definitely going to be adding this to my cookbook full of my favorite recipes.
★★★★★
My dog is a pretty picky eater, but he liked these!
★★★★★
Two things my dog loves are carrots and peanut butter so I thought this recipe would be perfect for him. Unfortunately the treats did not turn out how I expected. I think the recipe called for too much flour since I think the batched turned out (and smelled) too floury. I’d recommend possibly using less flour.
★★★
I made this tonight with my boyfriends daughter, and it was a great bonding activity! And the dog loved the treats! Thanks, Sally!
★★★★★
Can you use Skippy super chunky peanut butter? And it is true about the xylitol? Wanna make sure I don’t poison my friend’s dog!
Hi Emily, I recommend consulting with a veterinarian if you have any questions. I usually use natural peanut butter with minimal ingredients that I’ve cleared with our vet.
Thank you for another great recipe. I have the dog cookie cutters, now I just need to make them. What better time than now. I know you have a recipe in one of your cookbooks using pumpkin and will try that one too. Love you doggies! Thank you for including them in your updates. We adopted a dog a year ago…he will be six, but because we have had him a year…maybe I will use both numbers on the plate for him…LOVE that idea! Thank you again. His name is Bronx and he is at least 80 pounds and is mostly an American Staffordshire Terrier mix….a beautiful grey/blue color and the best, sweetest dog.
I just put a batch in the oven, and my dog has been following me around since I got out the peanut butter. She is looking at me like “are they done yet?” LOL!
I made these for my little puppy and he absolutely LOVED THEM!!!! He just gave me sad puppy eyes until I gave him another one. (I couldn’t resist!!) Will make these again. Thanks Sally!!
★★★★★
I baked these cookies and my dog absolutely LOVES them. I give him a cookie when I eat dinner, and now he can’t wait for his cookie when he sees me getting dinner ready. I think I will need to make sure I always have some cookies on hand for him. I love that the cookies have healthy ingredients (e.g., whole wheat flour, oatmeal) and I found the cookies easy to make. Thanks, Sally!
★★★★★
Our pups just live these treats! This is our go to treat for them now. So easy to make and nice knowing what we’re feeding our babes.
★★★★★
I know my dog would love these but all I have is 2% milk. Can I use 2% milk? Unable to leave the house and milk is hard to find these days.
Hi Toni, it’s always best to double check with your vet.
I made these for my little pup Loki he loves them! I’d love to see more doggy treat recipes!
★★★★
Hi Sally, my two retired racing greyhounds have had a lot of teeth extracted over the years (bad teeth are a genetic weakness in greyhounds bred in the USA). Your treats look great – nice and soft – just wondering if you’ve tried making smaller ones with the same recipe? My guys are also therapy dogs so the patients and students they visit give them treats, which need to be small or they’ll look like Labrador Retrievers in no time! I’m just wondering if I need to bake them less time if I roll the batter into little balls. Oh, and did you get the recipe from the reader whose dog had no teeth? If so, how did that work out?
Hi Cindy! I’m so happy to help. You can bake these as smaller treats by using smaller cookie cutters or even rolling out with a rolling pin and cutting into small shapes with a knife. The bake time will be shorter. They’re done when the edges are lightly browned.
I do not have carrots in the house and cannot get out to buy any. Could I use SQUASH?
My dogs love squash! Pat them dry if they are very wet before using and it should work!
Just made a batch of these for my dog Ruby and they are a hit! Very easy to make too. I will be making these again! Thanks for a great recipe!
Good recipe. it was super easy to make, and is friendly for somebody who doesn’t like exact measurements. The dogs seem to like them, however I though they were a little bland 🙂 They turned out crispy but not hard at all. My dads toothless dog seemed to have no trouble with them. Thank you for sharing this.
Can I sub the whole wheat flour for brown rice flour?
I’m sure that would be fine!
These turned out great! I cut them out with a star cookie cutter and took some to dog people at work. They loved them! Thanks for the recipe!
Baked these for our 14 year old chihuahua who needs soft food and she LOVES them. Made them small, pinched off pieces of the dough just larger than a quarter rather than rolling out and cutting and worked great. Cut the baking time down to 10 minutes per side and they turned out perfect. Popped them into snack size baggies for weekly portions and put them in the freezer. Thanks for the great recipe!!!
Wpuod they still come out soft if i use sweet potato instead? I heard thats great for dogs my Chihuahua is 11 and he is starting to lose teeth and i wanted to make him something was thinking i would substitute the milk for broth too!
I’m sure they’d still be quite soft, yes.
Would this also be a good treat for puppies? Mine are about 8 weeks and active. I would like to start training and would like these also as a reward.
I don’t feel comfortable making recommendations for puppies, but I’d check with your vet. I can’t see why not though. I made homemade treats like this for my new puppy and he loved them!
I did check with my vet and with the ingredients I got the ok! So I made them last night with pumpkin and the puppies love them!
Just how soft are these? My baby girl is turning 14 this weekend and I wanted to make her something special. She does not have a lot of teeth left, so it has to be reasonably soft. Thanks!
The moisture of the carrots makes them very, very soft. Just do not overbake them and they will stay very soft.
I was just wondering if I could subsitue milk with beef or chicken broth (low sodium )
I can’t see why not!
Hello Sally,
Thank you for sharing the creamy peanut butter and oats recipe. I tried it last night to bring in the New Year as a holiday treat for my pet Layla. Before the first batch was out of the oven, she waited and stared at the stove ! After the bite of the first treat I gave her a second taste. By 2:30 am I had baked two batches using both recipes: the first using 1 large egg and the second version using apple sauce. After wrapping things up and freezing the extras I turned the lights off and headed to bed. It took a few minutes before I realized that Layla stayed in the kitchen afterwards ! Last night was the first time I have EVER asked her to leave the kitchen and go to bed. This is a testament to your GREAT talent ! Please continue to share more of your absolutely brilliant dog food recipes. Happy New Year !!
Sally I’d love to make these for my pup Jake. Unfortunately he is allergic to oats. Possible substitute? Btw I absolutely LOVE your recipes!
Flour instead of oats works!
Sally I made these for Thanksgiving. My pups say Yippee! I tried them too lol. Pretty good. Thanks for thinking of our special four legged friends.
I am an avid “SBA” follower and love all your recipes!
I have been meaning to make homemade dog treats for awhile now and when I saw this post yesterday, I decided that it was a sign. I went home and made a double batch to gift at Christmas time and they turned out great! Our Finnish Spitz, Lumi, was my taste tester and definitely approved! I used mini cookie cutter shapes as most of our friends have smaller dogs and I wanted them to be size appropriate. For anyone else out there who chooses to do so, I recommend grating the carrot a little more fine, as my carrot pieces seemed huge popping out of the small cookies. a GREAT dog treat recipe and so fun to make. Thanks Sally!
SO CUTE! So glad you already tried it for Lumi. Yep, make sure the carrot shreds are small and fine.