17

Whip up a simple, healthy dog treat with just one ingredient—pumpkin! These dried pumpkin snacks are easy to make, all-natural, and loved by pups. 🐶

This recipe makes a large bowl of dehydrated dog treats (if you start with a 10 pound pumpkin). This is 70 large dog treats or 180 grams.

Table of Contents

(click the links below to skip to the section you’re looking for)

• Dried Pumpkin Recipe
• How to Gift Them
• Tips and FAQ
• Ingredient Substitutions
• Video
• Nutritional Information
• Contact Me with Questions
• Similar Recipes

I bought a dehydrator 20 years ago, back when my kiddos were little and they were obsessed with fruit leather. I used it a ton to make homemade fruit roll-ups, dried fruit, and raw crackers. But now that they’ve moved out, my poor dehydrator doesn’t get used much.

Luckily, I’m still a parent to Macchiato and Pudding, and they like treats too. Not only do they love treats, but they both have allergies to a lot of ingredients, which is common for pitbulls, I think. Since this recipe is only 1 ingredient, it’s the perfect allergen-friendly snack for the sensitive puppers.

Just think of this recipe like fruit leather, but for dogs. Follow along with me while I show you how to make pumpkin leather for the doggies.

Ingredients you need for Dried Pumpkin Dog Treats

(jump to the substitutions section to see ingredient details and suggestions for substitutions)

• 1 pumpkin (mine was ~10lb/5kg)

How to Dehydrate Pumpkin for Dogs

prep time: 50 min | dehydrating time: 18 hours

Cut the pumpkin in half and remove the seeds and guts. I use a strong large spoon to scrape all the guts out. Save the seeds to make toasted pumpkin seeds for yourself. Compost the guts or save them to make veggie stock.

Slice the cleaned pumpkin into thin slices. If your pumpkin is small, you can use a mandoline slicer. If your pumpkin is large, you’ll want to use a large chef’s knife. Try to cut them all the same thickness so they dehydrate at the same speed. Half an inch is a good thickness to aim for.

Peel the skin off each slice. You can do this with the knife or with a vegetable peeler.

Cut the pumpkin slices into whatever size treat you want. For bath time and nail trimming, I like bigger treats. But for other training, like responding to commands on walks and for having good recall at home, I like smaller treats.

Lay the slices onto dehydrator trays, fitting as many as you can on each tray.

Dehydrate at 125ºF (50ºC) until they’re crunchy and dry. They’ll become chewy, like the consistency of jerky over time, but you want them to be completely dried when you take them out of the dehydrator. For me, this took around 18 hours. You can leave them in longer (for days even!) and nothing bad will happen.

How to Give Dehydrated Pumpkin Treats as Gifts to your Favorite Doggos

Homemade pumpkin dog treats are great for your own dogs, but they also make excellent gifts during the holiday season (or anytime). I’m wrapping mine up and bringing them to a vegan holiday market this year to sell to raise money for our foster dog Pudding’s surgery.

Here’s how you can make yours into gifts too.

Fill mason jars or ziplock baggies with dried pumpkin treats.

Make a label using a label maker and attach the label to the baggie or jar.

Questions and Answers

Can I make these dehydrated dog treats in the oven?

If you don’t have a dehydrator, you can make these pumpkin dog treats in an oven. You won’t be able to fit as many in the oven as you can in a dehydrator though. Heat your oven to 225°F (105°C), spread the pumpkin pieces on baking sheets, and bake them for 1-4 hours.

Is pumpkin safe for dogs?

Pumpkin is good for dogs in moderate amounts. It’s high in vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Pumpkin is also recommended for dogs with digestive problems (like constipation and diarrhea).

Ingredient Substitutions

You can make these with any kind of squash, not just pumpkin. You can also use sweet potato instead of pumpkin. I’ve even made them with canned pumpkin during seasons when pumpkins are harder to find.

If you use canned pumpkin, you have 2 options.

1. Spoon the canned pumpkin into silicone molds (like my hello kitty mold) and set that into the dehydrator.
2. Line the dehydrator tray with a teflex sheet or parchment paper. Then spread the canned pumpkin into an evenly thin coat using a baking spatula. Once it’s dry, use kitchen scissors to cut into treat sized pieces.

Video

Nutrition Facts

This nutritional information is for one serving. I’m assuming that a serving is one dog treat.

• Servings: 70
• Calories: 17
• Fiber: < 1g
• Saturated fat: 0g
• Total fat: < 1g
• Cholesterol: 0mg
• Sodium: 1mg
• Sugars: 2g
• Total Carbohydrates: 4g
• Protein: 1g
• Calcium: 14mg
• Folate: 720mcg
• Potassium: 219mg
• Iron: < 1mg
• Vitamin A: 19,170mcg
• Vitamin B1 (Thiamine): 2mg
• Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin): 5mg
• Vitamin B3 (Niacin): 27mg
• Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic Acid): 13mg
• Vitamin B6: 3mg
• Vitamin C: 405mg
• Vitamin E: 48mg
• Vitamin K: 50mcg

Comments or Questions?

If you make this homemade dehydrated dog treats recipe, I would love it if you’d snap a pic, post to instagram, and tag me @vegandollhouse. It seriously makes my day/week/month!

Please message me (instagram or email) if you have any questions or feedback about the recipe.

Similar Recipes

If you like these, check out my other dehydrated dog treats recipe.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

This post links to items I mention. If you click on one, you will go to a website (like Amazon) where you can buy the product. Sometimes, the store you purchase from (Amazon, Etsy, etc.) will pay me for referring you. This costs you nothing extra, and I would never recommend a product that I don’t use. These affiliate programs help me buy ingredients to create recipes for you. Read more about this in my privacy policy.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆