Our dogs love the store bought sweet potato dog treats. But I can’t ignore my realization that we could save a ton of money by making our own homemade dehydrated sweet potatoes for them. Plus, homemade means I can control where the sweet potatoes come from. I can get organic ones from our local farm for less than I spend on the store bought bag of treats!

With all of the controversy recently over treats making dogs sick, I love the fact that homemade treats are free of preservatives, fillers, chemicals, and any other unnecessary additives. I know my dogs will benefit most from the treats that come out of my own kitchen, and these treats are so easy to make with only one ingredient – organic sweet potatoes!

Our dogs are intrigued by anything that they think is “human food.” When I brought the sweet potatoes out, they were immediately zoned in on getting a taste before they even knew what it was.

Before I make any new homemade dog treat recipes for them, I place the ingredients in front of them to see if they approve to spark their curiosity. I barely got the sweet potatoes on the floor before they snatched them up and ran off to devour them!

Sweet potatoes are so sweet on their own that they don’t need anything else added for dogs to approve of them as a favorite treat. Our dogs didn’t even require them dehydrated before they were obsessed!

Imagine how much they’ll love them once they are cooked!

Step 1: Tools You’ll Need

We have a food dehydrator, but if you don’t own one you can easily dehydrate the sweet potatoes in your oven. I’ll demonstrate how to dehydrate the treats using an oven today so everyone can try these wonderful treats. 

Step 2: Choose The “Perfect Potatoes”

Choose the best sweet potatoes: choose ones that are similar in size so they will cook at the same rate.

Step 3: Wash, Dry, and Cut The Sweet Potatoes

My pups were trying to be thoughtful and figured that “washing” the potatoes meant using their tongues and teeth to scrape the bad parts off the potatoes. Thanks for the help guys! Aren’t they the sweetest?

If you’re going to cut the potatoes into strips by hand, the first step is to cut the top of the potato to create a flat surface to rest on the counter to stabilize it for cutting the strips.

Cut the rest of the potatoes into 1/3″-1/4″ thick slices. You can use a mandolin for easier, more precise cuts and set the measurement to exactly 1/4″ if you’re a perfectionist! 

You can also use a food processor to cut your strips if you don’t have a mandolin. I decided to make my treats 1.4″ thick using the mandolin so they would be crunchy.

Step 4: Bake For 3 Hours

Baking instructions:

• Preheat oven to 250 degrees
• Place treats on a cookie sheet
• Bake for 1.5 hours
• Flip the treats
• Bake for another 1.5 hours for a total of 3 hours. 

Baking the sweet potatoes for 3 hours will create a nice and crunchy treat. If you think your dog would rather have a chewier, softer snack then bake them for less time.

They may be slightly soft when they first come out of the oven, so let them cool completely before you serve them to your doggies.

Step 5: Enjoy!

Our dogs went crazy for the sweet potatoes before they were dehydrated into a yummy crunchy snack… so I expected them to freak out when they finally came out of the oven.

Zoey is usually the most reserved of the bunch and patiently waits her turn while the others act frantic, but I was shocked to see her react the craziest over these treats! 

Jem was patient and let Laci and Zoey get most of the treats, but she wasn’t shy for long and jumped at the chance to try the treats. She was so crazy over them that I couldn’t catch her picture!

The dogs would be so polite and patient for a second as I reached for another treat…

But the anticipation was killing them and they couldn’t resist any longer…

They went NUTS over these treats and couldn’t keep their composure!

Zoey has never been this excited over a treat in her entire life!

Jem couldn’t even enjoy her treat in peace without Zoey hot on her tail trying to snag it…

After seeing how much the dogs loved these treats, they will now be a regular staple in our household for years to come! They’re simple, inexpensive, easy to make, and the dogs couldn’t be happier. Plus they’re so healthy! 

Store the dehydrated treats in the refrigerator and discard them after 3 weeks – although there’s no way these yummy treats will last sitting in our refrigerator that long with these hungry hounds! If you want to store them for longer, you can freeze them for up to 4 months.

Why Are Sweet Potatoes So Healthy For Pups?

Sweet Potatoes have the highest amino acid content of any starch which are essential to your dog for maintaining healthy, strong, lean muscles. The high fiber content is great for the digestive system. They also have increase antioxidant activity in your dog’s body which are needed to get rid of free radicals that cause cancer and other diseases. Sweet potatoes also get rid of fatty cells in the liver and help keep other vital organs healthy. Wow! I feel great knowing that this simple homemade treat will have such great lasting health effects on my dogs!

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