Is your favorite furry friend starting to get a little chunky? As much as I love to make dog treats for my dog, he loves to eat them even more! Sometimes I believe that he thinks that he’s at an all-you-can-eat buffet.
When my Black Lab’s vet told me that Sam needed to shed a few, I decided to find some dog treat recipes that would not only be yummy, but keep his weight down too. No need for my baby to feel deprived. 
Here’s a healthy dog treat recipe that fits the bill:
Low Fat Carrot Dog Treats
Ingredients:
1 med. banana (ripe, please)
1 c. shredded carrots*
1/4 c. unsweetened applejuice
1/8 c. water (maybe more, as needed)
1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour (keep some handy for rolling)
1 c. rolled oats
Directions:
Start off by preheating your oven to 350 degrees, lightly spraying a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray and sprinkling a little flour onto the surface you’re planning to use to roll out the dough.
In a medium bowl, mash up the banana and mix in the shredded carrots. To the carrot and banana, add the water and applejuice. Stir. Next, add the water and applejuice. Stir all of the ingredients together until they are thoroughly combined.
Using your hands, knead the mixture until a dough forms. Dump the dough onto the lightly floured surface that you prepared earlier. Roll it out until it’s about a half inch thick. Using a cookie cutter (bone shapes are fun!) or the rim of a small glass, cut into 3″ pieces. Place the pieces onto your lightly sprayed baking sheet.
Bake the dog treats for 25 minutes.
Before “serving”, let them cool completely. Here’s a tip that you may find useful: If your dog likes a little more crunch to his treats, then turn off the oven and let the treats cool there overnight.
This recipe makes about 24 low fat, healthy dog treats. My dog can eat them up pretty quickly, but they’ll actually last about 3 weeks, if stored in the fridge and up to 6 months, if you decide to freeze them.
*About the shredded carrots…I like to buy mine already shredded in the grocery, but if you do the shredding yourself, you should keep the skin on. That’ll add an extra nutritional punch to the recipe. Regardless of whether or not you buy them shredded or do them yourself, give the shredded carrots a rough chop before adding them to the recipe. The treats will come out better if they’re a little bit smaller.
do you us apple sauce or juice? ingrediants say apple juice but the directions state apple sauce which one do I use
I used apple juice only and the dogs I treated loved them. Even when some owners thought they would not eat them because of certain ingredients. I am presently on a second batch.
This Carrot treat is just what I want. Is it applejuice or applesuce? I have used applesauce to reduce oil and eleminate anything “sugary”. When my bannana is ripe
I will be making these treats for sure!
Thanks
Hey this is a great recipe my dogs love these… but it doesnt give a measurement for the apple sauce….i just kind of added what i thought might be appropriate…. good luck
I tried this recipe except my Great Dane and my Weimie have a sweet tooth so I roasted the banana in a 350° oven for 20 minutes with the skin on (the skin turned absolutely black but that’s okay) and then skinned it and let it cool before using it. Made it sweeter with no extra calories and they seemed to absolutely love it.
Should that be applesauce in list of ingredients? I have used applesauce with success to replace oil so I am guessing – My banana is ripe so I am good to go now – I am excited about a treat with less calories – I use them in training and really have to watch the “intake”. Will give forward the critic’s review:-)
Sorry about the double posting of my question – comment. I have now made these – used applesauce thinned with apple juice and needed very little water. The first warm from the oven reviews are very positive! I have left all but the “tasters” in the cooling oven for the night. I have one dog barking in the middle of the kitchen facing the oven- I do need to add he is not too hard to please if he thinks something is “cooking for him”. We’ll see how they are received after refrigeration – that is the real test. I am very happy to have something that is not high calorie and still healthy for training and treating.
I have now made these more than once – very popular with my pups and have past the taste test of a couple of others know to be picky. I love that I have a treat I can use freely for training etc and not feel like I am adding excessive and/or empty calories or other junk. I have added green beans when short on carrots – subbed some barley flour, even made without bananna (increased applesauce) all changes to fit ingredients “in inventory” all worked fine. Thanks!
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I have two cavaliers both are good eaters one is an absolute live wire and the only way I can get her to come back to me when she takes of is to shake a paper bag witha treat of some sort in it.Now I will make these biscuits and I will not be worried about her putting on to much weight.Thanks so much for thid site.
my schnoodle is a fruit and veggie nut, so i make these and dont worry about her ‘waistline’ and yes, she is glued to the oven while they are baking.
I have a fat beagle and we have been giving her specail dog food to help her loose weight. I want to make these treats but as they sound great! But was wondering if I could use frozen banana instead of just ripe ones? I don’t have any bananas on hand and can’t get to a store today…I use frozen bananas in banana bread and it turns out fine so will it for these treats??
@Krysten – I think using the frozen bananas will work out great.
Please let us know how your beagle likes them!
So I made these treats lastnight. My dog Josie loves them!! I feel so much better giving her these since I know what’s in them and I know they are healthy
I will definitely be making these again when this batch is done! I think I made them a little smaller than suggested. But I used the suggestion above with using applesauce then using applejuice instead of water. I also used my frozen banana which still worked great, and I used a little bit more flour (1-2tbsp) as the dough was quite wet. What a great outcome and I had fun with my 3yr old daughter making them and using her playdough cookie cutters to make fun shapes:) Thanks for the recipe!
I just finished baking a batch! My picky Jessie Schnoodle who doesn’t like banana and carrots couldn’t stop eating it! She loved it! Thank you so much for the recipe I’m gonna make more as Xmas cookies for my friends’ doggies!
Made these for the first time and they’re perfect! My one dog recently developed food allergies. Most commercial treats have chicken, peanut butter, or beef in them, which are the most common food allergy for dogs. These are low fat and healthy for my dogs! Plus if you use the bone cookie cutter they’re adorbs! We’ll be giving them to our dog owner friends for the holidays. Thanks for the great recipe!
I made these for my guy last Christmas and he LOVED them! Banana, apple and carrot are some of his favorites so he gobbled them up. Unfortunately, I did not put these in the fridge quickly enough and they molded pretty fast
I’ll be making them for him again this year though, I’m sure he’ll be thrilled!
Just made 2 batches for xmas presents for the family pooches! Added green beans with the carrots… Used my 2 labs a guinea pigs… OMG They LOVED them!! Thank you! Will be making more!!
Hi Guys! Sorry for the mix up! It’s supposed to be apple JUICE. I’ve corrected it now. Sorry about that!
Even in The Netherlands these treats are blisssssss.
I had to chase Flatcoated Retriever named Ollie out of the kitchen while I was putting all together. And when the biscuits went in the oven he sat in front of the oven, trying to persuade the biscuits to bake faster.