Have you ever wondered how to make dehydrated sweet potato dog treats?
Well, wonder no more because I’m about to tell you. They’re a favorite here in our pack, so I make them fairly regularly.
The pups love their taste and crunch factor, and I love them because they’re a single-ingredient dog treat without any artificial preservatives or harmful chemicals.
Disclaimer: This blog post was originally published in 2015 and has been updated in 2021. It contains affiliate links I may earn compensation through at no additional cost to you.
How To Make Dehydrated Sweet Potato Dog Treats
Let me preface this section by saying that dehydrated sweet potato treats make great goodies for your pooch AND for yourself, too!
You can totally share some of Fido’s treats OR make a batch for yourself if you prefer salt and/or olive oil on yours.
What You’ll Need For The Sweet Potato Dog Treats
Now here’s what you’ll need to make these goodies:
- Sweet potatoes
- Sharp knife and/or mandoline slicer
- A dehydrator
- 10-12 hours of drying time
I was really lucky for a while when I had a neighbor who grew sweet potatoes in her garden and would always share a few with me.
After I moved, I’d get them from a local grocery store or a farmer’s market, depending on the season.
If you can get your hands on organic sweet potatoes, you won’t need to peel them because their skin won’t contain any pesticides.
That’s a huge bonus because the skin is rich in fiber and potassium!
How To Prepare The Sweet Potatoes
1. Wash and Cut Them
Give them a good wash in the kitchen sink and cut off any bad spots. Then cut them into more or less even slices with a sharp kitchen knife.
Tip: A mandoline slicer or a food processor with a slicing disc is helpful because sweet potatoes are much harder than white potatoes.
Side Note: I tried cutting a sweet potato with a cucumber slicer. Definitely the second best idea I had because they resulted in paper-thin slices!
I had a feeling they were too thin, but still put them in the dehydrator for experiment’s sake. They were done within 2 hours, but only made for a tiny batch.
2. Blanch The Sweet Potato Slices
Next, go ahead and blanch the sweet potato slices for 2-3 minutes.
Blanching simply means to put them in boiling water.
It’ll keep the bright, vibrant orange color of the sweet potato along with its flavor and texture. It also extends the shelf life of the sweet potato treats!
3. Rinse, Dry and Dehydrate Them
Then rinse them off under cool water, pat them dry and place them onto the dehydrator trays (mine has 4).
Make sure that none of the slices overlap, or the overlapping parts won’t dehydrate all the way!
If your dehydrator has a temperature control button, put them in at around 125° F. If it doesn’t, that’s OK too.
The first one I ever had was a hand-me down NESCO dehydrator that didn’t come with a temperature control button.
The COSORI dehydrator features a temperature control button and stainless steel trays with a digital timer.
Either way, the dehydrating process takes about 10-12 hours. That’s why it’s a good idea to make them overnight, that way you’ll be able to “harvest” them in the mornings.
The Oven Alternative
If you don’t have a dehydrator, you can also try making them in the oven. If you do, go for the lowest temperature setting on your oven or you’ll risk burning them.
I learned that lesson when I tested the oven option at 250° F (120° C) for two hours. Not only did they not come out as crunchy as the ones from the dehydrator, they were also on the verge of being burnt!
What’s The Shelf Life Of The Sweet Potato Dog Treats?
Since your homemade sweet potato doggie treats don’t contain any artificial preservatives, their shelf life is fairly short.
The blanching process helps extend it some, so they’ll last you for about 10-14 days.
Store The Treats In An Airtight Container
I personally like to store the treats in recycled glass jars or mason jars.
But any airtight container will work!
Just make sure to let the sweet potato slices cool off completely before you close the lid of the storage container.
If you don’t, there’ll be condensation which is the perfect breeding ground for mold.
Benefits Of Sweet Potato Dog Treats
Sweet potatoes are a nutritional powerhouse because they contain beta carotene. That helps neutralize harmful free radicals and also helps prevent cancer.
They’re also rich in manganese, which is great for healthy bone structure and fat metabolism. Its Vitamin A content is great for a proper metabolism, and its Vitamin C content offers protection from infectious diseases.
As mentioned earlier, their skin is a great source of dietary fiber, meaning organic sweet potatoes are wonderful for digestion!
Sweet Potato Dog Treats Are A Low Calorie Treat
If you’re looking for a low calorie, high value training treat, look no further!
Sweet potatoes are also low in calories. 1 cup has about 114 calories.
Most dogs really love their taste and texture and will gladly “work” for them.
Tip: Cut the dehydrated sweet potatoes into really small, quickly edible bites if you want to use them as training treats.
Single-Ingredient Dog Treats Made In The USA
You know what I like best about my homemade sweet potato dog treats? The fact that I know exactly what they’re made of and where they’re grown.
Right here in the USA!
Now THAT’s peace of mind!
Store-Bought Dehydrated Sweet Potato Dog Treats – An Alternative
Every now and then when I don’t feel like wearing my chef hat, I’ll order some Dr. Harvey’s Sweet Potate’r Chews on Amazon.
It’s an easy and QUICK alternative I resort to every so often. The pups love them, and it’s almost the same as making them yourself!
Leave your comments or questions below in the comment section!
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This sounds awesome! I will be trying this out! The pugs love homemade treats.
Your pug puppies will be in for a treat ;-))
I am definitely making these. I love sweet potatoes and they are so nutritious and delicious 🙂
Pawsome! Would you share a picture once you’ve made some?
Yes 🙂
Cool beans!
Haley loves sweet potatoes and the thiner versions sound interesting. I’ve been meaning to buy a food dehydrator but I wonder if you could make sweet potato jerky sticks in the oven if you bake them at a really low heat. Hmm, I may have to experiment with this. Great tips for our sweeties, thanks Barbara!
When watching a few YouTube videos on how to make Dehydrated Sweet Potato Treats, someone mentioned that they found their dehydrator for just a few $$$ at a thrift store (WITH a temperature control button), so that might be something to look into for starters?
Just checked to see what our oven’s lowest temperature setting is, and it’s 170° F. Apparently 125° F is the ideal temperature to dehydrate sweet potatoes at – do you know how low your oven will go temperature-wise? My mom doesn’t have a dehydrator and suggested to leave the oven door open since most ovens won’t go below 170° F-ish – my only objection to that was that the pups might get a little too curious and end up burning themselves in that one split second I’m not paying attention…
Have fun experimenting with it and I’d love to hear about the outcome – however Miss Haley got her paws on the Sweet Potato treats (Dehydrator Style or Oven Style) 🙂
That’s what I was thinking too, leaving the oven door open. I’ll give this a try and let you know what happens. It might make the Pinterest Fail Board, but we’ll see, lol!
These look yummy and so healthy. I’m glad you mentioned that humans can eat them too because that was on my mind when I read this post. I’ll let you know how my batch turn out.
Thank you, Sharon, they really did come out nicely – I’d even say as well as the ones made by brands, except that my slices didn’t all have the same thickness/visual appeal because they were cut with a knife. The pups told me they could live with that, though 😉
I’m looking forward to hearing/seeing (if you would like to share a picture, that’d be awesome!) about your batch!
These look doggy delicious! And human delicious, hehe…
Oh yes…I had several and added spinach dip…and a glass of red wine 😉