Dehydrated Chicken Heart Treats for Dogs
Dehydrated chicken hearts for dogs: trimming, a safe pre-cook and drying in the oven or a dehydrator. One single ingredient makes about 55 treats.
- Time
- 3 h 10 min + 30 min resting
- Makes
- 55 pieces
- Type
- Treat
- Difficulty
- Easy
- 100 % chicken hearts
Follows THE RULE. All 1 ingredients are on our safe list: nothing that could harm your dog.
Dehydrated chicken hearts for dogs are one of the easiest single-ingredient treats to make at home: you trim them, cook them in the oven so they reach a safe temperature and dry them slowly until they're hard and chewy. Each heart is a strong-smelling bite of meat, perfect for rewarding your dog outdoors when there are distractions.
A one-pound tray costs little at any butcher or in the supermarket's variety meats section, and it's enough for almost two months of treats if you keep them in the freezer. Even though they're sold with the organ meats, the heart is a muscle: nutritionally it counts as meat, not as offal.
Why it works
Chicken heart is muscle, high in protein, and provides taurine, iron and B vitamins. Unlike liver, it doesn't store vitamin A, so it doesn't have the same limit. Dehydrating it removes about two-thirds of its weight and concentrates the flavor and smell, which is exactly what makes it such a good treat.
Step by step
Trim the hearts
With kitchen scissors, snip off the top of each heart, where the white fat and the vessels are. Rinse them under cold running water and pat them very dry with paper towels: the drier they go into the oven, the faster they dehydrate.
Open them up if they're large
For a small dog or for training, cut them in half lengthwise. Opened up, they also dry faster.
Cook at a high temperature first
Preheat the oven to 160 °C / 320 °F. Spread the hearts on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, spaced apart, and bake them for 20 minutes. This step makes sure the inside goes above 74 °C / 165 °F, the temperature that kills Salmonella and Campylobacter. If you have a kitchen thermometer, check the largest heart; if not, cut one open: nothing should be pink inside.
Dry at a low temperature
Lower the oven to 90 °C / 195 °F, prop the door ajar with a wooden spoon and dry them for 2 1/2 hours, turning them halfway through. They're ready when they're dark, hard on the outside and, when you break one open, nothing is moist or pink.
Cool
Let them cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Blot any drops of fat that have come out with a paper towel.
How many a day?
As a treat, keeping under 10% of what they eat each day.
— pieces a day at most
| Weight | 3 kg | 5 kg | 10 kg | 15 kg | 20 kg | 30 kg | 40 kg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pieces/day | 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 10 | 12 |
Puppy, senior, very active or on a diet? Calculate the exact portion.
- Energy
- 13.9 kcal/piece
- Protein
- 58 % dry matter
- Fat
- 34 % dry matter
Values estimated from the ingredients (BEDCA/USDA data). A treat: keep treats under 10% of what they eat each day.
Storage
Fridge: 10 days in an airtight jar. Freezer: up to 3 months; take out only what you'll use that week. Since they're meat, don't keep them at room temperature for more than a day: even if they seem dry, homemade ones never get as dry as commercial ones. If you see mold or they smell off, throw them all away.
If you don't have…
- You can't find chicken hearts
- Cleaned chicken gizzards, same method, cut into 3/8-inch (1 cm) slices
- You want a leaner treat
- Chicken breast in 5/8-inch (1.5 cm) cubes, same method
- You have a dehydrator
- Do the 160 °C / 320 °F oven step just the same, then 6-8 hours at 70 °C / 160 °F in the dehydrator
Cooking tips
- The 10% rule: treats shouldn't make up more than 10% of your dog's daily calories. The table in the recipe tells you how many hearts fit their weight; for a small dog, cut them in pieces.
- Frozen chicken hearts from the supermarket work fine: thaw them in the fridge the night before and dry them well before baking.
- Carry a few in a cloth or paper bag, not a sealed plastic one: that way they don't sweat.
Safety
- Hygiene: wash the cutting board, scissors, knife and your hands with hot soapy water after handling the raw hearts.
- Don't skip the 160 °C / 320 °F step. A dehydrator or an oven at 60-70 °C / 140-160 °F dries the meat, but doesn't heat it fast enough to kill the bacteria in raw chicken.
- They're chewy: supervise your dog while they eat them. For dogs that swallow without chewing, cut them into small pieces.
- Chicken hearts have some fat. For dogs with pancreatitis or on a low-fat diet, check with your vet first and trim off the white fat carefully.
Frequently asked questions
Can dogs eat chicken hearts?
Yes, chicken heart is an excellent food for dogs: it's muscle, rich in protein, taurine and iron. It can go in their meals or be given as a treat. Raw, only as part of a well-planned raw (BARF) diet; as a homemade treat, it's better cooked and dehydrated. Trim off the white fat at the top.
How many chicken hearts can a dog eat?
As a treat, as many as fit within 10% of their daily calories: each dried heart has about 14 kcal, so about two for a 5 kg (11 lb) dog and about four for a 10 kg (22 lb) dog. As food, heart can be part of the meat in their meals without the strict limit that liver has.
Is chicken heart considered organ meat or muscle meat?
Although it's sold with the organ meats, the heart is a muscle, and nutritionally it's closer to meat than to organs like liver or kidney. That's why homemade and raw diets count it as muscle meat. It provides more taurine than most cuts, an amino acid that matters for a dog's heart.
What's in it, in detail
- Chicken Yes
If they liked it, try
The fridge list
The foods your dog can eat, can have in moderation and must never eat, on a single printable page.