Turkey and Quinoa Dog Food Recipe (Complete & Balanced)

This Turkey and Quinoa Dog Food Recipe was formulated to be complete and balanced for adult dogs. Using fresh whole food ingredients that most dogs tolerate well, and love. This high protein dog food recipe was created for active dogs. And due to it’s higher fat content can make a great choice for picky dogs as well.

Cooking for your dog doesn’t have to be complicated. But there are certain things that need to be included in a dog food recipe in order to keep them healthy long-term. These nutrients have been well-researched, and go beyond just protein, fat, and carbohydrates. Dogs also have nutritional needs for a variety of different vitamins and minerals.

Typical dog food recipes that contain just turkey and quinoa without a variety of other ingredients like fish, and organ meats can have over 15 different deficiencies! This is a HUGE concern if there is no additional supplementation added to fill in those nutritional gaps. The “plate method” that we use for humans of carbohydrate, protein, fruit and vegetable does not work for dogs.

Turkey and Quinoa Dog Food Recipe:

This recipe uses a variety of ingredients in order to fill in all these nutritional gaps and uses minimal supplementation. This turkey and quinoa dog food recipe has also been formulated to be high in protein, moderate in fat, and moderate to low in carbohydrates. Making this recipe a great choice choice for picky dogs, and dogs who are more active.

Percent Calorie

Protein: 41 %
Fat: 34 %
Carbohydrates: 25%

Dry Matter

Protein: 50%
Fat: 15%
Carbohydrates: 35%
Fiber: 4%

Calories: 45 calories per ounce

Turkey and Quinoa Dog Food Recipe Ingredients Explained

Fresh Food Ingredients:

Turkey Breast and 85% Lean Ground Turkey

For this turkey and quinoa dog food recipe we ant to use a combination of lean turkey breast, and ground turkey in order to cover our dog’s protein and fat needs. Dogs have nutritional needs for 10 different essential amino acids including arginine, histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan and valine.

The combination of turkey breast and ground turkey cover these needs along with the essential fatty acid linoleic acid. These protein sources also provide many of the essential vitamin and mineral needs for this recipe, however without the inclusion of the other foods listed below – this recipe still has over 13 different deficiencies.

Turkey Liver

With the additional of turkey liver to our turkey and quinoa dog food recipe we are covering our dog’s needs for folate, the rest of our b vitamins (riboflavin, thamin, vitamin b12) and vitamin A. Turkey liver is extremely nutritient dense in comparison to our muscle meats, and a little goes a long way in order to meet our dog’s nutritional needs.

Salmon

Like most oily fish salmon offers some key nutritional benefits for dogs including it’s high omega 3 fatty acid content. These omega 3 fatty acids help with inflammation throughout the body including in the joints, brain and even organs like the heart and kidneys. But salmon also provides a natural form of vitamin D to our turkey and quinoa dog food recipe.

Oysters

The addition of oysters to this recipe provides an excellent source of minerals such as copper, iron and zinc to our turkey and quinoa dog food recipe. Poultry-based recipe tend to be deficent in these minerals without the addition of supplementation or oysters to recipes. Oysters happen to be the most nutrient dense food that contains zinc! Making this a great addition to our recipe – and a little goes a long way to fill in our nutritional gaps in this recipe.

Quinoa

Quinoa as a complex carbohydrate provides our dogs with a source of energy (calories) and fiber. As a complex carbohydrate source quinoa has a combination of insoluble and soluble fibers that help nourish our dog’s microbiome. This microbiome stability support’s our pet’s immune system and helps keep their stools regular (and firm!). The addition of quinoa to our turkey and quinoa dog food recipe also provides the essential mineral manganese to this recipe.

Variety of Fruits and Vegetables

This turkey and quinoa dog food recipe allows for a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables to be added. By adding in this array of fruits and vegetables you can take advantage of seasonality of produce and also give your dog a variety of antioxidants and phytonutrients. Though these fruits and vegetables are not required in order to make this recipe complete and balanced, and can be omitted for picky dogs. Research has shown that the consumption of fruits and vegetables may reduce cancer rates in dogs. So if you have a picky dogs finely chopping or pureeing these mixed with the meats in this recipe may be ideal.

Supplements

Even after including all of these wonderful ingredients this recipe does still have three nutrients that are needed in order to make a complete and balanced recipe – calcium, iodine and vitamin E. For these nutrients we will be reaching for natural supplements to fill in the nutritional gaps.

The following links are amazon affiliate links, and if purchased I will receive commission of the sale.

NOW Calcium Carbonate Powder – source of calcium

Morton Lite Salt Mixture – source of iodine

Nordic Naturals Omega 3 Pet – source of EPA, DHA & Vitamin E

Complete and Balanced Turkey and Quinoa Dog Food Recipe

All of these whole fresh food ingredients combined make this turkey and quinoa dog food recipe a complete and balanced option for your pup. Full of healthy complex carbohydrates as a source of fiber and minerals. A variety of fruits and vegetables to give your pup all those powerful antioxidants to help strengthen their immune system, scavenge free radicals and help with oxidative stress. Then finally a combination of proteins to supply all the essential amino acids, essential fatty acids, vitamins and minerals that they need to live a long and healthy life.

If this is what you’ve been looking for you can purchase this recipe below. I also have several other recipes that you could add in rotation – including a low carbohydrate beef dog food recipe, and the classic chicken and rice (done right!).

VIEW RECIPE HERE

Complete and Balanced Turkey and Quinoa dog food recipe - perfect for dogs who are highly active, picky dogs, or those that have chicken allergies! This homemade turkey dog food recipe was created using BalanceIT and is complete and balanced for adult dogs.

About the Author: Nikki is a Registered Veterinary Technician (Veterinary Nurse) and Dog Mom with over a decade of experience with dogs and cats. Since graduation from college (BS Biology, Dip. Animal Nutrition, AS Animal Science) she has adopted two mixed breed dogs – Ranger and Ash, and has focused her time learning about pet food and nutrition.

Nikki shares information on a range of dog nutrition topics: from how to create a homemade complete and balanced dog food recipes, to how to choose a dog food. Nikki strives to give dog parents the information they need in order to make the best nutrition decisions for their pup!

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