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All pets need a well-balanced diet, and dogs need meat to thrive. Dogs have a specialized digestive system, powerful teeth, and a stomach adapted to dealing with meat and bones.
Knowing that dogs need to eat meat is one thing; creating a well-balanced diet is another. Luckily, this piece will give you easy-to-remember ground beef cooking techniques and a few things to know when feeding meat to dogs.
How Do You Boil or Cook Ground Beef for Dogs?
A dog will happily feed on ground meat, but you must cook it first. Cooking or boiling ground beef takes around 7 to 15 minutes on a frying pan and 10 to 15 minutes in a pot. Here is a simple process:
- Place the ground beef in a pan.
- Break it into small pieces using a wooden spoon and add a little water.
- Set the cooker on medium heat, cover it with a lid, and let the meat boil.
- Stir the meat after every 2 or 3 minutes until the water has completely evaporated.
Note: Cooked ground beef turns from pink to brown.
Using water in the second stage is optional. Constantly stir the meat to prevent it from sticking to the frying pan.
Top 2 Ground Beef Recipes for Dogs
Cooking is an art, and you can play with ingredients to come up with something special. If you have run out of ideas, consider the following ground beef recipes for dogs.
Please note: These recipes have been approved by a veterinarian because they include only dog-friendly ingredients; however, some of these recipes are not complete and balanced diets to feed your dog on a daily basis. These recipes are a great add-on to your dog’s diet. They are only meant to be fed on occasion and not as a regular staple diet. Please consult a veterinarian to help you decide what is the best diet for your dog.
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1. Sauteed Beef
Sauteed ground beef offers an economical way of adding flavors and beneficial vegetables to the dog’s menu. The dish is not only easy to prepare but also tasty and enriched with vital vitamins and minerals.
Ingredients
- 1 pound of lean ground beef
- Finely sliced or chopped vegetables (i.e., carrots, broccoli, tomatoes, zucchini, or spinach)
- Water (optional)
Instructions
- Saute vegetables over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes. If you have a mixture of crunchy vegetables like carrots and soft vegetables like spinach, saute carrots for 3 minutes before adding other types of vegetables.
- Add beef and break it down with a wooden cooking spoon. We prefer using wooden spoons to metallic spoons because the large surface area is effective at breaking large lumps of meat, and wood does not conduct heat.
- Let the meat simmer together with the vegetables for 7 to 10 minutes on medium heat.
- Let the meat cool down before serving.
Note:
Please remember that onion, garlic, leek, and chives are all toxic to dogs.
2. Meatballs
Meatballs are another tasty food made from ground meat dogs love. Though meatballs require more ingredients and time to make, once you master our simple recipe, the process is easy.
Ingredients
- A pound of ground beef
- 2 eggs
- Half a cup of oat flour
- Half a cup of oat milk
Procedure
- Empty the ground beef into a medium-sized bowl, then set aside.
- In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk.
- In a third bowl, mix oat flour and milk to form a smooth paste.
- Pour the mixture and the eggs into the bowl with the meat.
- Mix them thoroughly with your hands
- Refrigerate the mixture for 20 to 30 minutes. After that, shape it into balls.
- As you shape, place the completed balls onto a baking tray side by side. Leave a 1-inch space between balls to allow moisture from individual balls to escape during cooking.
- Set the oven to medium heat and bake for 20 minutes. Finish off with high heat for 5 to 10 minutes. Baking on medium heat ensures the meatballs cook well to the core without burning.
Note: Eggs and flour are binding agents. Without them, meatballs will crumble after losing water.
The 3 Tips to Know When Feeding Ground Beef to Dogs
1. Be aware of potential risks when feeding raw meats.
Dogs feed happily on both raw and cooked meat. However, giving them raw meat has some risks. The meat may contain bacteria such as Salmonella and E. coli.
2. Add a topper of Greek yogurt in ground beef recipes.
Yogurt is a rich source of proteins, calcium, and probiotics, which aid in digestion and gut health.
3. Avoid garlic, butter, and cheese.
While garlic, butter, and cheese are delicious and healthy human foods, they are dangerous to dogs and should be avoided in ground beef recipes. Garlic and onions are members of the Allium family. They contain thiosulfate, a toxic substance to dogs. Research shows that thiosulfate causes hemolytic anemia by damaging red blood cells.
Mixing ground beef with butter and cheese, on the other hand, can result in obesity and increase the risk of pancreatitis. Feed it to dogs in small quantities only, if at all.
- You may also be interested in: 5 Easy Dog-Friendly Recipes You Can Try at Home
How Do You Determine the Amount of Ground Beef to Feed a Dog?
Overfeeding a dog is dangerous to its health. Likewise, underfeeding is also unhealthy. Thus, you must find a way to ensure your dog has enough calories and a complete and balanced diet to ensure proper growth or maintenance. You can use online resources such as our dog calorie calculator for a guide, but ultimately, a veterinarian is the best person to help you determine the caloric requirements of your dog.
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Final Thoughts
Dogs love ground beef, and the easiest way to prepare it for them is through boiling. Boiling a pound of ground beef takes less than 15 minutes.
You can enrich the meat with vegetables and yogurt by sauteing or rolling it into meatballs. But when feeding it to dogs, ensure it has low-fat content and does not contain toxic ingredients such as garlic and onions.
Featured Image Credit: Angele J, Pexels
