We’re mixing up these pretty pastel pupsicles for naturally coloured Easter dog treats, but these easy ice cream dog treats are pawfect for any occasion. Get the recipe and DIY details for making easy multi-coloured (or flavoured) small batch pupsicle treats. Make a rainbow of treats, like ours, or pick your favourite add-in for a single shade of pretty and delicious frozen dog treats.
Easter Feaster
Pupsicle Weather
Easter is in our autumn with pupsicle weather depending on where the date falls (heheh…) in any given year. Right now, pupsicle season is nearing an end here, just as things start to warm up for our northern furfriends. This may be our last batch of frozen dog treats before chilly weather arrives. Boo! These simple treats were created as an add-in to our posting cycle to go along with our stained glass gummies which use similar natural add-ins for colour – but you’ll have to wait until our next treat post for the full details. Moohahha…
Frozen Fun with Homemade Pupsicles
Frozen and chilled dog treats are some of the easiest homemade dog treats to make. Nothing needs to bake, set, rise, or gel. The cold does all the work, and it’s simple to customise your own recipe. Check out our introduction to making frozen dog treats for tips, ideas, and more.
Our boys love frozen dog treats, especially in the summertime. Of course, every dog is different. Just like people, some dogs don’t like cold treats. If you dog doesn’t enjoy frozen goodies there are plenty of other yummy options. On the flip, some dogs love them a little too much. Highly aggressive chewers or dogs with dental issues may be better with softer options to avoid damaging their teeth.
Warming Up a Pupsicle Recipe
If you dog isn’t into chilly treats or your weather is currently more hot dogolate than ice cream, you can create similar shaped and coloured Easter dog treats in a less chilly treat. Gummy treats are an easy alternative. You can prep your pupsicle base as a gelatin gummy mixture instead, then divide, tint, and set. See our post on making small batch multi-coloured or flavoured gummy dog treats for details.
Pastel Pupsicle Base Liquids
You can use any dog-friendly freezable white or neutral base for tinting pupsicles. The key to getting a pretty pastel treat, however, is to use something creamy or white. This softens any vibrant colours into pretty pastels. Red becomes pink and other colours become softer shades.
I’ve shared this recipe tagged as a dairy dog treat because I usually make my frozen ice cream dog treats with yogurt or kefir. However, there are plenty of non-dairy options for sensitive pups. Or just for variety! The naturally coloured Easter dog treats pictured here were actually made with low fat coconut milk. Partly for variety since I was also making stained glass yogurt treats, and partly for convenience since I had leftover coconut milk to use up. Waste not, want not, as the old saying goes. Although the dogs definitely wanted these pupsicles. Haha!
Pastel Pupsicle Naturally Coloured Easter Dog Treat Recipe
Frozen Dog Treats with Naturally Coloured (and Flavoured) Healthy Add-Ins
We’re using cute shaped food moulds (affiliate link) to make these pupsicle treats. No moulds? Ice cube tray make a good substitute for freezing treats. Ingredients can be easily scaled to suit and you can choose tinting ingredients and quantity to suit your pet and personal preferences. No measurements are needed for these easy frozen treats. Super simple!
Homemade Pretty Pastel Pupsicle Dog Treats
Treat Ingredients:
- White liquid base
- Beetroot powder (pink tint)
- Turmeric powder (yellow tint)
- Spirulina powder (blue-green tint)
If you are using a thick-style yogurt as your white base, you may find it helpful to water the mixture down for easier mixing and pouring. You can also do this if you’d like the treats to be a little lighter. As noted above, the treats here were made with reduced fat coconut milk, but yogurt or kefir are my usual pupsicle go-tos for whites. The add-ins above were used for these treats, but you can use other tints to suit your colour preferences or pet. Check out our post on natural colourings for dog treats for more ideas.
Making the Treats:
- Choose a dog-friendly white or neutral base for your pupsicles for best tinting results.
- Dilute the base if/as you wish for quantity and richness
- Separate into small containers for mixing individual tints.
- Add tints (see other natural dog treat colouring ideas) and stir to combine. Some tints benefit from a little time to develop and take on their full colour potential, so work incrementally with some sit-time between additions until you are happy with the colouring.
- Carefully pour or spoon into silicon moulds.
- Freeze thoroughly before removing from the moulds. Transfer the completed treats to a suitable container and return to the freezer for frozen storage until use.
Pupsicle Dog Treat Making Tips and Tricks
- See our comprehensive post on making and storing frozen dog treats for additional information on frozen and chilled homemade treats.
- Flexible silicone moulds or ice-cube trays work great for making fun little shaped treats. If you want a precise measure of a specific mould’s capacity, you can do a test pour from a measuring cup of water to measure the volume required to fill your tray. Volumes are very easily scaled, and you can customise the type and amount of flavour add-ins to suit your pet.
- Frozen treats will melt quickly, especially in warm temperatures and can be messy while your pup is licking merrily, so these are best enjoyed from a bowl or outside.
Recipe and Ingredient Tips and Tricks
- As noted above, a milky white is needed to create these pastel colours, but there are many different ingredient options. Kefir, yogurt, dairy milk (regular or lactose free), goat’s milk, coconut milk (as shown here), or anything pet-safe, can be used to create a base. You can dilute these to adjust for thickness and richness. It doesn’t take a lot of white to cream and cloud a clear or pale liquid, so you can mix bases as well. For example, a pale dog-friendly stock can be used with a milky add-in as the base. Any natural colourings in the base will alter the tinting results, but that’s workable for many colours. See our post on natural food colourings for more tinting info.
- If using yogurt, go natural or take care when shopping to avoid artificial sweeteners in ingredients like yogurt for your dogs. Xylitol (also identified as sweetener E967) is particularly dangerous for dogs.
Hungry for more tasty treats? There are all sorts of homemade dog treat ideas in our blog archives. You can use the category and tag labels to find other recipes that might be of interest or use our internal search tools to find something specific. Remember, treats (bought or homemade) are for spoiling your pup in moderation. We share ideas from treats that we’ve made ourselves for our pets, but different animals have different preferences (likes/dislikes), just like people. Some pets may have special dietary requirements and/or food allergies/intolerances. If you are ever in doubt or have questions about what’s suitable for your pet, have a chat with your trusted vet.
