Tasty turkey treats? Yes, please! These turkey meatball dog treats get a big boost of fragrance and flavour as well as added healthy goodness from their savoury seasonings. Here’s our easy recipe for turkey and turmeric meatball dog treats. Doggone delicious turkey mini meatball dog treats with (optional) healthy turmeric. Yum!
Talking Turkey
We may not have a Thanksgiving holiday feast to plan in our part of the world, but any time of year can be turkey time. It’s a dog’s life indeed! If turkey isn’t your thing, you can make this turkey meatball dog treat recipe with any other type of lean ground meat that suits you and your dog. Meatballs are a-ok in any dog-friendly flavour combination as far as my boys are concerned.
When this post was first written and shared (and our meatballs eaten and enjoyed), it was easy to get ground turkey in our loacl supermarket. In the years since, it’s become much harder to find. I now order it online from a specialist supplier like Canter Valley. Not a referral link, just dropping a shout-out and info in case it helps some of our kiwi furfriends find their turkey fix!
Turkey Meatball Dog Treat Recipe with Turmeric
Homemade Meatball Dog Treats with Turkey and Optional Turmeric
The seasoning ingredients in the meatball dog treat recipe below are optional, and can be adjusted up/down, omitted, or substituted to suit your preferences and your pet.
Treat Ingredients:
- 1 egg
- Approximately 150-200g lean ground turkey or other meat
- 1 tbsp ground turmeric accompanied by a sprinkle of black pepper
- 1 tsp Ceylon cinnamon
- 1 tbsp ground flax or LSA
- 1/2 cup wholegrain oats, scotch oats, or equivalent substitute
- Wheatgerm, brown rice flour, or oat flour (optional) to adjust consistency for shaping.
When working with meatballs, especially making them miniature, I find that adding a little wheatgerm or flour can sometimes help make the mix easier to handle and shape. This is, of course, optional. How much (if any) depends on the wetness of the mix (varies with base ingredients) and the texture/absorbency of what I add for the adjustment.
Making the Treats:
- Preheat your oven to 180C (or local equivalent) and gather together your baking ingredients and materials.
- Combine the egg, turkey, flax, and optional seasonings in a stain-resistant bowl. Mix in the oats.
- Rest briefly (optional).
- If using an optional add-in for consistency/handling, knead it into the mixture to combine to the desired consistency for shaping.
- Roll into small mini meatballs and place on a lightly greased baking dish or lined baking pan.
- Bake for approximately 15-20 minutes (time will depend on size), until cooked through. If you like, you can broil briefly for additional browning (optional). Note in the collage above that my spotty sous-chefs are supervising closely. So very helpful in the kitchen!
- Cool before serving and storage (refrigerate short term or freeze for longer storage). Meatballs are always doggone delicious, but pampered pooches might enjoy their treats warmed slightly for extra smell and flavour.
Meatball Dog Treat Making Tips and Tricks
- Meatballs don’t have their own post in our pet chef help section. They’re very similar to making meatloaf style dog-friendly cakes, and are grouped with our post on homemade dog cakes. You can check it out for additional information on ingredients, storage, and more.
- Meatball treats can be made smaller for little dogs or broken up for serving. Cooking times will vary depending on your meatball size.
- Turmeric has strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties along with other potential health benefits for dogs (and people). It does stain though, so pick your cookware with care, clean-up any spills quickly, and keep stain-awareness in mind when giving treats. Not keen on turmeric? Our dogs love it, but you can omit or use less if you prefer.
- In addition to being doggone delicious and fragrant, cinnamon offers some great health benefits. However, it’s not suitable for everyone or every pup. Pregnant/nursing dogs in particular should not be given cinnamon. Ceylon cinnamon is the recommended variety for dogs, if/when used.
- Prefer to use some dog-friendly herbs instead? Check out this little slideshow at Modern Dog for ideas on other dog-friendly herbs. Oli recommends rosemary – it’s one of his favourites. Haha!
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.
