Dog Friendly Meatballs (with Spaghetti)

A dog eating meatballs made out of dog-friendly and healthy ingredients from a bowl.

Dog Friendly Meatballs (with Spaghetti)

Course: Dog friendly meals, Dog Friendly Recipes, Main Course, Pet Food

Cuisine: Worldwide

Prep Time: 1 30

Cook Time: 30

Total Time: 2

Servings: servings

Calories: 330kcal

Author: Dini Kodippili

These meatballs for dogs are made with only the best, healthiest ingredients for your pup(s)! No fillers or preservatives, each ingredient adds plenty of nutrition to your pet's diet, and they are flexible enough to be substituted too.

EASY - This is an easy homemade dog food recipe. The cooking component is for meatballs. The pasta sauce can be cooked briefly or served without cooking as well.

The meatballs can be served on their own without the "pasta sauce" and "spaghetti". Meatballs can be used as a healthy treat, or as part of a meal (occasionally). Consult your vet if your pup has any food limitations.

I prefer to use weight measurements for this recipe, because I like to make sure my pups are not being overfed, and I can calculate the calories more accurately.

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Ingredients

For the meatballs

60 g broccoli 2 oz
60 g carrots 2 oz
450 g extra lean ground beef 1 lb
30 - 60 g canned sardines 1 - 2 oz (in spring water, and no salt)
1 large egg
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 Pinch black pepper
4 tsp kelp powder

For the pasta sauce

226 g pumpkin puree 8 oz (canned or fresh, make sure it's not pumpkin pie filling)
115 g red bell pepper 4 oz
180 mL water ¾ cup
226 g strawberries 8 oz (frozen or fresh)

For the pasta (optional)

250 g zucchini 2 - 3 small zucchini, or 1 large zucchini sliced fairly thin, lengthwise
60 g uncooked spaghetti 2 oz (optional)

Instructions

Meatballs

Place the carrots and broccoli in a small food processor, and process until finely chopped. Alternatively, you can use the grater box and knife to finely grate / chop the vegetables.
60 g broccoli, 60 g carrots
In a large bowl, place the ground beef, chopped vegetables, canned sardines, egg, turmeric, black pepper, and kelp powder.
450 g extra lean ground beef, 30 - 60 g canned sardines, 1 large egg, 1 tsp ground turmeric, 1 Pinch black pepper, 4 tsp kelp powder
Mix the ingredients very well until all the ingredients are evenly mixed together.
Using a spoon, divide the meatballs into portions. I weigh each portion at 30 g, and then split each in half, so that the meatballs are about 14 - 15 g each. You can also keep them at 30 g for larger meatballs.
Roll each portion in the palm of your hand to form a smooth ball. You should end up with 40 - 44 small meatballs, or 20 - 22 large meatballs.
Preheat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat.
When the pan is hot, place the meatballs in the pan. The heat should not be too high, as you don’t want the meat to caramelize or form a crust. It just needs to cook through. Move the meatballs around with a spatula to ensure they are cooking evenly from all sides. This can take between 5 - 10 minutes, depending on the shape of the meatballs.
As soon as the meatballs are cooked through, place them all on a plate that is lined with paper towels to absorb excess fat, and to cool down.

Pasta sauce

Place the pumpkin puree and red bell pepper in the food processor and process until the bell peppers have also pureed and mixed with the pumpkin puree. If needed, you can add the water to the processor as well.
226 g pumpkin puree, 115 g red bell pepper
Add the pureed pepper and pumpkin into a small pot, along with the water (if you did not use it to puree the bell peppers above). Heat over medium heat while stirring until the mixture comes to a simmer.
226 g pumpkin puree, 115 g red bell pepper, 180 mL water
Once the pasta sauce has simmered, remove the pot from the heat. You also have the option to let it simmer for longer if you want the sauce to be thicker.
Let the sauce cool down slightly before adding the strawberries.
Puree the strawberries and add them to the cooled sauce, and stir to mix. Alternatively, you can place the strawberries in a blender with the pumpkin base and blend it until smooth. A stick blender can also be used for this.
226 g strawberries
ALTERNATIVELY, You can just blend the pumpkin, bell pepper, and strawberry together and add just enough water to get a sauce consistency and skip cooking altogether.

Pasta

Pasta is optional. But can be given as a special treat, occasionally. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Break the pasta in half. Place the pasta in the boiling water and cook for about 12 - 15 minutes, or until the pasta is beyond the al dente stage and is soft. Do not add any salt or oil to the water or pasta.
60 g uncooked spaghetti
Drain and let the pasta cool.
While the pasta is cooking, slice the zucchini lengthwise, and then julienne the slices lengthwise to create “noodles”. You can also use a spiralizer, or a julienne peeler to create the noodles.
250 g zucchini
Place the zucchini noodles on a microwave-safe plate and drizzle with a little water. Cover and microwave for about 1 - 2 minutes to steam the zucchini (the white part will start to look translucent). If you prefer, you can double the amount of zucchini instead of making regular pasta.
Let the steamed zucchini cool down.

Assembly

Place the cooled down meatballs with the cooled pasta sauce and toss to combine.
In a dog food bowl, add about ¼ of the cooked pasta and ¼ of the steamed zucchini. Gently mix to combine.
Then spoon over ¼ of the meatballs (about 10 - 11) and the pasta sauce. The amount you serve will depend on your dog (see recipe notes).
Serve to your dogs.

Notes

For another fantastic homemade dog food idea, check out my dog cake recipe!

This meatballs recipe can be doubled or tripled easily.

This recipe makes 40 - 44 small meatballs with dog-friendly pasta sauce.

Each meatball is about 17 calories (without the sauce). This will serve approximately 4 meals for a dog that's between 25 - 40 lbs and has no other health issues.

Please consult your vet, and serve this as an occasional meal, and not regularly as their daily meal.

Calculating calories

Each 15 g meatball has 17 calories (without the sauce).

This recipe as a whole approximately contains 1323 calories.

This recipe divided into 4 contains a total of 330 - 331 calories per meal.

My 40 lb Zuko can have one portion (or a little extra) of this (25 - 30%) as a meal.

My 50 lb Korra can have 35 - 40% of this recipe as a meal.

You can calculate your dog's caloric needs here.

You can substitute the ingredients, or add more vegetables to the recipe if you like. See the recommendations in the post above. The caloric value will change with different additions.

Storage

This can be stored in the fridge or freezer.

Fridge - Airtight container for about 4 days.

Freezer - Airtight container for up to 1 month. Plain meatballs can be stored and taken out to thaw as needed. If you add the sauce as well, separate the meatballs and sauce into portions before freezing, so that it's easy to thaw.

Nutrition