~ These easy, 4-ingredient Homemade Dog Treats are the perfect way to use up leftover Thanksgiving turkey! (Or, try them any time of year with leftover chicken.) Even better, though? They freeze beautifully, and make darling DIY holiday gifts for all the beloved pups in your life! ~

This Recipe Is:  •  Freezable  •  Make Ahead  •

Got some leftover turkey you’d like to use up? (Or even leftover chicken – that’ll work just fine, too!)

Well, then you’ve definitely got a happy pooch!

Our pup, Finn, can vouch for that.

He’s kind of a picky little guy, and I’m often surprised at how many store-bought dog treats he doesn’t like … or he eventually gets tired of. (I mean, seriously – what dog gets tired of treats?!?)

I modeled this new dog biscuit recipe after our wildly popular 4-Ingredient Chicken and Biscuits Homemade Dog Treats, hoping to hit on a pup-pleasing flavor combo that would be absolutely perfect for using up leftover bits of Thanksgiving turkey. (Because you know I hate food waste, and I’m always looking for handy little tricks to use up leftovers.)

Of course, though, you can use leftover sweet potatoes if you have them. Just be sure that you’re using only plain sweet potatoes – not ones that have been mashed with butter or topped with marshmallows or sprinkled with spices. You want absolutely plain-jane sweet potatoes here.

The Right Turkey (Or Chicken)

When you’re picking over the leftover turkey, make sure to avoid any little bones, and try not to include too much of the fatty skin (especially if your holiday bird was roasted with a lot of spices or salt that’s still clinging to it).

And, just like with our Chicken and Biscuits Dog Treats and our 2-Ingredient Frozen Dog Treats – you can use leftover bits of chicken here, too – instead of turkey. I guarantee your pup will be okey-dokey with either choice!

Handy tip: If you don’t have time to make these dog treats right away, you can always freeze the bits of meat in pre-measured baggies, so you can whip up a batch of these later, when you’ve got a spare moment.

Choose Your Shape (Hint: We’re Going for EASY Here!)

So, shapes. You’re not seeing any adorable little doggy-bone cookie cutters here, are you? Nah – who’s got the time?!?

As I mentioned in the recipe for our Chicken and Biscuits Treats, I don’t see the point in wasting time with cute cookie-cutter shapes. I’m not sure about your dog, but Finny couldn’t care less whether his treats come in circles or rectangles or adorably-time-consuming-cut-out-doggy-shapes. He’s all like “JUST GIVE THEM TO ME!”

All you have to do is drop the dough by rounded spoonfuls onto your parchment-lined baking sheet, and flatten them slightly with the back of your measuring spoon. Yep – easy!

Rectangles (Even EASIER!) – I was perfectly happy with that first method, until a reader (thanks, Mark! 😉 ) suggested an even easier idea that I adore and highly recommend.

Just roll your doggy-dough out flat, and use a knife (or – easier still) a pizza cutter to score the dough into rectangles or squares before baking.

Once your dog treats come out of the oven, you can cut or break them apart along the score lines.

So simple, either way!

You’re done in a jiffy, with lots of extra time to play fetch or do some serious, behind-the-ear scritching.

Adjust the Size

You can definitely adjust the size of these treats, depending on how big your own dog is, and whether you’d like to use these as little training biscuits or larger “good boy” treats.

Start with our basic guidelines, and adjust as needed.

If you’re shaping round “drop biscuits,” a good guide is that you’ll need about 12-14 minutes to bake these in a larger tablespoon-size. Or, if you’re shaping smaller biscuits by the teaspoon, you can bake them for about a minute or two less.

If you’re using our “easiest” option of rolling these out flat and scoring them before baking, then your bake time will remain the same (about 30 minutes), no matter what size of rectangle-shapes you score into the biscuit dough, as long as the thickness of the dough remains consistent at about 1/2-inch.

And honestly, it’s nothing to stress over if these go a few minutes too long in the oven (you know … when your kids sidetrack you by asking for homework help on stuff you learned 20 years ago and haven’t used in your life even once since then *eeek*). If these over-bake a little, they’ll just be a bit crunchier (they’re not inherently super crunchy – they’re intended to be a bit soft).

An Easy Make-Ahead Gift Idea

These dog biscuits freeze beautifully. (I actually keep Finn’s stash of these in an air-tight zippered bag in the freezer, and they last for weeks and weeks.)

Bake up a batch or two after Thanksgiving, and store them in the freezer for a couple of weeks until the holidays. They make for an adorable little DIY gift for family, friends, and neighbors who have dogs!

Because wasn’t the 10th Day of Christmas “10 Puppies a Munching”? (Or was it “10 Maids a Milking”? “Lords a Leaping”???)

Well anyway … Happy, Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

And Happy “Puppies a Munching” … whatever day that happens!