Earlier this summer I bought some popsicle molds at the dollar store. I imagined making some delicious frozen mojito popsicles for myself. But, of course, I never got around to that! Instead decided to make some gourmet pupsicles for my dogs Lola and Lucy. There are still plenty of hot and humid Summer days left, and the girls need to cool off! Although, I’m sure they wouldn’t mind eating these in the dead of winter either.
This gourmet pupsicle recipe is for a frozen dog treat that can be made with all kinds of healthy dog-friendly ingredients. Plain yogurt is a great base ingredient to start with, and you’ll see we can get creative from there!
This easy frozen dog treat recipe is not only fun to make, but it’s actually healthy for your dogs! So many store bought treats contain extra ingredients that you don’t really need. That’s why I love making my own homemade dog popsicles (and other treats!) because I know exactly what’s in them. Healthy dogs are happy dogs! I hope you and your pups enjoy these as much as we do!
Choosing Healthy Pupsicle Ingredients
I got the idea to use peanut butter from my friend Mary Withrow who volunteers at the Animal Rescue League. She said the peanut butter helps the pupsicles to come out of the mold more easily because of the oiliness of it. When buying peanut butter for dog treats, always make sure that it’s xylitol free. I buy this one because it also doesn’t have any added sugar or salt.
Update: When I originally made this recipe I used Milkbones as the pupsicle “stick.” Nowadays I prefer to use freeze dried raw or single ingredient treats as much as I can. I recently made a new pupsicle recipe using freeze dried fish as the stick, along with other super healthy ingredients!
Frozen Dog Popsicle Treats are Quick and Easy
What I love about making healthy pupsicles is that they’re so quick and easy to make! You don’t need to bake, in fact, you barely need to mix!
While we’re layering ingredients in, I always add plain yogurt. The active cultures in yogurt can be good for your dog’s digestion. If my pups have an upset tummy I always add a tablespoon to their food.
Make sure that you are using 100% PLAIN yogurt. Not vanilla or any other flavor. Flavored yogurt has a ton of added sugar – you’d be surprised if you looked at the labels, I know I was! Sugar is very bad for dog so I always make sure what I feed them doesn’t have any added sugar or cane syrup.
For these pupsicles, I put 3 frozen blueberries on the top of each one. Blueberries are great for your dog because of all their antioxidants! I recently talked to Dr. Judy Morgan who said that she gives her dogs plain blueberries as treats!
*Another healthy ingredient to add to your homemade dog treats is gelatin! Always go for the plain kind, just like with yogurt. Gelatin contains collagen and is great for dogs with arthritis. I make gelatin treats as easy to give pill pockets for the dogs.
DIY: Gourmet Pupsicles Recipe
Ingredients:
Peanut Butter (get this one! it has no sugar, salt or xylitol)
Plain Yogurt
Frozen Blueberries
Water
Treats “sticks” (why not get creative with minnows or chicken jerky)
Directions:
Layer all ingredients, in the order listed, into your pupsicle mold. You can use something like this or even simple dixie cups. Stick your treat in last to serve as your “stick” so you can easily pull the pupsicle out of the mold later. Freeze for at least 4 hours or overnight. Pop out and enjoy!
The trick to getting them out is to let them warm up at room temp for a few minutes. Then just gently twist the treat to release the whole frozen treat. Lola and Lucy LOVED these! We’ll definitely be making them again, maybe even experimenting with different ingredients like beef broth and canned pumpkin. I also love this post from Kol’s Notes on a Coconut Milk Pupsicles DIY – those sound like something I would want for myself, too!
This is part of the Tasty Tuesday Blog Hop hosted by Kol’s Notes and Sugar the Golden Retriever.
ABOUT THE BLOGGER
Tori Mistick is an influencer, educator, podcaster and founder of the award-winning dog mom lifestyle brand Wear Wag Repeat. Her mission is to help women live their best life with dogs – as pet parents and petpreneurs! Her dog mom advice has been featured in BuzzFeed, Good Morning America and The Wall Street Journal. Tori is currently mom to two chocolate labs, Lucy and Burt (who she adopted as a special needs senior dog). They love to discover dog friendly things to do in Pittsburgh and the surrounding area.
Looking for more quick and easy DIY dog treat recipes? Check out these posts:
Goat Milk and Kale Pupsicles
3 Frozen Pumpkin Dog Treat Recipes
Treat Recipe + DIY Doggy Bag
A Healthy Smoothie You Can Share with Your Dog
They look amazing! Might I recommend using a Jones Beef Liver Taffy or Big Paw Jerky instead of the Milkbone?
I’m up for anything! Where can I buy them in Pittsburgh?
Those look so tasty I want one! 😉 What a clever way to cool the pups off while also giving them a treat-treat.
Jules of Canines & Couture
http://www.caninesandcouture.com
I know, right? It’s temping for me to do a taste test myself! Thanks for checking out my blog by the way. I’d love to partner up in some way since we have such similar interests!
My mom been thinking to buy one of those pupsicle mold. She been contemplating as she thinks its too much for me to consume. We like the ingredients except for the MilkBone. Golden Thanks for sharing and Happy Tasty Tuesday. Lots of Golden Woofs, Sugar
Try to find the little Popsicle molds, these ones are pretty small. And especially for a Golden, they’re not too big! You could also use little dixie cups or a silicone ice cube tray (they pop out so easy in those!).
I love this, and it is good that my dogs can’t see your blog otherwise they would bug me to make them right now. Going to try this!
Simona Lake&Moon
You have to make these Simona! They are a major hit!
Isn’t that always the way? I buy some fancy new pan and I’m like “I’ll make human treats” and never fail, a few weeks later, they’re all full of dog treats.
Those do look delicious though! I love how you didn’t mix the ingredients up and you can see them running through the treats. Beautiful.
Glad you liked them – and thanks for stopping by my blog!
Maybe one day we’ll learn to make treats for ourselves! But for now, the doggies always win!
My dogs would love these! Especially love using the milkbone 🙂
I did break off a few milk bones when trying to get the pupsicles out of the molds! Oops! But generally it worked really well.
Can you something else then peanut butter?…I am allerg to peanut butter and try not to give to to my 3 dogs
Absolutely! You could use mashed up bananas instead of peanut butter and it would have a similar consistency. My dogs love banana so I’m sure they’d still eat them up!
That’s a fantastic idea!
Thank you! I hope you get to try them this summer!
What about coconut water?
Yes! Coconut water would be great in these!