Sardine Dog Biscuits

Sardine Dog Biscuits are easily made at home with just 2 ingredients. All you need are tinned sardines plus your choice of flour: wheat-free, gluten-free or grain-free if necessary.

Without the additives of many shop bought dog treats, you’ll know exactly what’s in these biscuits. And all fish-loving dogs will crave them!

For this post, I made a batch of wheat-free biscuits with oatmeal and rice flour, and gluten/grain-free biscuits with chickpea and coconut flours. But almost any flour can be used.

Crispy and crunchy, Sardine Dog Biscuits will keep for at least 2 weeks.

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Everyone who knows me understands that as well as being a foodie, I’m also a crazy dog lady 😄.

As far as I’m concerned, it’s not just humans who deserve healthy, wholesome food and great tasting treats, but also our four-legged family members.

In the early days of Moorlands Eater, I posted dog friendly recipes for Pupcakes and Turkey, Sage & Cranberry Dog Biscuits. But I’ve been a little remiss in adding more.

So, in honour of my cocker spaniel Larkin, here’s a recipe for the Sardine Dog Biscuits I made for his recent seventh birthday.

He absolutely adored them. I think your pooch will too!

TINNED SARDINES

In our house, there’s always a stash of tinned sardines. And that’s for the dog as well as humans.

As an oily fish, sardines are high in long-chain omega-3 fatty acids which are said to be good for heart health. They’re also a source of Vitamin D.

I prefer boneless sardines in olive oil for myself. But for Larkin, who has them at least once a week incorporated into his meals, I buy whole sardines in nothing but spring water.

Apart from being considerably cheaper, the edible bones also include calcium which is good for his bones.

You can use any type of tinned sardines for Sardine Dog Biscuits. Personally, I would avoid those in brine due to the higher salt levels.

But sardines in sunflower oil or even tomato sauce will be fine if your dog likes them.

Whichever type of sardines you have, drain off the liquid but keep it. You’ll need a little to moisten the dough.

To make the dough, you simply mash the sardines, mix them with flour plus a little of the drained liquid.

FLOUR

You can use any type of flour for these biscuits. For dogs who are fine with wheat, then ordinary plain white or wholemeal flour is probably the cheapest.

But there are loads of other options, whether you need to avoid wheat flour or all grains.

My dog can tolerate pretty much everything, but I think oats are very wholesome so often make biscuits for him with oatmeal. I always have it in the cupboard anyway, for things like Homemade Digestive Biscuits, Staffordshire Oatcakes and Scottish Oatcakes.

Oatmeal can be a little sticky to roll out, so I sometimes dust the dough with rice flour.

If you want to go completely grain free, then gram flour (made from chickpeas) and coconut flour are good options.

Like oatmeal, gram flour can be sticky, so I used a little coconut flour for rolling out the gram flour dough. Alternatively, you could use all coconut flour, although it is more expensive.

The amount of liquid you need to bring the dough together will vary depending on which flours you use. For example, coconut flour can be particularly thirsty.

As the sardines themselves are moist, I’ve always found that the liquid drained from the sardines is plenty.

But if you do need more to bring the dough together then you can use plain water or low salt stock. If your dog is okay with dairy then milk or plain yogurt are good too.

ROLLING & CUTTING OUT

While bone shaped biscuits look very cute, it can be a bit of a bind to keep gathering together all the dough scraps and re-rolling. So I make mainly square biscuits these days.

First, I roll out the dough, quite thinly, on baking parchment. I roll it into an approximate rectangle then use a pizza wheel to neaten the edges and cut the rectangle into squares.

Next, I roll out just the bits of dough I cut off the edges and make these into a few bone-shaped biscuits. I place these on the baking parchment alongside the others and transfer the whole thing to a baking tray.

BAKING SARDINE DOG BISCUITS

The time needed to bake Sardine Dog Biscuits so they’re crunchy all the way through will vary depending on how wet your dough was and how thinly you rolled it. And you really do want to make sure that the biscuits are completely dry. Apart from a nicer texture, this improves their keeping qualities.

I find that my biscuits take around 45 minutes to bake.

Note that the biscuits at the outer edges of the baking tray tend to cook quicker. So just take them out and put the rest back in the oven to finish off. I also find that Sardine Dog Biscuits (presumably due to the moist fish) benefit from being turned over to finish cooking.

By the way, if your dog loves fish as much as Larkin does, they’ll probably just want to sit next to the oven while these biscuits are baking!

STORING & FEEDING SARDINE DOG BISCUITS

As the biscuits are cooked, transfer them to a wire rack to cool. Once completely cold (and after maybe giving a couple to your in-house recipe tester) store the biscuits in a jar or other airtight container.

They should keep for at least two weeks and possibly much longer. I’ve also found that thin biscuits can be frozen and fed without defrosting. I haven’t tried defrosting biscuits so can’t tell you whether they’d remain crunchy.

You’ll need one standard tin of sardines to make one tray of biscuits. So, if you want to make a larger batch for the freezer or to share with doggie friends, just multiply everything up.

I’m pretty sure your dog is going to love these sardine biscuits, but the recipe will also work with tinned tuna, salmon, mackerel or pilchards.

I think you’ll be happy too, knowing that your dog’s treat is made with natural, wholesome ingredients.

If you’ve made Sardine Dog Biscuits I’d love to know what you thought.

Please leave a comment below, letting me know if your pooch enjoyed them and don’t forget to rate the recipe!

4.67 from 3 votes

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Sardine Dog Biscuits

Sardine Dog Biscuits are easily made at home with just 2 ingredients.

Wheat-free, plus gluten and grain-free if necessary, all you need are tinned sardines plus your choice of flour.

Course Snack, Biscuit

Cuisine gluten-free, grain-free, Dog Friendly

Keyword wheat-free

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Servings 1 tray of biscuits

Author Moorlands Eater

Ingredients

• 90 g tinned sardines (drained weight) see Recipe Note #1
• 60 g oatmeal or other flour (plus extra for rolling out) see Recipe Notes #2 and #3 for alternatives, including grain-free

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180C / 160C Fan / Gas 4.

   Cut a piece of baking or greaseproof paper to fit a baking tray approx 30 x 20 cm.

2. Drain the sardines, but keep the liquid you've drained off.

   Put the sardines in a bowl and roughly mash with a fork.

3. Add the oatmeal or other flour to the sardines.

   Add one tablespoon of the reserved liquid and mix together to form a dough, adding more liquid as needed without making the dough too wet.

   Briefly knead the dough on a surface dusted with oatmeal or flour to finish bringing it together.

4. Put the cut piece of baking paper on the worksurface and sprinkle with a little more oatmeal or flour.

   Place the dough on top, sprinkle it and a rolling pin with more oatmeal or flour, then roll out thinly (2-3 mm) into a rough rectangle.

   Take a knife or pizza wheel and cut the dough into squares or smaller rectangles. Tip: neaten the rectangle first by cutting off the rough edges. These scraps of dough can then be re-rolled and cut into more biscuits with a cookie cutter if liked.

5. Transfer the baking paper with the biscuits onto a baking tray and put in the oven on a middle shelf.

   Bake until the biscuits are dry and cooked all the way through (40-50 minutes).

   - The biscuits at the edge of the tray may cook more quickly: remove and transfer to a wire rack when done and continue cooking the rest.

   - Turning the biscuits over half way through will help to ensure even cooking.

6. Leave the cooked biscuits on the wire rack until completely cold then store in an airtight container.

   Biscuits should stay fresh for at least 2 weeks.

   Cooked biscuits can also be frozen and fed without defrosting if they have been rolled thinly.

Recipe Notes

#1  My preference is for sardines in spring water, but any tinned sardines will work. You'll need 1 standard sized tin to make 1 tray of biscuits. After draining, this will give you around 90g of sardines. Don't discard the drained liquid as you'll use some of it in the recipe. Tinned pilchards, tuna, mackerel or salmon can also be used.

#2  If you can't get oatmeal, make your own by whizzing rolled oats or porridge oats in a blender or food processor.

#3  Substitute almost any flour or combinations of flour for the oatmeal. Besides oats, another good wheat-free alternative is rice flour. Rice flour is also less sticky than oats so is good for rolling out an oat-based dough.

Gram (chickpea) flour or coconut flour are good choices for grain-free or gluten-free dog biscuits. Gram flour can be sticky to roll out: a dusting of coconut flour helps.

If your dog isn't sensitive to wheat then ordinary white or wholemeal flour can be used.

Note that different flours absorb different amounts of liquid. Plain water, low salt stock, milk or yogurt can be used if there isn't sufficient liquid from the drained sardines.

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