8 Halloween Dog Treats, Baked and No Bake

Written by

Shell & Katy

Pet Photographers & Dog Lifestyle Writers

Updated 11 October 202610 min read

About Shell & Katy

Shell & Katy are two style-savvy dog mums celebrating the best in pet-friendly living. A pet photographer and dog lifestyle writer, together they share trending pet products, recipes, inspiration and expert tips with discerning dog lovers around the world.

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Spooky season is the one night of the year when the house fills up with food your dog absolutely cannot have, so the fair thing to do is make something that is theirs. Eight ideas below, half of them no bake and half out of the oven, and every one built on whole food your dog already eats.

Five come with the full method, and three are the pick of our homemade dog treat recipes that happen to suit the night.

If the costumes are still undecided, these dog and owner Halloween costumes are the other half of the evening.

No Bake Halloween Treats for Dogs

No bake treats suit Halloween better than baked ones, because the oven is usually busy and the schedule is not yours. The ones below need a fridge or a freezer and nothing else, and they are built on pumpkin puree, plain yogurt and grated carrot, with the Halloween part coming from the shape and the topper rather than anything added to the mix. Pumpkin is also a superfood for senior dogs, so the base is doing more than holding things together.

1. No Bake Pumpkin and Carrot Mummy Bites

Our most popular Halloween recipe, and the one to make if you only make one. Six dates do all the sweetening, so there is no sugar in the bowl at all, which is the same approach as our other sugar free dog treats. Makes 20 to 24 small balls in about 20 minutes of hands-on time.

Ingredients

• 6 Medjool dates, pitted
• 3/4 cup pumpkin puree, canned or homemade
• 1 1/2 cups almond meal
• 2 carrots
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp turmeric, plus extra for sprinkling
• Optional: crushed dehydrated liver treats, for black sprinkles

Method

1. If you are using fresh pumpkin, peel and cube it, steam it over boiling water for 30 to 40 minutes, cool it, then blend or mash it and refrigerate.
2. Soak the dates in warm water for 20 minutes. Cut out your toppers while you wait.
3. Dry the dates with paper towel, then blend them with the pumpkin puree in a food processor.
4. Grate the carrots, add them, and blend until smooth.
5. Pour into a mixing bowl, add the almond meal, cinnamon and turmeric, and mix. Add more almond meal if the puree is runny.
6. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
7. Seal the liver treats in a freezer bag and crush them with a rolling pin for sprinkles.
8. Roll the chilled mixture into balls, dusting your hands with almond meal if it sticks. Sprinkle with turmeric and crushed liver, then add the toppers.

Keeps five days in an airtight container in the fridge, or two months in the freezer. Thaw in the fridge rather than on the counter.

2. Frozen Monster Eye Yogurt Drops

The fastest thing on this list and the one small dogs like best. Each drop is a teaspoon of yogurt with a single blueberry pressed into the middle, which reads as an eyeball from across a room. Makes roughly 24.

Ingredients

• 1 cup plain unsweetened yogurt
• 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 24 blueberries

Method

1. Stir the yogurt and pumpkin puree together until the color is even.
2. Spoon teaspoon-sized drops onto a lined baking tray, leaving a little space between them.
3. Press one blueberry into the center of each drop.
4. Freeze for two hours, then lift them off the paper and serve straight from the freezer.

Keeps one month in a freezer bag. Check the yogurt tub lists nothing but milk and cultures, and start with one drop if your dog has not had dairy before.

3. Frozen Dog Treats for the Doorbell Hour

Something frozen and long-lasting is the most useful treat of the night, because it gives a dog a job in a quiet room while the front door keeps opening. Any of these frozen dog treat recipes work, and the ones set in silicone molds come out in Halloween shapes with no extra effort.

4. No Bake Coconut Ghost Bites

Rolled in desiccated coconut, these come out white and slightly lumpy, which is as close to a bedsheet ghost as a treat is going to get. Our no bake coconut dog treats have the method, and two currants pressed in for eyes finish the look.

Baked Pumpkin Dog Treats

Baked treats are firmer, hold a shape properly, and are worth making if you want something that survives an evening in a coat pocket. All three below use pumpkin, which is the most forgiving ingredient in dog baking because it binds a batter without much fat.

5. Baked Pumpkin and Ginger Treat Patties

Our original Halloween bake, updated with less honey than the first version called for. Teaspoon-sized patties, 15 minutes in the oven, and about 30 from one batch.

Ingredients

• 1 cup cooked pumpkin, pureed or finely mashed
• 1 1/2 cups rice flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tbsp freshly ground ginger
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• Water, to loosen the batter if needed

Method

1. Heat the oven to 175 C (350 F) and line a flat baking tray with baking paper.
2. Peel and cube the pumpkin, boil it until soft, drain it well and let it cool, then puree or mash it finely and refrigerate.
3. Mix the rice flour, cinnamon and ginger in a bowl.
4. Whisk the egg, honey and oil together in a larger bowl, then whisk in the chilled pumpkin.
5. Add the dry ingredients gradually and whisk until combined, adding a splash of water if the batter is too stiff to spoon.
6. Spoon teaspoon-sized portions onto the tray about an inch apart, flattening each into a mini patty.
7. Bake 15 minutes. A toothpick should come out clean. Cool completely before serving.

Keeps three days in an airtight container, then freeze what is left. Leave the honey out for puppies, and for any dog your vet has asked you to keep off added sugars, using a little extra pumpkin in its place.

6. Spiderweb Sweet Potato Rounds

Slow-baked sweet potato rounds come out chewy rather than crisp, and a thin spiral of yogurt dragged outward with a toothpick turns each one into a web. The baking is long but completely unattended.

Ingredients

• 1 medium sweet potato
• 2 tbsp plain unsweetened yogurt, for the webs

Method

1. Heat the oven to 120 C (250 F) and line a tray with baking paper.
2. Scrub the sweet potato and slice it into rounds about a quarter of an inch thick. Peeling is optional.
3. Lay the rounds out in a single layer and bake for two hours, turning them once halfway through.
4. Cool completely, or the yogurt will melt.
5. Spoon the yogurt into a corner-snipped sandwich bag, pipe two fine rings on each round, then drag a toothpick from the center outward four or five times to pull the web into shape.

Keeps a week undecorated, or three months in the freezer. Once the yogurt is on, serve the same day.

7. Tombstone Oat and Apple Bars

Cut into small rectangles with the top corners trimmed off, these pass convincingly for headstones on a party plate. Four ingredients, no added sugar, and firm enough to hold the shape. Makes about 16.

Ingredients

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1 apple, cored and grated, seeds discarded
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 egg

Method

1. Heat the oven to 175 C (350 F) and line an 8 inch square tin.
2. Mix everything in one bowl until it holds together, adding a splash of water if it crumbles.
3. Press into the tin to about half an inch thick, pushing it well into the corners.
4. Bake 25 minutes, until firm and dry to the touch.
5. Cool in the tin, then cut into small rectangles and trim the top two corners of each at an angle.

Keeps four days in an airtight container, or one month in the freezer.

8. Apple and Pumpkin Chew Sticks

For the dog who would rather work at something than swallow it in one go. Our homemade dog chew sticks with pumpkin bake down into firm sticks, and they are the most practical thing here to make well ahead of the night.

What Each Ingredient Does for Your Dog

Pumpkin carries fiber, vitamins A, C and E, and minerals including iron and potassium, and it is often the first thing a vet suggests for an unsettled stomach. Carrots do similar work with few enough calories to be hard to overdo. Medjool dates add fiber and B vitamins along with a lot of natural sugar, which is exactly why six of them go a long way in a batch of 24, and why these are a treat rather than a daily snack. The honey in the baked patties follows the same logic, which is why that quantity came down.

Two things to check before you start. Pumpkin pie filling is not pumpkin puree: it is sweetened and spiced, and the blend usually includes nutmeg, which is not safe for dogs, so buy plain puree and read the label. And make sure your dates are pitted before they go anywhere near the food processor. Cinnamon, ginger and turmeric are all fine in the small amounts used here, and our guide to herbs and spices for dogs covers which kitchen spices to leave on the shelf entirely.

Free Printable Toppers and Halloween Treat Bags

A printable topper is what turns a brown ball of pumpkin into something worth photographing. There are two sets here, and both print on white card rather than paper so they stand up. Cut them out and tape a toothpick to the back of each.

• Bat and witch hat topper set, which suits the mummy bites
• Boo flag topper, which suits the baked patties

Keep the toothpicks out of reach once the toppers are on, because a swallowed toothpick is a vet trip. If treats are leaving the house for other people's dogs, these DIY Halloween treat bags hold a few each, and they are worth labeling with the ingredients, since the dog at the other end may have allergies you know nothing about.

Dog Treat Portions and the 10 Percent Rule

Treats of any kind should stay at roughly 10 percent of a dog's daily calories, and a party plate makes that easy to lose track of. One or two of the richer items for a small dog, two or three for a larger one, and you can be more generous with the plain frozen and vegetable ones. If your dog has not had almond meal, dates or dairy before, start with half a treat and see how the next day goes. Dogs with a history of pancreatitis or a weight problem are a separate conversation, and the baked patties and the date-based bites are the two to ask your vet about first.

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Halloween Candy to Keep Away From Dogs

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Chocolate and xylitol are both genuinely dangerous to dogs, and Halloween puts a bowl of both at nose height for a whole evening. Dark and baking chocolate carry far more theobromine than milk, and our dog chocolate toxicity calculator will tell you how worried to be based on your dog's weight and what they got into. Xylitol is the more urgent of the two and turns up in sugar free gum and candy rather than in regular chocolate.

Raisins and macadamia nuts are the two that get forgotten, and wrappers matter as much as what was inside them. Keep the bowl up high rather than merely out of sight, sweep the floor before the dog comes back out, and call your vet straight away rather than waiting for symptoms. Our Halloween pet safety tips cover the front door and the decorations too.

For the wider list, the