Chickpea flour is the perfect ingredient for limited ingredient dog treats. Chickpeas (or garbanzo beans)add a healthy boost of protein and fiber to your dog’s diet, plus they’re easy to digest and low on the allergy scale for dogs.
Why should my dog eat chickpeas?
If your dog is on a limited ingredient diet due to allergies— especially protein allergies, the humble chickpea’s protein boost won’t upset her digestion while boosting her protein intake.
For the dog on a diet, the high fiber content of chickpeas will help her feel full while eating less.
For this recipe, we’ll be using chickpea in the form of flour, and we will use that to replace the regular wheat flour most people use for baking.
Chickpeas are legumes, so chickpea flour is perfect for making grain-free dog treats.
You can substitute chickpea flour for regular flour in any dog treat recipe. Just like with coconut flour, you will typically need a little less chickpea flour so replace it at 3/4 cup for each 1 cup of regular flour and add more as necessary.
Where can I find chickpea flour?
You might find chickpea flour in a few different places in your local grocery store. Look for chickpea flour in the baking section, the gluten-free section, the natural food section, or the international section of your favorite grocery store. Chickpea flour is used in human cooking to make falafel, garden burgers, breads and fritters, and is a popular ingredient in Indian cuisine. If you can’t find chickpea flour in your area, Amazon has you covered.
How to make your own chickpea flour
You can make your own chickpea flour by grinding dried chickpeas in your food processor. Dried chickpeas are pretty hard, so you may need to sift the resulting powder, and re-grind any larger particles using a coffee grinder or spice grinder.
Grain Free Chickpea Dog Treats
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 22 minutes
- Total Time: 32 minutes
- Yield: 2 dozen medium cookies 1x
- Category: Limited ingredient dog treats
Ingredients
- 1 cup chickpea flour plus more to flour board
- 1/2 cup plain unsweetened applesauce or pumpkin puree
- 2 Tbsp peanut butter (make sure there is no Xylitol)
- optional: a dusting of stone ground oats for visual appeal
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Mix the chickpea flour, applesauce, and peanut butter together in a large bowl
Roll to a 1/4″ thickness, dusting the board with additional flour or a sprinkle of steel cut oats for visual contrast
Cut out your dog biscuits with your favorite cookie cutters and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet
Bake cookies for 22 minute or until just golden brown around the edges
When done, you can turn off the oven but leave your baking sheets inside for a crunchier cookie, just keep an eye out that they don’t over brown
When cool, store your dog cookies in an airtight container for longer shelf life.
Tasting notes
Bea says these are the perfect treat to fuel an afternoon of fetch.
Homemade dog treats
Homemade dog treats have no preservatives, which is excellent for your dog, but means they won’t last as long as store-bought options. Be sure and store your cookies in an airtight container, and use your cookies up within a week or two at most. The less moisture in your cookies, the longer they’ll last, so be sure and bake your cookies thoroughly for longer shelf life.
Dog treats are not a replacement for nutritionally balanced dog food. Treats should never make up more than 10% of your dog’s diet (though they might be the best part.)
