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Liver Jerky Dog Treats – Recipe

When Barli is learning a new skill–or when I want Tiki or Barli to REALLY pay attention to me, I always rely on one kind of treat: liver. The strong scent of liver gets their attention and holds it. Liver is inexpensive and makes a healthy dog treat that’s easy to make. Liver jerky is easy to pop in your dog walking bag, break up to use in a stuffable dog toy or just treat your dog at the end of a long day!

Liver Jerky Dog Treats - Recipe

You can make liver jerky for your dog in your oven or in a dehydrator. If you have a dehydrator, you’ll find a recipe here on DogTipper for dehydrated chicken livers; follow it using beef liver to create liver jerky.

But I know that most of you will be using your ovens to create liver jerky–and it’s easy to do!

You’ll use one pound of liver for this recipe. I always purchase calf liver rather than beef liver because calf liver will contain fewer contaminants. (The liver, after all, filters the blood.) If you can find organic liver, that’s great.

First, preheat your oven to its lowest setting…which might be 180 degrees F., 170 degrees F or even 200 degrees F. They’ll all work!

Next, rinse the liver.

You’ll now want to cut the liver into strips about the width of your finger or a little less. If you’d prefer to give the jerky as individual treats, you can cut the liver into small squares.

Liver Jerky Dog Treats - raw

I used a raised baking rack to allow the heat to get under the liver and further dry the meat. I greased the rack with olive oil…but, for all future jerky, I’m going to simply cook it on parchment paper on a cookie sheet.

The liver is so soft that it “melts” on the rack and really becomes difficult to get off the rack in one piece.

dog looking at Liver Jerky Dog Treats

(Tiki says she doesn’t care if it comes off in one piece or not!)

Now, pop the jerky in the oven…and wait…

You’ll cook the liver a minimum of three hours…and that is for pliable jerky strips that are soft enough to use as pill pockets, if you need to.

Every two hours, flip the jerky to ensure that both sides are cooking evenly.

dogs enjoying Liver Jerky Dog Treats

If you want the jerky to be crispy, you’ll need to plan on cooking it five to seven hours, depending on the size of your slices, thickness of the liver and the humidity.

For very dry jerky, crack the oven door after you are done baking and allow the jerky to cool in the oven.

That’s it! One ingredient, a few hours of cooking time–and you will create a drool-worthy treat!

Liver Jerky Dog Treats

Liver Jerky Dog Treats

Use your oven to dehydrate beef liver for your dog!

Ingredients

  • 1 pound calf or beef liver

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to its lowest setting--somewhere between 170 and 200 degrees F.
  2. Cut liver into 1/2 to 1-inch strips.
  3. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
  4. Place liver strips on cookie sheet.
  5. Bake for three hours for pliable jerky, 5-7 hours for crispy jerky.
  6. Level of crispness will depend on thickness of jerky, width of treats and humidity level.
  7. For very dry treats, after baking, leave jerky in oven with oven door cracked to cool completely.
  8. Refrigerate for up to five days.

Would your dog love this recipe?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Pinterest

Sonya

Monday 2nd of January 2023

Great write-up! Will use a dehydrator to whip up a batch this morning, I used to make liver for dog shows but back then we boiled it and oven dried. This seems much easier. (FYI the liver does not retain toxins it just filters them; chemicals/toxins are retained in body fat)

Vicky Jooste Stoffberg

Sunday 1st of August 2021

Thanks for this recipe. What is best way to store the treats? How long does it last?

Paris Permenter & John Bigley

Monday 30th of August 2021

With all meat treats, take out only what you'd like to use that day then refrigerate the rest for 3-4 days. If you'll have more than you can use in 3-4 days, pop them in the freezer!

droewors

Friday 23rd of April 2021

This is a very informative blog, thanks for sharing about liver jerky dog treats recipe. It will help a lot; these types of content should get appreciated. I will bookmark your site; I hope to read more such informative contents in future.

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Sonja

Sunday 11th of April 2021

Can you fix it in a nuwave

Kathy Brown

Sunday 21st of February 2021

I was looking for beef jerky to fix in dehydrator but you gave the one for oven and not dehydrator so i was disappointed.

Tracy

Tuesday 27th of July 2021

If you read above the recipe box, there is a link for dehydrator beef jerky :)

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