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Fresh food is the smallest corner of our database so far, nine scored recipes, and this list shows all of them rather than padding a top ten with foods from other formats. Fresh recipes are cooked, portioned products sold chilled or frozen, and their labels read more like a meal's than a kibble's: short panels, named meats, vegetables you could buy yourself.
Short panels score well on depth signals only when the protein is really there, so read the dry matter protein on each pick before assuming fresh means richer. The format's real costs are money and freezer space, neither of which our rubric scores.
Pool: all 9 scored fresh recipes in the database. Shown: all 9, ranked by score. The list grows only when we read and score more fresh labels.
Scores come from the rubric published on the dog food hub: nine signals read from each recipe's own label and the FDA record, scaled to 100 across the signals we could verify. Stars are the score divided by 20, rounded to the nearest half, so the two never disagree. One exclusion applies to every list: a recipe whose label is supplemental only (a topper or mixer, not a complete diet) is never ranked as a dog food here, however simple its panel is. Labels were read in November 2026; when the database grows or a label changes, the list is re-run and recipes move on their new numbers, not on anyone's say so.
| Rank | Recipe | Score / 100 | Protein, dry matter | Format | Brand FDA events |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FreshPrey Beef, Pork & Lamb Recipe Orijen | 75 ★★★★☆ | 56% | Fresh food | 0 |
| 2 | FreshPrey Turkey, Salmon & Pork Recipe Orijen | 75 ★★★★☆ | 54.5% | Fresh food | 0 |
| 3 | FreshPrey Turkey, Salmon & Pork Recipe with Grains Orijen | 75 ★★★★☆ | 48% | Fresh food | 0 |
| 4 | FreshPrey Beef, Pork & Lamb Recipe with Grains Orijen | 75 ★★★★☆ | 46.7% | Fresh food | 0 |
| 5 | FreshPrey Chicken & Duck Recipe Orijen | 72 ★★★½☆ | 54.5% | Fresh food | 0 |
| 6 | FreshPrey Chicken & Duck Recipe with Grains Orijen | 72 ★★★½☆ | 48% | Fresh food | 0 |
| 7 | Fresh Selects Beef & Brown Rice Merrick | 57 ★★★☆☆ | 26% | Fresh food | 4 |
| 8 | Fresh Selects Chicken & Brown Rice Merrick | 57 ★★★☆☆ | 26% | Fresh food | 4 |
| 9 | Fresh Selects Turkey & Brown Rice Merrick | 57 ★★★☆☆ | 25% | Fresh food | 4 |
Score 75 of 100 · ★★★★☆ · Orijen brand review
A fresh recipe scoring 75 of 100, with protein at 56% on a dry matter basis. The panel opens with Beef, a named whole meat. Protein reads 14% as labelled, 56% with the water taken out. Fat reads 8% as labelled. Calories run 766 a 16 oz pouch. Our November 2026 check found no FDA posted recall events for Orijen. Its adequacy claim rests on formulation against the AAFCO profiles rather than on feeding trials.
Score 75 of 100 · ★★★★☆ · Orijen brand review
A fresh recipe scoring 75 of 100, with protein at 54.5% on a dry matter basis. The panel opens with Turkey, a named whole meat. Protein reads 12% as labelled, 54.5% with the water taken out. Fat reads 5% as labelled. Calories run 563 a 16 oz pouch. Our November 2026 check found no FDA posted recall events for Orijen. Its adequacy claim rests on formulation against the AAFCO profiles rather than on feeding trials.
Score 75 of 100 · ★★★★☆ · Orijen brand review
A fresh recipe scoring 75 of 100, with protein at 48% on a dry matter basis. The panel opens with Turkey, a named whole meat. Protein reads 12% as labelled, 48% with the water taken out. Fat reads 5% as labelled. Calories run 640 a 16 oz pouch. Our November 2026 check found no FDA posted recall events for Orijen. Its adequacy claim rests on formulation against the AAFCO profiles rather than on feeding trials.
Score 75 of 100 · ★★★★☆ · Orijen brand review
A fresh recipe scoring 75 of 100, with protein at 46.7% on a dry matter basis. The panel opens with Beef, a named whole meat. Protein reads 14% as labelled, 46.7% with the water taken out. Fat reads 8% as labelled. Calories run 810 a 16 oz pouch. Our November 2026 check found no FDA posted recall events for Orijen. Its adequacy claim rests on formulation against the AAFCO profiles rather than on feeding trials.
Score 72 of 100 · ★★★½☆ · Orijen brand review
A fresh recipe scoring 72 of 100, with protein at 54.5% on a dry matter basis. The panel opens with Chicken, a named whole meat. Protein reads 12% as labelled, 54.5% with the water taken out. Fat reads 6% as labelled. Calories run 584 a 16 oz pouch. Our November 2026 check found no FDA posted recall events for Orijen. Its adequacy claim rests on formulation against the AAFCO profiles rather than on feeding trials.
Score 72 of 100 · ★★★½☆ · Orijen brand review
A fresh recipe scoring 72 of 100, with protein at 48% on a dry matter basis. The panel opens with Chicken, a named whole meat. Protein reads 12% as labelled, 48% with the water taken out. Fat reads 6% as labelled. Calories run 641 a 16 oz pouch. Our November 2026 check found no FDA posted recall events for Orijen. Its adequacy claim rests on formulation against the AAFCO profiles rather than on feeding trials.
Score 57 of 100 · ★★★☆☆ · Merrick brand review
A fresh recipe scoring 57 of 100, with protein at 26% on a dry matter basis. The panel opens with Deboned Beef, a named whole meat. Protein reads 6.5% as labelled, 26% with the water taken out. Fat reads 6% as labelled. Calories run 664 a 18 oz packet. The brand carries 4 FDA posted recall events in our check, dated on its review page. One watch item: the brand's recall record is the longest side of its score. The events run from 2010 to 2018.
Score 57 of 100 · ★★★☆☆ · Merrick brand review
A fresh recipe scoring 57 of 100, with protein at 26% on a dry matter basis. The panel opens with Deboned Chicken, a named whole meat. Protein reads 6.5% as labelled, 26% with the water taken out. Fat reads 6% as labelled. Calories run 590 a 18 oz packet. The brand carries 4 FDA posted recall events in our check, dated on its review page. One watch item: the brand's recall record is the longest side of its score. The events run from 2010 to 2018.
Score 57 of 100 · ★★★☆☆ · Merrick brand review
A fresh recipe scoring 57 of 100, with protein at 25% on a dry matter basis. The panel opens with Deboned Turkey, a named whole meat. Protein reads 6% as labelled, 25% with the water taken out. Fat reads 3% as labelled. Calories run 598 a 18 oz packet. The brand carries 4 FDA posted recall events in our check, dated on its review page. One watch item: the brand's recall record is the longest side of its score. The events run from 2010 to 2018.
Fresh food lives and dies by the cold chain: thaw in the fridge, serve within the maker's stated days, and wash bowls after every meal, because a cooked fresh recipe carries the same surface bacteria risks as your own leftovers.
Whichever food you choose, change over about a week, mixing more of the new food into the old each day, and portion by calories rather than by the look of the bowl. Our feeding calculator works out a daily amount from your dog's weight once you have the recipe's calorie line, which every review page here prints.
Every recipe above also has its own review in the reviews index, and every brand's record is on the recall tracker.
Last updated: November 2026. Checked against the sources named on this page.