Orijen Original Pâté with Liver review

Orijen · Original Pâté with Liver · Wet food · All life stages

91 / 100Our label score

★★★★½4.5 of 5 stars, from the score

10%Crude protein (min)

447kcal per 12.8 oz

0FDA recall events for the brand

On the facts printed on its own label, Orijen Original Pâté with Liver scores 91 out of 100 on our rubric: top of the range we have scored. The panel opens with Chicken, and the first ingredient signal earns 20 of its 20 points. At 10% crude protein it ranks 41 of the 44 Orijen recipes we scored for protein. Crude fat reads 7%.

Its adequacy claim rests on formulation: balanced on paper against the AAFCO nutrient profiles rather than fed to dogs in a trial. Our November 2026 check of FDA records found no posted dog food recall events for Orijen.

The panel runs to 26 ingredient lines. 9 of them are animal source lines and 3 are plant lines. The first added fat appears at line 20, so 19 lines sit ahead of it in the recipe by weight. Salt appears at line 17 of 26: ingredients listed after salt are present in small amounts, a standard reading aid for long panels. The vitamin and mineral pack begins around line 19; the 8 lines from there on are mostly supplements, preservatives and functional extras rather than staple foods.

The label facts

Maker	Champion Petfoods
Format	Wet food
Life stage	All life stages
Full ingredient list, in label order	Chicken turkey chicken bone broth turkey bone broth chicken liver turkey liver cod broccoli carrots turkey heart chicken heart natural pork flavor herring pumpkin guar gum agar-agar salt potassium chloride minerals (zinc proteinate, iron proteinate, selenium yeast, copper proteinate, cobalt proteinate, manganese proteinate, potassium iodide) herring oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols) vitamins (thiamine mononitrate, vitamin E supplement, niacin supplement, calcium pantothenate, vitamin A supplement, riboflavin supplement, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, vitamin D3 supplement, folic acid) choline chloride inulin turmeric sodium carbonate magnesium sulfate
Guaranteed analysis	Crude protein (min) 10% · crude fat (min) 7% · crude fibre (max) 1.5% · moisture (max) 78%
Dry matter reading	With the water taken out, the same analysis reads 45.5% protein and 31.8% fat. Dry matter is how wet and dry foods can be compared fairly.
Calories	1,231 kcal/kg, 447 kcal per 12.8 oz, as labelled
AAFCO adequacy	ORIJEN Paté with Liver Original Dog Food is formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles for All Life Stages, except for growth of large size dogs (70 lb. or more as an adult).
Price	Not listed. We publish a price only when we have verified it from a dated listing, and we had not for this recipe when the label was read.

How the score breaks down

Signal	Points	What the label shows
First ingredient	20 / 20	Chicken, a named whole animal protein, opens the panel.
Animal protein depth, first 10 ingredients	15 / 15	6 of the first ten ingredients are named animal ingredients.
Protein level for the life stage	15 / 15	Crude protein reads 45.5% on a dry matter basis (water removed), read against the all life stages stage the label claims.
Fat level fit	3 / 10	Crude fat reads 31.8% on a dry matter basis (water removed).
Whole foods versus filler-flagged ingredients	10 / 10	None of the rubric's flagged ingredients appears in the first ten.
Artificial colours and preservatives	10 / 10	No artificial colours, colour-retention chemicals or artificial preservatives appear in the panel.
AAFCO adequacy basis	8 / 10	Formulated to meet AAFCO profiles for all life stages, including growth of large size dogs.
FDA recall history	10 / 10	No FDA posted dog food recall events for this brand were found in our November 2026 check.
Price tier	Not scored	Not scored in this round. We publish a price only when we have verified it from a dated listing.
Total	91 / 100	Scaled from 91 of 100 available points. Stars are the score divided by 20, rounded to the nearest half. The method is published in full on the dog food hub.

Ingredient notes: the first ten, one by one

Definitions below are written from AAFCO's ingredient definitions in our own words. They describe what an ingredient is, never what a brand claims about it.

Chicken. Chicken is the named meat in fresh form. Panel order is set by weight before cooking, and fresh meat is mostly water, so its share of the finished food is smaller than its place at the top suggests.
turkey. turkey is the named meat in fresh form. Panel order is set by weight before cooking, and fresh meat is mostly water, so its share of the finished food is smaller than its place at the top suggests.
chicken bone broth. chicken bone broth is a cooking liquid from the named animal. It brings flavour and moisture, and in a wet food it is most of the weight in the can.
turkey bone broth. turkey bone broth is a cooking liquid from the named animal. It brings flavour and moisture, and in a wet food it is most of the weight in the can.
chicken liver. chicken liver is organ tissue from a named animal. Organs are dense in vitamins, minerals and amino acids, and they are a normal part of what a dog is built to eat.
turkey liver. turkey liver is organ tissue from a named animal. Organs are dense in vitamins, minerals and amino acids, and they are a normal part of what a dog is built to eat.
cod. cod is a named fish, bringing animal protein and, in oily species, omega 3 fats. Fish first panels suit dogs that react to land meats.
broccoli. broccoli is a fruit or vegetable inclusion. At panel positions like this the amounts are small; treat them as garnish with benefits, not a nutrient pillar.
carrots. carrots is a fruit or vegetable inclusion. At panel positions like this the amounts are small; treat them as garnish with benefits, not a nutrient pillar.
turkey heart. turkey heart is organ tissue from a named animal. Organs are dense in vitamins, minerals and amino acids, and they are a normal part of what a dog is built to eat.

Who it suits

Homes that want one bag to cover a puppy and an adult dog together
Owners who want a named whole meat, not a meal or a plant, at the top of the panel
Picky eaters and older dogs: wet food smells stronger and is easier to chew

Who should skip it

Owners who specifically want a food proven in feeding trials rather than by formulation
Large dog homes on a budget: wet food takes several cans a day at big-dog calories

The brand's recall record

No FDA posted dog food recall events for this brand were found in our November 2026 check of FDA recall records. That is a statement about what we could verify, not proof of a perfect history.

See the full dog food recall tracker for recent events across all brands.

Other Orijen recipes we scored

Recipe	Score / 100	Protein	Format
Original	98	38%	Dry food
Six Fish	98	40%	Dry food
Regional Red	98	38%	Dry food
Tundra	98	40%	Dry food
Puppy Large	98	38%	Dry food
Small Breed	98	38%	Dry food
Amazing Grains Original	98	38%	Dry food
Amazing Grains Regional Red	98	38%	Dry food
Amazing Grains Puppy Large	98	38%	Dry food
Wild Reserve Free-Run Chicken	98	38%	Dry food
Wild Reserve Free-Run Chicken & Grain	98	38%	Dry food
Wild Reserve Wild-Caught Fish	98	40%	Dry food

Those are the twelve highest scoring of the 43 other Orijen recipes we scored. The full comparison, flagship review included, is on the Orijen brand review.

Feeding it

Switch foods gradually over about a week, mixing more of the new food into the old each day. Portion by calories, not by the look of the bowl: our feeding calculator works out a daily amount from your dog's weight, and this recipe's calorie line above is the number it needs.

What that means at the bowl, for a typical neutered adult (resting energy 70 times body weight to the power 0.75, times 1.6; treats come out of the same budget):

Dog's weight	Daily energy	Of this recipe, at 447 kcal a can
3 kg	about 255 kcal	about 0.6 cans
10 kg	about 630 kcal	about 1.4 cans
20 kg	about 1,059 kcal	about 2.4 cans
30 kg	about 1,436 kcal	about 3.2 cans

Puppies, pregnant dogs and very active dogs need more; older and weight watching dogs need less. The calculator linked above adjusts for those cases.

Orijen Original Pâté with Liver: our recipe review