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Beef and Pea Biscuit Bites for Dogs

Small, rich biscuit bites with a dinner plate heart: lean cooked beef crumbled fine with peas through a quinoa and egg dough.

Beef is the richest protein in this tranche, and these bites respect that by being small. Lean beef, cooked through and crumbled fine, folds through a quinoa dough with peas for color and a little sweetness, and the whole batch bakes into two dozen firm bites rather than a dozen large biscuits. A small dog gets a fragment; a large dog gets a bite that actually registers.

Beef's verdict conditions are all in the cut and the cooking: our beef verdict is yes in small amounts for plain, thoroughly cooked lean beef, fat trimmed, cooked without oil, butter or seasoning, and never raw. Ground beef at 90 percent lean or better, or a lean cut crumbled after cooking, is the starting point, and the fat you trimmed goes in the bin, not in the dough.

Recipe card

20 minutesPrep time
20 minutesCook time
About 24 small bitesYield
About 16 to 26Calories per piece (estimate)

Ingredients

Method

  1. Cook the beef first: brown lean ground beef plainly in a dry pan, or cook a lean cut through and crumble it, then drain away every trace of fat and let it cool.
  2. Lightly mash the cooked peas with a fork, keeping some peas whole for flecks.
  3. Heat the oven to 350F (175C) and line two baking trays with baking parchment.
  4. Stir the crumbled beef, mashed peas, cooled quinoa and beaten egg together until the beef is spread evenly through the dough.
  5. Shape small bites, about a teaspoon of dough each for small dogs and a tablespoon for large dogs, and set them on the trays.
  6. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until firm and browned at the edges.
  7. Cool completely before serving, and refrigerate the batch promptly.

Storage: Refrigerate in an airtight container within 2 hours of baking and use within 3 to 4 days, or freeze for up to 2 months.

Why these ingredients

Every ingredient in this recipe was checked against our own food safety verdicts before it went in. If a food has no verdict page on this site, it does not go into a recipe here, however common it is in other people's treat recipes. The checks for this one:

Why this version looks different

The classic beef dog biscuit leans on breadcrumb or flour filler. Neither breadcrumb nor flour holds a verdict page in our can-dogs-eat library, following the same gap the earlier waves recorded, so this version fills and binds with verdict checked quinoa, peas and egg instead, and says so on the page.

Cook's notes

Fat is the variable that decides this batch. Beef cooked and drained carelessly leaves grease in the crumbles, and greasy crumbles make a dough that fries at the edges and stays soft in the middle; drain the pan, then tip the beef onto kitchen paper for a minute before it meets the dough. Buy the beef by the label, not by habit: ground beef varies from very lean to frankly fatty, and the verdict's 90 percent lean line is the floor, not a target to negotiate down because the fattier pack was cheaper.

How much to serve

Rich is the word to hold onto. These bites carry more calories per gram than the vegetable bakes in this library, so the counts below run smaller than their size suggests they should.

Dog sizeSuggested serving
Toy, under 10 lb1 small bite, or half a large one
Small, 10 to 25 lb1 to 2 bites a day
Medium, 25 to 50 lb2 to 3 bites a day
Large, 50 to 90 lb3 bites a day
Extra large, over 90 lbUp to 4 bites a day, within the day's treat total

Treats are treats. The American Kennel Club's guidance is that treats should make up no more than 10 percent of a dog's daily calories, counting every treat and snack in the day together, and that the treat calories sit inside the day's total rather than on top of it. The servings above are starting points for a healthy adult dog; puppies, seniors and dogs on a veterinary diet need their own veterinarian's steer, and a dog trying any ingredient for the first time should get a small piece first, with a day to watch for an upset stomach.

Storage and food safety

Cooked beef follows the FoodSafety.gov cold food storage chart's meat rules: refrigerate within 2 hours of baking, keep at 40F (4C) or below, and use within 3 to 4 days, with the freezer offering up to 2 months of best quality in a small homemade batch, inside the chart's wider cooked dish window. Freeze in session sized bags so a training supply thaws without opening the whole batch daily. The nose is the final check with beef: a bite that smells sour or feels sticky is finished, whatever the date.

Tips and common mistakes

Frequently asked questions

Why must the beef be cooked before it goes into the dough?

Because our beef verdict requires thoroughly cooked beef and warns that raw and undercooked meat can carry Salmonella and E. coli. Cooking the beef first, on its own, makes doneness certain and lets the fat be drained away before the bake, which a mixed raw dough could never do.

Can I use leftover steak or roast beef?

Only if it was cooked plainly, with no seasoning, marinade or sauce, and the fat can be trimmed away. Most table beef fails the plain test. A freshly cooked lean portion for the dog's batch is the reliable route, the same advice this library gives for chicken leftovers.

Are peas safe as a regular treat ingredient?

At treat scale, yes. Our peas verdict records discussion about peas as a major diet ingredient and answers yes for peas as an occasional treat in small amounts. Half a cup across a batch that lasts days is that scale, and a dog on a directed diet should still check new treats with the veterinarian.

My bites came out greasy. What went wrong?

The beef went into the dough with its fat. Cook lean, drain the pan fully, and rest the crumbles on kitchen paper before mixing. If the pack was under 90 percent lean, that was the first cause; the drain only fixes what the label left fixable.

Can I make these with ground beef labeled regular?

No. Regular ground beef carries far more fat than the verdict's lean serving describes, and trimming is impossible once beef is ground. The 90 percent lean or better line is part of the ingredient, not a preference, so the shop is where this recipe is made safe.

Please read this first

This page is general information drawn from the published guidance of the organizations listed under Sources below. It is not veterinary advice, and it does not replace your own veterinarian, who knows your dog. If your dog has eaten something toxic, contact your veterinarian, the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center on (888) 426-4435, or the Pet Poison Helpline on (855) 764-7661 straight away. A consultation fee may apply on the helplines.

Sources

Last updated: November 2026. Every ingredient in this recipe was checked against the verdict pages linked above. Storage times follow the FoodSafety.gov cold storage guidance listed under Sources. How we work: our methodology.

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