Green Cubes for Dogs

No matter what kind of food you feed your dog, leafy greens are a fantastic addition to your dog’s diet. Leafy greens are packed with natural vitamins, antioxidants, minerals, and fiber.

A study conducted at Purdue University on Scottish Terriers found that the addition of leafy greens to a dog’s diet can greatly help with preventing cancer! Because dogs have short digestive tracts, they process greens better and are able to absorb more of the nutrients when the greens are fresh and pre-blended. Fiber from greens is critical for you dog’s microbiome. I came up with this recipe because I wanted to add a variety of finely blended, fresh, and top-quality greens to Miles’ diet in a suitable, affordable, customizable, and simple way. The following recipe is cheap, easy to make, and yields a large batch (1+ months) of greens that store individually portioned in the freezer.

Ingredients

1. 3 bunches organic leafy greens: For this recipe, you will need three bunches of organic leafy greens. I like to use three different kinds per recipe. Each time I make a recipe, I use different green mixes. These can include but are not limited to:
   • kale
   • chard
   • flat leaf / Italian parsley
   • dandelion greens
   • cilantro
   • broccoli sprouts
   • arugula
   • non-leafy greens that are also great include bok choy, celery, fennel
   • If your dog has any health conditions, please check with your veterinarian to ensure that the greens you use are appropriate. Lots of information is also available in The Forever Dog book!
2. 3-4 cups bone broth: Bone broth makes the cubes taste delicious even to dogs who are new to greens, and it is full of healthy collagen. I get mine fresh from my local health food store for only $4 for 4 cups (aka your typical 32 oz soup container) and it is nice and gelatinous. The thicker and more jelly-like the better! Just make sure to warm it up when making this recipe so it is liquid. If you are going to buy packaged as opposed to fresh bone broth, make sure it is natural, low-sodium, and free from sugar and artificial ingredients. You can also make your own! Note: do not worry about herbs and garlic – garlic is not dangerous for dogs in normal quantities. The only things to avoid are onions, artificial ingredients, and sugar.

Prepping Your Greens

Start by rinsing your greens well. Don’t worry about drying them! Next, “twist” your greens (video below). I use everything but the very end of the stalk.

Below I have my washed and “twisted” greens and some bone broth ready for blending:

Blending The Greens

You can use a food processor, which is what I did for a long time. It is messy and involves working in batches, and doesn’t yield the finest blend. For years I’ve been using this very affordable, powerful, and sturdy blender. It is the best blender I have ever had, hands DOWN! I use it to make my own soups, smoothies, dressings, juice, and more. Best of all, I am able to make Miles’ greens in 1-2 batches with no mess and such a fine blend I can’t even see bits.

Blend the mixture until very well pulverized. If it isn’t mixing well, try adding a bit more liquid. If you run low on broth, just add water!

Pour the blended greens into a mixing bowl, and repeat this process until you have no greens left. Again, if you are using a good modern blender you should only have to do 1-2 batches.

Putting Your Green Soup into Ice Cube Trays

Now you are ready to put your green soup into ice cube trays! For a dog of Miles’ size, around 21.5 lbs, I fill standard ice cube tray compartments to create daily servings. You can get silicone trays that are fancy shapes, but I have found getting the portioning ideal can be tougher in those. For reference, my ice cube trays contain approximately 1 3/4 tablespoons each. Miles is 22 lbs and eats 1 full cube per day at dinner.

I simply spoon green soup into the trays.

Freezing Your Green Cubes

Now the ice cube trays are all ready for the freezer!

Since you are going to be freezing your green cubes in batches, you’ll want to refrigerate your green soup in the meantime.

Miles is so used to his green cubes that I no longer have to use broth if I don’t have any handy, I can just use water (although bone broth is so healthy, it is ideal to use it!). He relishes green cubes so much that he loves getting a little extra from a spoon when I make this recipe. This to me is really proof that we like what we are used to. Before I came up with this recipe, Miles would have never dreamed of eating plain greens! Now he gets excited when I let him have my discarded kale stalks when I cook kale for myself. Purely anecdotal: Miles rarely eats grass now since getting green cubes every day.

Storing Your Green Cubes

When the cubes are frozen, I transfer them to a labeled Ziplock bag.

Recipe Yield: Miles weighs around 22 pounds. I give him one full 1 3/4 tablespoon green cube a day. In the winter, this recipe usually produces 1-2 months of greens per batch. In the summer, when the bunches of organic greens are often huge, I get WAY more than that out of a batch!

Feeding Your Dog Green Cubes

Green cubes are a great addition to any dog’s meals, no matter what kind of food they eat. Miles eats raw food. I give Miles his green cube at dinner. Because I keep his raw meals in the fridge, I have the green cubes in his bowls thawed in the fridge as well.

I like to feed Miles his daily green cubes thawed most of the time. On really hot days, Miles and many other dogs enjoy their daily green cube(s) frozen.

If you try the recipe, send me pictures and I will share them below!

Mary Anne from KY, USA made Green Cubes for Tiffin Raam and Pigwig! “My three are LOVING these.”

Carol from MD, USA made Green Cubes for Atlas! “We made green cubes and Atlas loves them! I think he’s getting more veggies than me!”

Anne from MN, USA made Green Cubes for Mr. Darcy! “Mr. Darcy LOVES the new addition to his diet 👏🏼”

Shannon from Canada made Green Cubes for Pixel! “Pixel licked the spoon when I was done making these 😂”