While boiled chicken doesn’t sound like something you will be eager to eat, your dog will devour it any chance he gets, and beg for more!
Besides being healthy, nutritious, and tasty, boiled chicken is also a life-saver for dogs with digestive problems and picky eaters.
But how to boil chicken for dogs?
To cook chicken for dogs you will have to get boneless and skinless chicken breasts. Put the fresh, defrosted breasts in a pot and fill with water until the breasts are completely submerged. Bring the water to a boil on high heat and continue to cook the chicken for another 12 minutes.
This is the entire cooking process in a nutshell.
Stay with us till the end of this article for more information and step-by-step instructions on how to boil chicken for dogs.
Why Should Dogs Eat Boiled Chicken?
While plain boiled chicken might look unappetizing to you, your dog will beg to differ.
Boiled chicken is not only healthy and delicious, but it also contains essential vitamins and minerals your dog needs.
Let’s take a look at some reasons why you should serve cooked chicken to your pooch:
For Dogs with Stomach Problems
Besides being high in protein and extremely tasty, boiled chicken is also gentle on a dog’s stomach.
Dogs with an upset stomach have trouble keeping anything in, but even the worst bouts of diarrhea or vomiting won’t be exacerbated by plain boiled chicken.
In fact, most vets recommend boiled chicken to dogs with short-term or long-term stomach problems.
In itself, the boiled chicken is at the same time nutritious and easy to digest, and will help your dog make a full recovery.
If your dog is having stomach issues you should cook chicken and rice and feed it to him for a few days until his symptoms disappear (source).
Cooked rice is a great source of fiber and ideal for all dogs who are experiencing any gastrointestinal issues.
For Picky Eaters
While some dogs will gobble just about anything that’s put in front of them, others will raise their noses and walk away from a perfectly good meal.
If your dog is a picky eater, chances are that you have trouble finding a commercial dog food that meets your pup’s high demands.
And while just a nuisance at first, especially picky and stubborn dogs can take this on a whole different level and stop eating completely.
As a result, your dog will start losing weight, develop a sickly appearance, and experience a loss of energy.
Luckily, even the pickiest dogs won’t refuse plain old boiled chicken and will devour a whole meal in a matter of seconds!
So, if your dog is stubbornly refusing food, start cooking chicken before he gets serious about fasting.
Nutritious & Healthy
When you consider how many dog food recalls have been issued in the past few years, it’s no wonder that many dog owners opt for homemade dog food.
Besides being widely available, inexpensive, and loved by dogs, chicken is also highly nutritious and healthy.
Furthermore, it’s very versatile and can be used in a number of different home-cooked dog foods.
Why Boiled Chicken?
As humans love chicken no matter how it’s prepared.
But when prompted to choose between boiled, grilled, fried, or baked chicken, most people will give boiled chicken a wide berth.
However, dogs have a completely different opinion!
And that’s just one of the reasons why you should start preparing boiled chicken for your pooch.
Here are a few others:
Faster to cook
While just thinking about grilled or fried chicken is enough to get your mouth watering, you’ll have to admit they take a lot of time to prepare.
And even if you have some extra time on your hands, frying chicken for dogs is more than inconvenient.
On the other hand, boiled chicken is faster to cook and the whole cooking process doesn’t require a ton of dishes that later have to be washed.
Convenience
Most dogs will devour fried, grilled, or baked chicken at any time.
The only problem is; most people don’t have enough time to fry or grill chicken regularly.
And while baking might look less time consuming, it’s a long road before you can actually take the chicken from the oven and eat it.
On the other hand, boiled chicken takes less time to cook, and your dog will like it just the same.
Healthier
If you decide to bake or fry chicken, you are most likely going to add some type of oil or fat to make it taste better.
However, besides being bad for you, extra fat is bad for your dog too!
Greasy foods can result in a stomach upset causing flatulence, vomiting, diarrhea, and a bunch of other nasty symptoms.
Besides, eating fatty foods can lead to heart disease, pancreatitis, and a number of other serious health problems.
Boiled chicken doesn’t require any extra fat to be juicy and delicious and is by far the healthiest type of chicken you can give to your dog (source).
How to Boil Chicken for Dogs – Steps
Now that you are sure that cooked chicken is just the thing your dog needs, we’ll tell you how exactly you can boil some!
1. Choosing the Right Chicken
If you don’t live on a chicken farm, you will have to buy some chicken before you can start cooking.
When buying chicken for dogs, you should always choose chicken breasts since they are the leanest.
And if possible, opt for skinless and boneless chicken breasts since they are the easiest to prepare.
And while chicken thighs and wings are a lot cheaper than chicken breasts you will find that’s not really the case when you are cooking for a dog.
You’ll have to remove bones, skin, and fat, and will instead of saving, end up throwing money away.
2. Preparing the Chicken
Preparing the chicken can’t be any easier, especially if it’s fresh.
However, if the chicken is frozen you will have to put it in a fridge and wait for it to defrost.
While this might take some time, don’t try to defrost the chicken in the open or by soaking it in warm water.
This way you are risking spoiling the chicken and in turn making your dog sick.
And if by any chance you couldn’t find boneless chicken breasts, make sure to remove all the bones prior to cooking since they are a choking hazard.
3. Boiling the Chicken
Once everything is prepared, place your boneless and skinless chicken breasts into a medium-sized pot.
Make sure that the breasts are spread out along the bottom of the pot and not stacked one on top of the other.
Next, add water to the pot making sure that all chicken breasts are completely covered.
Note, leave at least two inches of empty space so the water won’t boil over while cooking.
All that is left to do is to turn on the stove and cover the pot with a lid.
You should bring the water to a boil on a high heat and then continue to cook the chicken for the additional 12 minutes at least.
Once the time is up, take out one chicken breast from the pot and cut it with a knife to see if it’s fully cooked.
If the meat is still pink or rubber-like, return it to the pot and cook for a few more minutes.
Keep in mind that the cooking time won’t always be the same and it will depend on the size of the chicken breasts and your stove.
Once the chicken breasts are fully cooked, take them out of the pot and leave them to cool completely before serving.
To speed up the process you can shred the breasts to smaller pieces allowing the chicken to cool completely in less time.
And once the chicken is cool, you can feed it to your dog as a treat, standalone meal, or mixed with his regular dog food.
Note, instead of throwing the water the chicken breasts were cooked in you can use it as a healthy chicken broth for your pooch.
Furthermore, you can cook white rice or brown rice in it and mix it with chicken breasts for a more filling and nutritious meal.
Conclusion
Boiled chicken is one of the healthiest and easiest meals you can prepare for your dog in the comforts of your home.
Besides being full of protein and low in fat, chicken breasts are easy to digest and taste great even to picky eaters.
Depending on the size of the breasts and your stove, you might need as little as 15 minutes to make a tasty and healthy meal for your dog.
And if you haven’t already boiled chicken to your pooch, now is the perfect time to try!
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