Dog Treats

Sweet Potato Chews

sweet potato fries on bamboo plate

I've been experimenting with making treats for Annie. One treat I buy is sweet potato fries. A few companies make them. They are just dried slices of sweet potato - usually nothing else. Although I did run across one that was coated in peanut butter.

It seemed to me, given I'm on a teeny tiny retirement budget now, that maybe I could make them for less money. I searched the Internet and found one could make them either in the oven or in a dehydrator. All the recipes were pretty much the same. So I made them in my oven, since I don't have a dehydrator. Annie loves them!

Here is what you do:

Preheat your oven to 250 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper. I used foil because that is what I had handy. Best to line your baking pan since the potatoes will get juicy and make a bit of a baked on mess.

After you wash and dry the potato (actually I used yams, either sweet potato or yams work fine), cut off the ends and cut it in half lengthwise. This makes it easier to do the rest of the cutting. Cut into strips, about 1/3 to 1/2 inch thick. Try to keep them a consistent size so they cook evenly. Although I was not super careful as I imagined it was OK to have some pieces be more crunchy that others.

Put them on the baking sheet. Space them so they don't touch. Bake for about 3 hours, turning half way through. You can keep them more soft and chewy or bake them longer until they are crunchy.

Cool completely before packing them into ziplock bags. I keep mine in the refrigerator as this seemed the right thing to do and some recipes recommended doing that.