Dehydrated Pineapple Carrot Crunchers
No sugar added horse treat recipe
Pineapple Carrot Crunchers are the perfect homemade horse treats to make for the horse that is used to sweet crunchy store-bought treats. These dehydrated horse treats have passed the test of my picky eaters without needing to be loaded with sugar. Woohoo!
If your horse hasn’t had many homemade treats these pineapple carrot crunchers are a great one to try. They come out sweet like storebought treats without the added sugar and most horses will recognize the familiar flavor of carrots.
Using steel cut oats in this recipe makes them stay crunchy and full of fiber, iron, and protein. Plus the pineapple gives them a little extra immune system support and helps keep eyes and joints healthy. Topping them off with a bit of flax meal makes them look pretty and adds to the crunch. My horse loves berry flax, you can grab it here if you want to try it with your horse.
After scooping them out onto the silicon drying mats I topped them off with a bit of berry ground flaxseed. The flax gives them a bit more crunch, omega 3s, fiber, and adds flavor.
Pineapple Carrot Crunchers
15 baby carrots
1 slice of pineapple with skin removed
3/4 cup steel cut oats
2 tablespoon ground flax for topping
Throw all the ingredients into your food processor except for the ground flax. No food processor no worries you can use a blender or Ninja. Blend up the mixture until it is the texture of thick oatmeal. If your mixture seems to be too juicy (sometimes pineapples are unpredictable) you can add more steel cut oats or add an extra 1/4c flax meal to the mixture and blend till it thickens. Spoon onto drying sheets on your dehydrator trays. It works best to flatten out the mixture so it dries faster. Top with ground flax. Dehydrate at 115 degrees for five hours then remove them from the drying sheet and dry another 3 hours directly on the tray. *Note drying times may vary based on the type of dehydrator you use and how much stuff you are drying at once so it’s best to check them every few hours. You can feed them right away or the extras can be stored in an airtight container.
*Recipe has affiliate links for the products that I love and trust to feed to my horses
This recipe makes about one tray in the dehydrator so if you want to make more simply double or triple the recipe. Sometimes I use a whole small pineapple and a pound of carrots. It’s also fun to use colored carrots and make batches of red, purple, orange, and yellow treats. If you end up with a big batch these they are fun ones to give away because they look pretty cool stacked up in mason jars. Or it works great to make a small batch and mix and match your other trays with these other recipes.
If you’re feeling a little lost on what food dehydrator to use you can check out more details here.
Insightfully,
Becky
Hi Becky, I was wondering if there is a substitute for the Pineapples that I could use? I live in Cyprus and Pineapples can really be quite expensive here.
Thanks!
I haven’t tried this recipe with other fruits but I think it would work with similar textured fruits. You could check my this list of fifty horse-friendly foods for a replacement.