Can Homemade Dog Biscuits Be Frozen? (3 Reasons ‘Why’ & 3 Reasons ‘Why Not’)

Just like the smell of homemade biscuits wakes up and brings your family a-running, so do fresh-baked biscuits for dogs. They take a little time to make, of course, so it begs a question. Can homemade dog biscuits be frozen? What are reasons why and why not?

In most cases, your homemade dog biscuits can and should be frozen. You can extend their shelf-life quite dramatically, make larger batches, and it’s a good option even if it’s the only storage option available. If the treat is too moist, the ingredients don’t take well to cold, or they’ve been frozen already then that’s a different case!

Let’s look at each of these reasons with a little more scrutiny so that you’ll have the facts to make the best decision with your biscuits!

Reasons why you should freeze biscuits

When you go to the trouble of making healthy, delicious treats for your furry best friend, you want them to last their longest. As such, there are quite a few reasons why freezing biscuits is a stellar idea. We’ve taken the top 3and listed them for you below, so let’s see if you agree!

Increased shelf life

Putting your homemade dog biscuits in the freezer can make them last for up to 8 months, and this is a pretty solid argument in favor of freezing those treats. Simply putting them in the refrigerator will ensure that most treats will be good for up to 10 days, but when it comes to shelf life, the colder the better!

Unless your treats are completely dehydrated and thus will last up to 2 weeks at room temperature, it’s best to go ahead and freeze them. This will ensure that you can take them out as needed for awhile before you have to go ahead and cook up another batch. Speaking of which…

You can make large batches

Freezing extends the shelf life for months, which means that if you have more than one dog and plenty of freezer room, then you can make larger-than-usual batches. This ensures that you are never short of treats when you feel like spoiling your dog or need a little ‘bribery’ option when teaching a new command.

Large batches, in turn, also save you cooking time, so that you aren’t whipping up treats every week, unless you simply enjoy doing that.

Granted, those biscuits are always yummiest fresh out of the oven, but if you have a busy work and social schedule then it sure is convenient to make a bunch, freeze them, and not have to worry about them.

If you have no other options

Freezing is also a must if you need to preserve the treats and don’t have any other options. For instance, if you have a vacuum sealer, this will keep biscuit treats sealed and fresh for 6 to 12 months.

 A dehydrator is also a great option for biscuit treats, since it makes them dry and crispier, but that also lets you make ‘meat treats’ to go with the biscuits and with the dehydrator, they’re good at room temperature for 2 to 3 weeks.

Combine all 3 by using a dehydrator, then vacuum sealing, and stacking those treats in the freezer, and that might last up to 2 years! Still, if the freezer is your only option, then USE it. 8 months of storage is still nothing to sneeze at, after all!

Reasons why you shouldn’t freeze biscuits

There are pros and cons to everything and freezing biscuits is certainly no exception to this rule. Let’s take a look at when freezing biscuits might not be such a good idea.

Too much moisture

If your biscuits are still a bit moist inside, then that will freeze, and you’re going to end up with biscuits that are likely still edible, but a bit on the ugly side. As we tend to be particular about what we’ll feed our furry best friends, this sort of aesthetic problem can make us feel a little guilty.

You can help to minimize this, however, by investing in a dehydrator or you could simply give the biscuits a little more time in the oven, just let it cool down a little and set it at 150 degrees. Check them every 30 minutes and when you think they are ready, break one open to make sure they’re dry inside.

If they are, give those fresh biscuit halves to your four-legged buddy for safe disposal and then you can safely freeze the doggie biscuits.

If you’ve thawed them out already

Once your biscuits have been frozen already and thawed, they shouldn’t go back into the freezer. While they will likely still be okay and considered edible, repeated freezing and thawing sessions will take their toll and your dog will not enjoy them as much.

You’ve put the love and the time into making them, after all, so to keep them from becoming bland-biscuits then it’s best to only ever freeze them once.

Incompatible fillings

Dogs like all kinds of biscuit treats and some owners will put some of their dog’s favorite vegetables inside, either whole or in puree form. Depending on what you are putting inside, the freezer may or may not be an optimal choice for those particular kinds of treats.

Check online to see how those vegetables in whole or pureed form will react to freezing and you should quickly be able to determine if the cold might damage their deliciousness or change their consistency in an unfavorable way.

This will save you a lot of trouble when your intention is whipping up and storing a big batch of treats for convenience.

The final verdict: Freezing is almost always recommended

Aside from refreezing, biscuits with creamy, veggie centers that might not play well with the cold, or biscuits that haven’t been properly dried in the middle then you really want to consider freezing your treats.

As you know already, the treats you make at home are much tastier and healthier for your dog than the commercial, often ‘chemically enhanced’ products out there. Since you will be taking the time to bake them, it just makes good sense to do a large batch and freeze them to use as you need them.

With a little planning and cold-preservation, you’ll be well prepared to follow up every ‘Good dog’ praise with a pat on the head — and one of your delicious homemade biscuits!