Gently Cooked Chicken Grind for Dogs - 9 lb

Gently cooked, never extruded, this whole-prey style grind is made from free-range, Minnesota-raised chicken - meat, ground bone, and organ - steam-cooked low and slow to 165F to preserve texture and nutrients while meeting a safe internal temperature. It's the same unsupplemented recipe Raw Bistro uses across its Foundations line, cooked in their own privately owned, NICS-certified organic facility in Cannon Falls, MN.

Each 9 lb box holds two 4.5 lb bags of individually portioned 2 oz patties, so you can thaw only what you need without breaking down a solid block. Guaranteed analysis runs a minimum 17% crude protein and 8% crude fat, with 0% max crude fiber and up to 69% moisture - consistent with a whole-food, high-moisture recipe rather than a dehydrated or extruded one. Each 2 oz patty delivers about 82 kcal (1,446 kcal/kg), making portioning straightforward with a feeding calculator.

To serve, thaw patties in the refrigerator and feed as a complete grind on its own, or use it as the protein base under a rotational raw feeding or gently cooked diet - mixing in seasonal vegetables or other proteins as your dog's plan calls for. With no grains, fillers, or carb-heavy binders, this single-source chicken grind fits naturally into keto, paleo, or prey-model carnivore feeding approaches for dogs.

Because the recipe is unsupplemented - chicken, liver, and heart only - it's built for owners who want to control what else goes into the bowl themselves, rather than relying on a synthetic vitamin pack. Keep frozen until ready to thaw and serve; use refrigerated portions within a few days of thawing.

Ingredients: Chicken (includes bone), Chicken Liver, and Chicken Heart.

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Common Questions

How does this free-range chicken grind compare nutritionally to conventional supermarket chicken?
Conventional broiler chicken is typically raised in confinement barns on corn-and-soy feed with rapid growth cycles of 6-7 weeks, which tends to dilute organ and connective tissue content in favor of breast muscle. This grind uses free-range, Minnesota-raised birds and includes the whole animal — meat, ground bone, and organ — giving a guaranteed analysis of 17% protein and 8% fat versus a typical skinless conventional chicken breast, which runs closer to 22-24% protein and 2-3% fat when raw. The higher fat and moisture here (up to 69%) reflects a whole-food composition with bone and organ rather than trimmed muscle meat alone, so mineral density from bone (calcium, phosphorus) and organ-sourced nutrients like iron and vitamin A are naturally higher per serving than a boneless breast cut.

What's nutritionally significant about including chicken liver and heart in the grind?
Chicken liver is one of the most concentrated natural sources of preformed vitamin A (retinol) and heme iron, both far more bioavailable than the plant-based beta-carotene or non-heme iron found in commercial kibble fillers. Chicken heart is a taurine-rich muscle — taurine is an amino sulfonic acid that supports cardiac muscle function, and dogs, unlike cats, synthesize some on their own but benefit from dietary supplementation, especially on grain-free or exotic-protein diets. Because this recipe is unsupplemented, these nutrients come from the organ meat itself rather than a synthetic vitamin premix, which is the mechanism by which whole-prey-style feeding delivers micronutrients.

Does this fit a keto, paleo, or carnivore-style feeding protocol for dogs?
Yes. With 17% minimum crude protein, 8% minimum fat, and 0% max crude fiber, the macro profile is consistent with a prey-model raw or biologically appropriate diet, which mirrors carnivore and paleo feeding philosophies built around species-appropriate whole animal parts rather than grain-based fillers. At 1,446 kcal/kg (82 kcal per 2 oz patty), the calorie density comes almost entirely from animal protein and fat with no carbohydrate contribution, which is the core requirement for a ketogenic or carnivore-style ratio. Because the recipe contains no added starches, vegetables, or synthetic carbohydrate binders, it can be fed as a complete protein base or rotated with other single-protein grinds without disrupting a low-carb feeding plan.

Can this chicken grind replace beef or pork in a rotational raw feeding plan?
Yes, it's designed to be interchangeable with Raw Bistro's other Foundations grinds, so you can swap it in for a beef or pork base at the same feeding weight without recalculating fat and protein targets significantly, since all are formulated as unsupplemented meat-bone-organ recipes. Chicken runs slightly leaner than beef grinds (8% fat here versus often 10-12% in a beef equivalent), so dogs transitioning from a fattier protein may need a modest increase in portion size to hit the same caloric intake. No cooking adaptation is needed since the product is already gently steam-cooked to 165°F; it simply needs to be thawed in the refrigerator before serving, the same as any other protein in the rotation.

How can I verify the organic and sourcing claims on this product?
The product carries Certified Organic status, meaning it's produced and inspected under USDA National Organic Program standards, which require documented organic feed sourcing, no synthetic pesticides in raising practices, and no antibiotic or hormone use. It's cooked in a NICS-certified (National Independent Certification Services) organic facility in Cannon Falls, Minnesota, which is a third-party certifier that audits the facility itself, not just the ingredients, for organic handling compliance. Because Raw Bistro owns the Cannon Falls facility outright rather than co-packing, the chain of custody from raw chicken to finished patty stays under one roof, which is the main verifiable difference between this and a private-label product sourced from multiple unnamed suppliers.

Why is this recipe gently cooked to 165°F instead of sold raw or dehydrated?
Steam-cooking low and slow to an internal temperature of 165°F meets the safe minimum temperature for eliminating common pathogens like Salmonella and Listeria while avoiding the high-heat extrusion process used in kibble production, which can degrade heat-sensitive nutrients like certain B vitamins and denature proteins more extensively. This method preserves more of the whole-food texture and nutrient profile than dehydration, which removes moisture aggressively and can concentrate nutrients rather than reflect their natural bioavailable state. The result is a product with 69% max moisture, closer to fresh whole prey composition than a shelf-stable dehydrated or extruded diet, without carrying the handling risks associated with fully raw feeding.

What does the 0% max crude fiber tell me about how to use this product?
A 0% max crude fiber guarantee means the recipe contains no plant matter, grain, or vegetable filler contributing structural carbohydrate, which is consistent with a pure animal-protein formulation of meat, bone, and organ only. This is intentional under the product's unsupplemented design, since fiber and other plant-based nutrients are left for the owner to add separately if their dog's diet plan calls for vegetables or other rotational ingredients. Practically, this means the grind can serve as a clean protein base for a customized bowl, but owners following a diet plan that requires fiber for digestive regulation should plan to add a fiber source themselves rather than expect this product to supply it.