Dehydrated Fish Skin Chews

Fish skins prepped for the dehydrator. Photo by Mary Anne Brown.

A guaranteed hit for your furry friends, these fish skin chews are an excellent way to utilize the skins if you don’t eat them yourself first!

This method utilizes a dehydrator to create a chew that should hold up to some abuse from your dog. If you don’t have a dehydrator, you can use your oven to make this recipe - your chews just might not hold up as long with a motivated pup as the ones made with a dehydrator.

Ingredients

• 1 lb fish skins

  Fresh or frozen & defrosted fish skins, and/or cartilage works. You can use whatever type of skin is available from your fishmonger, including salmon, halibut, rockfish, tilapia, cod, pollock, etc.

• Optional flavoring ingredients (choose one)

  • ½ cup mango pureé

  • ¼ cup finely chopped parsley

  • ¼ cup anchovy paste

  • 1 tbsp turmeric powder

  • ¼ cup coconut oil

  • ¼ cup greek yogurt

Fish skin chews ready to be enjoyed! Photo by Mary Anne Brown.

How to Prepare

1. Scale your fish skins. If desired, trim the fish skin into bite-sized pieces. The skin will shrink by about 50% as it dehydrates, so cut your pieces larger than the size of chew you want to end up with.

2. If you are marinating your chews, choose your marinade flavor and whisk the ingredients together. Place your fish pieces in a bowl or zip-top bag, pour the marinade over them and toss the fish to coat well.

3. Place in the fridge and marinate for as long as you like. 

4. Twist fish skin strips into a long roll or curled into a circular roll.

5. Position the rolls or twists on to dehydrator trays and ensure sufficient space between each for air to circulate.

6. Set dehydrator to 70C/150F and let it do its magic for 72 hours.

7. Fish chews are done when they are firm, no longer flexible, and break cleanly in half.

8. If using pieces other than skin, like flesh, bones or cartilage, you may do this additional step. After dehydrating for 72 hours, preheat your oven to 275F. Lay your fish chews out on a baking sheet. Bake the chews for 10 minutes to fully cook and kill off any potentially harmful bacteria.

9. Allow treats to cool completely before storing or packaging.

Some Tips from Kim:

• Line your dehydrator trays with baking paper to make clean up simpler and quicker.

• Always store your dehydrated treats in airtight containers.

• Fish skin treats have a higher probability of turning rancid in warmer temperatures. Store them in the fridge or freezer to prolong shelf life.