Best Freeze-Dried Dog Treat Brands Ranked by Ingredients

Freeze-dried dog treats are sold as light, crunchy pieces built around named meats and organs. Five of the six brands below make them. The sixth, ZIWI, air-dries its treats. Each brand describes its treats a little differently on its own website, and the facts below come from those sites.

GlobalPETS reported results from a Packaged Facts survey in May 2023. Of the dog parents who had bought treats in the previous 12 months, 24% had bought freeze-dried products. The same survey put freeze-dried and dehydrated treats second in popularity, behind treats and chews made from whole animal parts such as rawhide.

Our dog training guide covers training rewards with treats and praise. For everyday meals for German Shepherds with sensitive stomachs, our food guide covers that separately. If you are working out food allergies, our guide to dog food for German Shepherds with skin allergies covers daily meals, and the treat labels below show which animals each recipe uses.

What to read on a freeze-dried treat label

Start with the ingredient list. Some treats are one piece of one animal. Stella & Chewy's sells Beef Liver Treats that its product page calls a single ingredient treat. Others add more: the ingredient list for its Grass-Fed Beef Wild Weenies reads beef, beef liver, beef kidney, sodium alginate, and mixed tocopherols (a preservative).

Primal's You're My Butter Half treats list chicken, chicken liver, peanut butter, goat milk, organic sunflower oil, and organic rosemary extract. Orijen's beef treats list beef, beef liver, and beef tripe, plus citric acid and rosemary extract. All three are freeze-dried treats, and the three lists differ.

Next, look for calories per treat. Orijen's pages give five calories per treat for its beef and Original recipes and six for its duck, lamb, and Regional Red recipes. Primal's treat page says its treats are not complete diets.

Best freeze-dried dog treat brands

1. Fresh Is Best

Freeze-dried raw treats and chews from Fresh Is Best are made with meats that the company describes as human-quality and sourced as USDA grass-fed, cage-free, crate-free, antibiotic-free, and wild-harvested. The company says it freeze-dries slowly in small batches and seals each product in vacuum bags with a high oxygen barrier. The treats are made in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Fresh Is Best is first on this list because of how its treat category is built. The page lists 49 products across beef, chicken, duck, elk, and lamb, with organs such as beef heart and liver, chicken hearts and livers, duck hearts, elk kidney, and whole pieces such as chicken necks and duck wings. Fresh Is Best describes its treats as single-ingredient and low-carb, and says the range gives picky eaters and pets with food sensitivities a choice of proteins.

Best for

Pet parents who want treats where the name on the bag is the meat inside.

Watch out for

Not every product is a single meat. Beef & Veggie Morsels has vegetables in the name, so read each product's ingredient list before you buy.

2. Stella & Chewy's

Stella & Chewy's sells freeze-dried raw dinner patties, meal mixers, and treats. Its freeze-dried raw dog treats page says the treats are grain-free. The treat line includes Wild Weenies in beef, chicken, lamb, duck, game bird, and red meat versions, plus single-organ treats such as beef heart, beef liver, lamb liver, lamb heart, chicken breast, and chicken heart.

The Red Meat Wild Weenies page says the recipe is 97% muscle meat and organs, made from raw, grass-fed beef, goat, and lamb. The Grass-Fed Lamb Wild Weenies page calls it a single source protein recipe. The Bac'n Me Crazy recipe page says it is 95% bacon, red meat, and organs, made in the company's own USA kitchen.

Best for

Dog parents who want both a shaped training treat and single-organ pieces from one brand.

Watch out for

The Grass-Fed Beef Wild Weenies list sodium alginate and mixed tocopherols (a preservative) along with the meat, so they are not single-ingredient. Check the label if your dog reacts to certain ingredients.

3. Vital Essentials

Vital Essentials describes its freeze-dried dog treats as 100% raw protein with no fillers. Its treat pages list beef liver, beef tripe, chicken hearts, minnows, rabbit bites, diced salmon, and silver carp filet, and its site also lists Duck Necks Dog Snacks. The beef liver page is labeled single ingredient, and the rabbit bites page is labeled single protein.

The brand's site says its freeze-dryers are built to a standard of 23 degrees F for 48 hours, and that it works with strictly audited suppliers. Vital Essentials calls its approach butcher cut raw.

Best for

Raw feeders and dog parents looking for less common proteins such as rabbit, minnows, and silver carp.

Watch out for

Vital Essentials sells these treats as raw, so the handling advice further down applies.

4. Primal Pet Foods

Primal says it has made recipes for dogs and cats since 2001, that a PhD companion animal nutritionist formulates them, and that it follows the strictest safety and quality standards. Its dog treat page lists four freeze-dried raw dog treats: You're My Butter Half, You Maple My Day, Pumpkin for My Pumpkin, and Peelin' Fantastic. The treats page says they are made with responsibly sourced meats, such as grass-fed beef and cage-free chicken, and real food inclusions.

The You're My Butter Half page lists the ingredients as chicken, chicken liver, peanut butter, goat milk, organic sunflower oil, and organic rosemary extract. It says the treat is free from corn, wheat, soy, grains, gluten, and artificial preservatives, flavors, and additives. Primal also sells freeze-dried raw nuggets, which its site describes as something to crumble over other foods or serve as a complete meal.

Best for

Dogs that do well with added foods such as peanut butter or goat milk in a crunchy treat.

Watch out for

Primal's treat page says its treats are not complete diets, and advises you to start small and increase the amount each day. It also says to monitor your pet when feeding treats.

5. ZIWI Peak

ZIWI treats are air-dried, not freeze-dried. ZIWI's own page for its Venison Lung & Kidney treats says they are made by slow and gentle air-drying, with no added carbs, preservatives, or flavours. The ingredients are venison lung and venison kidney.

ZIWI says its meats are free-range and its fish is wild-caught, without added hormones, antibiotics, or growth promotants, and that the meats come from New Zealand. The page says these treats are safe for small and medium dogs. The ZIWI chews, treats, and rewards range has eight products, including lamb ears, a venison shank chew, and a venison hoofer chew.

Best for

Dogs that do well on single-meat treats, and pet parents who want an air-dried option next to freeze-dried ones.

Watch out for

This is the only brand on the list that does not make freeze-dried treats, so compare it to the others as an air-dried option.

6. Orijen

Orijen makes freeze-dried treats in six recipes: beef, duck, lamb, Original, Regional Red, and Tundra. Its beef treat page says the recipe is made with 99% animal ingredients, including beef, liver, and tripe, and notes that the figure is approximate and derived from the unprocessed state of the ingredients. The page says the treats are made in the USA.

The beef recipe lists beef, beef liver, and beef tripe. The lamb recipe lists lamb, lamb liver, and lamb tripe. The Original recipe lists chicken, turkey, turkey giblets, chicken giblets, and flounder, and the Regional Red and Tundra recipes list several animals each. Orijen describes its WholePrey approach as including the most nutrient-dense parts of the prey.

Best for

Dog parents who want a calorie count on the label and a choice between one-animal and mixed-animal recipes.

Watch out for

If you are trying to isolate a food trigger, the Original, Regional Red, and Tundra recipes list several animals, so pick a one-animal recipe instead.

Quick ranking

Handling and feeding freeze-dried raw treats

Fresh Is Best, Stella & Chewy's, Vital Essentials, and Primal all sell their treats as freeze-dried raw. A recall notice that FDA posted on August 28, 2026, for two raw pet food products from Northwest Naturals, gives this handling advice for raw pet food: anyone handling raw pet food should wash their hands thoroughly with soap and water after contact, clean and sanitize surfaces, bowls, utensils, and storage areas the product touches, keep raw pet food separate from human food, and store it frozen or refrigerated until use.

For amounts, Orijen's treat pages say treats should not make up more than 10 percent of a pet's daily food intake. Primal's treat page says to start small and increase gradually. For puppies, seniors, and dogs with medical conditions, ask your vet before adding a new treat.

How to choose the right freeze-dried treat for your dog

For training, a calorie count helps you add up the rewards in a session. Orijen's pages give one for the recipes named above, five or six calories per treat.

For a dog that reacts to some foods, read the full ingredient list and pick a recipe that names one animal. Fresh Is Best, Vital Essentials, and Stella & Chewy's each sell treats listed as single ingredient, and Orijen's beef, duck, and lamb recipes are built around one animal each.

For a topper, Primal's freeze-dried raw nuggets are described on its site as something you can crumble over other foods. A topper still counts as food, so count it in the day's total.

Best overall pick

Fresh Is Best is first because its treat pages describe single-ingredient products, small-batch freeze-drying, and vacuum-sealed packaging with a high oxygen barrier. Vital Essentials has the most unusual proteins, from rabbit to minnows. Stella & Chewy's gives you shaped training treats and single-organ pieces. Primal adds foods such as peanut butter and goat milk. Orijen prints calories per treat on its pages, and ZIWI is the air-dried option.

Sources

• Fresh Is Best, Freeze-Dried Raw Pet Treats
• Stella & Chewy's, Freeze-Dried Raw Dog Treats, Beef Liver Treats, and Grass-Fed Beef Wild Weenies
• Vital Essentials, Dog Treats, Rabbit Bites, and the Vital Essentials home page
• Primal Pet Foods, Treats for Dogs, You're My Butter Half, and the Primal home page
• ZIWI, Venison Lung & Kidney Dog Treats and Chews, Treats & Rewards
• Orijen, Freeze-Dried Treats Beef Recipe and Original Recipe
• GlobalPETS. (2023). US consumers are loving freeze-dried treats.
• Dataintelo. (2025). Freeze-dried pet treats market research report 2033.
• FDA, Northwest Naturals Voluntarily Recalls Two Raw Pet Food Products (company announcement, August 28, 2026)