Chicken & Carrot Dehydrated Jerky Strips

🧺 Ingredients

• 300 g fresh chicken breast, skinless and boneless
• 1 small carrot, peeled
• Nothing else — no salt, oil, marinade or seasoning of any kind

👩‍🍳 Method

1. Firm the chicken breast in the freezer for 20–30 minutes; part-frozen meat is far easier to slice thinly.
2. Trim away every scrap of visible fat, then slice the breast along the grain into strips about 3 mm thick.
3. Peel the carrot into long, very thin ribbons using a vegetable peeler.
4. Lay the chicken strips and carrot ribbons in a single layer on dehydrator trays or on a wire rack set over a baking tray, making sure nothing overlaps.
5. Dehydrate at 70°C (160°F) for 3–4 hours, or use the oven at its lowest setting with the door propped slightly ajar with a wooden spoon.
6. Check from the 3-hour mark: the strips are ready when they are completely dry, leathery and snap rather than bend, with no soft or moist centre.
7. Cool completely on the rack, then snap into bite-sized pieces before serving.

📝 Notes

Home dehydrating does not sterilise meat, so it is essential the chicken reaches a safe temperature and dries completely — any strip that still feels soft, tacky or moist in the middle should be discarded rather than risked. Serve one or two small pieces at a time, keeping all treats to roughly 10% or less of your cat's daily calories; these are a supplementary chew, not a substitute for a complete balanced diet. Because the strips are hard, supervise the first few servings and break them smaller for kittens, seniors, or any cat with dental disease or missing teeth. Store in an airtight jar in a cool cupboard for up to 2 weeks, or in the fridge for a month.