Can Dogs Eat Sweet Potatoes? Cooked, Raw, Skin and Casserole

People ask us can dogs eat sweet potatoes every November, and the answer is yes: cooked plain, with the skin off, in small amounts. The sweet potato is rarely the problem. The casserole it ends up in is, with its brown sugar, butter, marshmallows and pecans, and that dish stays on your plate.

This page sticks to the vegetable on the table. It covers which forms are fine, what to leave off, how much to hand over and how to start. We also make a freeze-dried beef heart treat in Malvern, Pennsylvania, for the dog that hovers while everyone eats, and it gets a short section near the end.

What a sweet potato is in the kitchen

A sweet potato is a root, orange inside in most American grocery stores, with a thin skin that runs from tan to copper. Cooked, it turns soft and sweet. Raw, it is dense and starchy and fights back when you cut it. Plenty of stores label the same vegetable a yam, and the can marked yams in syrup is sweet potato packed in sugar, which matters further down.

Cooked plain is the answer

Bake it, boil it, steam it or microwave it, and add nothing. No butter, no salt, no oil on the baking sheet, no cinnamon. Let it cool all the way, peel the skin off, and cut the flesh into small cubes or mash it with a fork.

If you are baking sweet potatoes for dinner anyway, the dog's share can come out of the oven before anything goes on top. Scoop a spoonful from the middle of one potato and set it aside. That takes ten seconds and saves an argument at the table.

Raw sweet potato: skip it

The American Kennel Club says: "You should never feed your dog a raw sweet potato." We agree, and it matches what a raw one is like. It is hard, dry and awkward to bite into, and a dog that gulps its food will swallow a raw chunk whole. The peel gets the same treatment as the raw flesh, so take it off. Cook first, every time.

The casserole problem

Sweet potato casserole is mashed sweet potato mixed with brown sugar and butter, then topped with marshmallows or a crumble of pecans, flour and more butter. Cinnamon and nutmeg go in, and some families add a splash of orange juice or bourbon. Candied sweet potatoes are the same idea in a pan of syrup. Sweet potato pie adds a crust, eggs and evaporated milk, and sweet potato fries come with oil and salt.

None of those is a plain sweet potato, and you cannot scrape the sugar off a marshmallow top. If the dish came out of the oven with anything on it, keep it on your plate. The plain scoop you set aside earlier is the dog's portion. If something in the house is labeled sugar-free, read the ingredient list before it goes anywhere near the dog.

How much sweet potato

Think treat, not side dish. The AKC puts it this way: "Like with any food, moderation is key." The amounts below are our own starting point at the table, not a figure from anyone else.

• Small dogs under 20 pounds: a teaspoon of mash, or two or three pea-sized cubes.
• Medium dogs, 20 to 50 pounds: a tablespoon of mash, or a handful of small cubes.
• Large dogs over 50 pounds: two or three tablespoons of mash, or a small handful of cubes.

Offer it a few times a week at most. Sweet potato is soft and sticky, so it also works pressed into a puzzle toy or stirred into the dog's regular food, which keeps the portion small.

The first time

Offer one cube, plain and cooled, on a day when nothing else is new. Then wait a day before offering more. Thanksgiving itself is a poor day for a first try, because the dog is also near rolls, turkey skin and whatever lands on the floor, and you will not know what caused what. Cook one sweet potato earlier in the week and run the test then. If your dog is on a special diet, or has had trouble with new foods before, ask your veterinarian before you start.

Leftovers and storage

Plain cooked sweet potato keeps in a covered container in the refrigerator for a day or two. Cook a little extra on purpose if you want to freeze a few cubes for later. Do not save a portion from the casserole dish for the next day. Whatever was mixed into it is still mixed into it.

Something for the dog while people eat

If you would rather hand the dog something made for the job, ours is Freeze-Dried Beef Heart Dog Treats. The only ingredient is beef heart. We freeze-dry it in small batches in Malvern, Pennsylvania, and it comes in 1.5, 3 and 6 ounce bags.

The pieces are medium sized and firm, and they snap into smaller ones, with a milder smell than liver. On our own scorecard it gets 3 of 5 for crunch and 5 of 5 for training value. We list it for dogs of all sizes, adult and puppy. The label says to feed it as a treat or meal topper, not as a complete diet, with fresh water available and a supervised dog. Reseal the bag after opening and store it cool and dry. Our Thanksgiving dog treats collection has the seasonal picks, and the rest of the table is covered in our guide to Thanksgiving foods dogs can eat. Pumpkin follows many of the same rules, and we cover it in the pumpkin guide.

Sweet potato questions

Can dogs eat sweet potatoes raw?

No. The AKC line above is blunt about it, and we follow it. Cook the sweet potato until it is soft, let it cool, and peel it first.

Can dogs eat sweet potato skin?

Take it off. We peel every sweet potato before any of it goes in a dog's bowl. Peeling after cooking is easiest, since the skin slips off a soft one.

Can a dog have sweet potato casserole?

Skip it. The brown sugar, butter, marshmallows and pecans are the point of the dish, and none of them belongs in a dog's bowl. Set aside a plain scoop before the topping goes on.

What about sweet potato pie?

Keep it on your plate. A pie is crust, sugar, eggs, milk and spice, and the sweet potato is only one part of it.

Are canned sweet potatoes or yams okay?

Only if the ingredient list says sweet potatoes and nothing else, or sweet potatoes and water. Anything packed in syrup is sweet potato in sugar, and rinsing a syrup pack does not turn it into a plain one.

How much sweet potato can a dog have?

A teaspoon to a few tablespoons, depending on the dog, and only a few times a week. The size chart above is where we start. Begin at the low end and keep it plain.