Stella and Chewy’s Freeze Dried Dinners Dog Food receives the Advisor’s second-highest tier rating of 4.5 stars.
The Stella and Chewy’s Freeze Dried Dinners product line includes 11 raw dog foods.
Each recipe below includes its related AAFCO nutrient profile when available on the product’s official webpage: Growth, Maintenance, All Life Stages, Supplemental or Unspecified.
Important: Because many websites do not reliably specify which Growth or All Life Stages recipes are safe for large breed puppies, we do not include that data in this report. Be sure to check actual packaging for that information.
Click the links below to check prices and read reviews from actual buyers at an online retailer.
- Chewy’s Chicken Freeze Dried Dinner (5 stars) [A]
- Stella’s Super Beef Freeze Dried Dinner (4 stars) [A]
- Stella & Chewy’s Surf N Turf Freeze Dried Dinner (4 stars) [A]
- Stella & Chewy’s Venison Blend Freeze Dried Dinner (5 stars) [A]
- Stella & Chewy’s Dandy Lamb Freeze Dried Dinner (2.5 stars) [A]
- Stella & Chewy’s Absolutely Rabbit Freeze Dried Dinner (5 stars) [A]
- Stella & Chewy’s Duck Duck Goose Freeze Dried Dinner (4 stars) [A]
- Stella & Chewy’s Tantalizing Turkey Freeze Dried Dinner (5 stars) [A]
- Stella & Chewy’s Remarkable Red Meat Freeze Dried Dinner (2.5 stars) [A]
- Stella & Chewy’s Puppy Chicken and Salmon Freeze Dried Dinner (5 stars) [A]
- Stella & Chewy’s Puppy Beef and Salmon Freeze Dried Dinner [A]
Stella and Chewy’s Absolutely Rabbit Freeze Dried Dinner was selected to represent the other products in the line for this review.
Stella and Chewy's Absolutely Rabbit
Freeze-Dried Dog Food
Estimated Dry Matter Nutrient Content
Ingredients: Rabbit with ground bone, olive oil, rabbit liver, pumpkin seed, organic cranberries, organic spinach, organic broccoli, organic beets, organic carrots, organic squash, organic blueberries, fenugreek seed, potassium chloride, dried kelp, sodium phosphate, tocopherols (preservative), choline chloride, dried Pediococcus acidilactici fermentation product, dried Lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, dried Bifidobacterium longum fermentation product, dried Bacillus coagulans fermentation product, zinc proteinate, iron proteinate, taurine, calcium carbonate, vitamin E supplement, thiamine mononitrate, copper proteinate, manganese proteinate, sodium selenite, niacin supplement, d-calcium pantothenate, riboflavin supplement, vitamin A supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin B12 supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid
Fiber (estimated dry matter content) = 5.3%
Red denotes controversial item
| Estimated Nutrient Content | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Method | Protein | Fat | Carbs |
| Guaranteed Analysis | 46% | 32% | NA |
| Dry Matter Basis | 48% | 34% | 10% |
| Calorie Weighted Basis | 35% | 58% | 7% |
The first ingredient in this dog food is rabbit. Rabbit is considered “the clean flesh derived from slaughtered rabbit” and associated with skeletal muscle or the muscle tissues of the tongue, diaphragm, heart, esophagus or other tissues accompanying the flesh.1
Rabbit is naturally rich in all ten essential amino acids required by a dog to sustain life.
This item includes ground bone, an excellent source of natural calcium.
The second ingredient is olive oil. Olive oil contains oleic acid, a healthy monounsaturated fat. It’s also rich in natural antioxidants and carotenoids.
The third ingredient is rabbit liver. This is an organ meat sourced from a named animal and thus considered a beneficial component.
The fourth ingredient includes pumpkin seeds. Pumpkin seeds are rich in fiber, vitamins, minerals and, more importantly, linoleic acid — an essential omega-6 fat.
The fifth ingredient lists cranberries, a nutrient-rich fruit that’s also high in fiber.
The sixth ingredient is spinach. Due to its exceptional vitamin and mineral content, spinach exhibits a remarkably high nutrient Completeness Score2 of 91.
The seventh ingredient is broccoli. Broccoli is a healthy green vegetable and a member of the kale family. It’s notably rich in vitamin C and fiber and numerous other nutrients.
Like other cruciferous vegetables, broccoli is believed to provide anti-cancer benefits.
The eighth ingredient lists beets, the root portion of a sugar beet plant. As the name implies, beets contain a high concentration of sucrose (sugar).
The ninth ingredient includes carrots. Carrots are rich in beta-carotene, minerals and dietary fiber.
The tenth item is squash. Squash is a nutritious addition high in complex carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber.
From here, the list goes on to include a number of other items.
But to be realistic, ingredients located this far down the list (other than nutritional supplements) are not likely to affect the overall rating of this product.
With two notable exceptions…
First, we note the inclusion of dried fermentation products in this recipe. Fermentation products are typically added to provide enzymes to aid the animal with digestion.
And lastly, this food contains chelated minerals, minerals that have been chemically attached to protein. This makes them easier to absorb. Chelated minerals are usually found in better dog foods.
Stella and Chewy’s
Freeze Dried Dinners Dog Food Review
Judging by its ingredients alone, Stella and Chewy’s Freeze Dried Dinners Dog Food looks like a superior raw product.
But ingredient quality by itself cannot tell the whole story. We still need to estimate the product’s meat content before determining a final rating.
The dashboard displays a dry matter protein reading of 48%, a fat level of 34% and estimated carbohydrates of about 10%.
As a group, the brand features an average protein content of 46% and a mean fat level of 36%. Together, these figures suggest a carbohydrate content of 11% for the overall product line.
And a fat-to-protein ratio of about 78%.
Above-average protein. Above-average fat. And below-average carbs when compared to a typical raw dog food.
Free of any plant-based protein boosters, this looks like the profile of a raw product containing an abundance of meat.
However, with 58% of the total calories in our example coming from fat versus just 35% from protein, some recipes may not be suitable for every animal. In addition, this same finding also prevents us from awarding the brand a higher rating.
Bottom line?
Stella and Chewy’s Freeze Dried Dinners is a grain-free raw dog food using a generous amount of named meats and organs as its main source of animal protein, thus earning the brand 4.5 stars.
Highly recommended.
Please note certain recipes are sometimes given a higher or lower rating based upon our estimate of their total meat content and (when appropriate) their fat-to-protein ratios.
Stella and Chewy’s Dog Food
Recall History
The following list (if present) includes all dog food recalls since 2009 directly related to this product line. If there are no recalls listed in this section, we have not yet reported any events.
- Stella and Chewy’s Dog and Cat Food Recall of December 2015 (12/12/2015)
- Stella and Chewy’s Dog Food Recall of July 2015 (7/5/2015)
You can view a complete list of all dog food recalls sorted by date. Or view the same list sorted alphabetically by brand.
To learn why our ratings have nothing to do with a product’s recall history, please visit our Dog Food Recalls FAQ page.
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Dog Food Coupons
and Discounts
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Important FDA Alert
The FDA has announced it is investigating a potential connection between grain-free diets and a type of canine heart disease known as dilated cardiomyopathy. Click here for details.
A Final Word
The descriptions and analyses expressed in this and every article on this website represent the views and opinions of the author.
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For a better understanding of how we analyze each product, please read our article, "The Problem with Dog Food Reviews".
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Notes and Updates
03/02/2019 Last Update
- Adapted by The Dog Food Advisor from the definition of meat published by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (2008) ↩
- Completeness Score is a measure of a food’s relative nutrient content and is computed by NutritionData.com from the USDA’s National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference ↩