What’s in it
The top ingredients, in order: Chicken, Ground Rice, Vegetable Glycerin, Tapioca Starch, Gelatin, Malted Barley, Chickpeas, Water, Sea Salt, followed by natural flavor and natural preservatives (mixed tocopherols, rosemary extract, citric acid, vinegar). No artificial colors, no BHA/BHT/ethoxyquin, no corn, wheat, or soy. Each piece is about 3 kcal.
Zuke’s manufactures these as soft-chew training treats — the chew texture matters for training because dogs consume them quickly and come back for the next rep, which is exactly what you want during a training session. The soft format is achieved through the glycerin + tapioca starch + gelatin combination, which holds moisture and pliability without requiring synthetic preservatives. The product carries the AAFCO “intermittent or supplemental feeding only” statement, which is the correct label for a treat.
The good stuff
Named chicken as the first ingredient is the minimum bar for any quality treat, and Zuke’s clears it cleanly — the “chicken” here is whole muscle meat, not by-product meal. The 3-kcal-per-piece calorie density is genuinely low for the soft-training-treat category, which is the functional reason the product works so well for reward-based training: a 50-pound dog can eat a dozen of these during a session and still be comfortably under the 10%-of-daily-calories ceiling. Shop on Amazon →
The preservation system is natural: mixed tocopherols (vitamin E), rosemary extract, citric acid, and vinegar. Our rubric deducts 10 points for synthetic preservatives like BHA or BHT; Zuke’s avoids all of them. The absence of artificial colors is a second meaningful rubric win — four common colors in mainstream treats (Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 2) each carry a −6 deduction, so skipping them is worth 24 points vs. a typical mass-market biscuit.
Zuke’s discloses the per-piece calorie count on the package, which our transparency axis rewards — a non-trivial share of competing training treats omit calorie density entirely, making the 10%-rule math impossible to do at the shelf.
The not-so-good stuff
Ground rice is the second ingredient, and because the “chicken” at position one is whole muscle meat (which is ~70% water before processing), the actual dry-weight balance of the treat likely has more ground rice than chicken once moisture is removed. This is a normal characteristic of soft-chew treats — the binder does a lot of work — but it means the formula is not as protein-forward as the ingredient order suggests.
Vegetable glycerin is the third ingredient. Glycerin is a humectant that keeps soft treats pliable; our rubric deducts 5 points for glycerin or propylene glycol as softeners, because the alternative formulation path (jerky-style, air-dried, or freeze-dried) achieves low calorie density without a synthetic humectant. This is the single biggest rubric delta between Zuke’s and Charlee Bear.
Tapioca starch, gelatin, and chickpeas round out the binder system. Chickpeas trigger a partial legume-watchlist consideration, though a single legume entry does not cross our ≥3-legume-stack DCM threshold. Taken together, the binder system is responsible for the gap between Zuke’s B/78 and the A-tier jerky/FD alternatives.
There are no active FDA recalls or enforcement actions on Zuke’s Mini Naturals product line as of this review’s verification date.
How it compares
Zuke’s B/78 sits above every mainstream biscuit we’ve scored. Milk-Bone Original (D/38) is the obvious comparison — same shelf space, much lower rubric score because of the wheat-first ingredient order, BHA preservation, and four-color artificial color stack that Zuke’s avoids.
Against the dental-chew category, Zuke’s outscores Greenies Original Regular (C/58) on the underlying ingredient panel — Greenies leads with wheat flour and glycerin, both of which Zuke’s avoids in its top-five ingredient positions. Greenies wins back some ground through its VOHC-verified mechanical-dental-cleaning claim, which a soft training treat cannot offer.
Against the premium tier, the formula loses cleanly to Charlee Bear Grain-Free Turkey Liver (A/90) and Vital Essentials Freeze-Dried Beef Liver (A/93). Both use production methods (jerky and freeze-drying) that deliver low calorie density without a glycerin softener, and both have meaningfully simpler ingredient panels. If you’re willing to pay the premium for the format, the A-tier treats offer a cleaner reward; if you need training volume at a working price point, Zuke’s is the strongest widely-available mid-tier option.
The bottom line
Zuke’s Mini Naturals Chicken Recipe earns a B grade (78/100) on KibbleIQ’s treats rubric — the strongest mainstream soft-training-treat we’ve scored. Chicken first, natural preservation, no artificial colors, 3 kcal per piece. The glycerin-based softener system and the binder stack keep it from A-tier, but the trade is a texture profile that actually works for high-volume reward training. If you’re running long training sessions and need dozens of small rewards, Zuke’s is the right tool; if you want the cleanest possible treat panel and don’t care about soft-chew texture, step up to Charlee Bear or Vital Essentials. Remember the 10% rule — a 50-pound dog has about 110 kcal of treat budget, which is roughly 35 Mini Naturals pieces. Shop on Amazon →