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The short answer: It’s effectively a tie — Nutro scores B (79/100) and Nature’s Recipe B (77/100). Nutro Wholesome Essentials takes the grain-inclusive route with whole brown rice and oatmeal, while Nature’s Recipe goes grain-free with sweet potatoes and peas. The decision comes down to one question: do you want grains or not? If DCM concerns keep you up at night, Nutro wins by default. If added taurine matters more, Nature’s Recipe delivers it.

The scores

Nutro Wholesome Essentials Adult Chicken: B (79/100) — Chicken and chicken meal lead, with whole brown rice and oatmeal as the grain base. Clean label, non-GMO positioning from Mars Petcare. No corn, wheat, or soy.

Nature’s Recipe Grain-Free Chicken: B (77/100) — Chicken and chicken meal up front, with sweet potatoes and tapioca starch as the carb base. Grain-free formula. Includes taurine.

How the ingredients compare

Both formulas lead with dual chicken protein sources, then diverge sharply on carbohydrates:

Nutro: Chicken, Chicken Meal, Whole Brown Rice, Brewers Rice, Rice Bran

Nature’s Recipe: Chicken, Chicken Meal, Sweet Potatoes, Tapioca Starch, Canola Meal

The protein strategy is identical — fresh chicken plus chicken meal in positions one and two. After that, the formulas split. Nutro commits to rice in three forms (whole brown rice, brewers rice, rice bran), while Nature’s Recipe stacks starchy carb sources (sweet potatoes, tapioca starch, garbanzo beans, peas). Both approaches have trade-offs: Nutro’s triple-rice load includes two filler-grade ingredients, while Nature’s Recipe’s grain-free carb stack raises the FDA-flagged DCM concern.

Where Nutro pulls ahead

No DCM concern: Nutro’s grain-inclusive formula sidesteps the FDA’s ongoing investigation into grain-free diets and dilated cardiomyopathy. Whole brown rice and oatmeal are well-studied, well-tolerated grains with no regulatory flags. For owners worried about the grain-free-DCM link, this alone may settle the debate.

Whole grain oatmeal: Oatmeal is a nutritionally superior grain — high in soluble fiber, B vitamins, and iron, with a lower glycemic index than rice. It’s a meaningful upgrade over the standard rice-only carb base most brands use.

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Where Nature’s Recipe holds its own

Taurine supplementation: Added taurine supports heart health, which is especially relevant in a grain-free formula where taurine deficiency has been theorized as a factor in the DCM concern. Nutro doesn’t include supplemental taurine. Shop on Amazon →

The bottom line

Nutro’s 2-point edge (B/79 vs B/77) is too small for the score to pick a winner — so your dog’s needs have to. If you want the safer, more conventional choice with no regulatory questions, Nutro’s grain-inclusive formula is the straightforward pick. If your dog thrives on grain-free and you value added taurine, Nature’s Recipe delivers a functional ingredient Nutro doesn’t. Both formulas have filler issues — Nutro leans on rice derivatives, Nature’s Recipe leans on starchy carbs — but neither is egregious enough to drop below a B. It’s a genuine coin flip decided by one philosophical question: grains or no grains?

Corrected 2026-10-19: we removed claims we could not support; we corrected factual errors, and grades and score comparisons that did not match our current scores.