Raw Bird Chop Recipe: Soak and Serve
Raw Bird Chop Recipe: Soak and Serve Bird Food for a Healthier Parrot
If you're looking for an easy way to feed your bird a healthier, fresher diet, raw bird chop is a game changer. Unlike cooked chops that require time in the kitchen, this soak and serve bird food is quick, convenient, and full of nutrients. It’s the perfect way to offer a raw diet that supports your parrot’s well-being, without the fuss.
Raw bird chop recipe can be very nutritious with just a little time. Depending on ingredients, you either have to soak and cook, mix or you can just soak and NOT cook. Not cooking allows for an easy raw food recipe that is packed with nutrition. Today, we will be making this raw bird chop recipe which is not only nutritious, healthy, and natural but so easy to do.
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Why Raw Bird Food?
Feeding raw allows your bird to enjoy food in its most natural state. When fresh veggies, greens, and grains are offered raw, they retain their enzymes, antioxidants, and essential nutrients, just the way nature intended.
Many parrots thrive on a diet that includes raw bird food alongside cooked options. It adds variety, boosts hydration, and supports better digestion. Plus, it's often more convenient!
What Is a Soak and Serve Bird Chop?
Soak and serve bird food means just that—you soak a mix of dry ingredients like grains, legumes, and seeds, then simply serve them raw, fresh, and ready to eat. There's no cooking required. Once soaked, the ingredients soften, sprout, and become easier for birds to digest.
At PDS Parrot Shop, we often use PDS Raw Chop Mix as a way to rotate ingredients, give birds variety, and provide food that’s as close to nature as possible.
First of all, a little bit of science.
As we all know, seeds have all the nutrients necessary to grow a plant. When we soak seeds or grains, in water the seeds start absorbing the water. The intake of water signals the seed to use its stored energy for growth through the activation of enzymes.
In other words, the water intake releases large amounts of nutrients within the seeds to become a plant. With this knowledge we will use this to create our raw bird chop recipe.
Raw bird chop recipe is a non-cooking recipe, where we will use nature and science to create a nutritious meal for our companion birds and parrots.
First of all, we need a list of seeds and grains we can use for our raw bird chop recipe. We can use all or some mixture of these grains/seeds:
Barley
Farro
Rye Berries
Spelt
Kamut
Buckwheat
Hulled Millet
Pumpkin Seeds
Sunflower
Wheat Berries
Green Split peas
Yellow Split peas
green lentils
red lentils
sesame seeds
fennel seeds
poppy seeds
Directions for Soak and Serve
Rinse your soak your grain/seed mix a few times. Then add three times the amount of cold water than your soak mix and let it soak overnight. Your soak mix is going to absorb the water so make sure it is submerged all the time. Add more water if needed.
In the morning, rinse well. Add cut-up veggies and fruit to the soak mix. I also added greens which were chopped in the food processor.
Mix in some healthy seeds like chia and flax. Mix in some spices of our choice.
Mix and serve your raw bird chop mix.
PS: For any leftover of the soak grain/seed mix, you can start the sprouting process by rinsing the soak mix three times a day, until it starts to sprout. Parrot sprouting is ideal however not necessary for this recipe. Sprouting seeds for birds provide all the essential amino acids.
Need some help shopping for bird chop? Try out our downloadable shopping list.
Raw Bird Chop Recipe
Here’s a fresh and nutritious raw chop recipe, shared by Monika Sangar, author of The Science of Avian Nutrition, based on years of experience in crafting balanced meals for parrots. Here’s our go-to recipe on how to incorporate soak and serve into a fresh bird chop. You can scale it depending on how many birds you have:
Ingredients:
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1 tbsp dry quinoa
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1 tbsp hulled buckwheat
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1 tbsp mung beans
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1 tbsp sunflower seeds (raw, unsalted, and shelled)
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1 tbsp chopped kale
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1 tbsp blueberries
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1 tbsp shredded carrot
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1 tsp hemp seeds or chia seeds
Instructions:
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Rinse the dry grains, legumes, and seeds thoroughly.
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Soak them in a bowl of clean water for 8–12 hours.
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Drain and rinse again. The mix should be soft and ready to serve.
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Add fresh veggies just before feeding to maintain texture and freshness.
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Serve immediately, or store in the fridge for up to 24 hours.
Tips for Serving Raw Bird Food
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Always rinse well before and after soaking.
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If the grains doesn’t smell sweet and earthy, but spoiled, toss it.
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Avoid ingredients like onion, garlic, avocado, or anything toxic to birds.
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Serve in small amounts to avoid spoilage—especially on warm days.
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You can sprout the grains and seeds if you want to boost nutrients even further.
- Use left over soak and serve chop to make amazing raw sweet potato balls.
Why We Love This Recipe
This soak and serve method is not just simple, it also mirrors how birds forage in the wild. It encourages natural feeding behavior while providing vital nutrition. Whether you're short on time or just want to offer more raw bird food, this is a healthy choice for your flock.
Cookbook:
The Science of Avian Nutrition
Looking for More Healthy Bird Food Ideas?
Check out our bird chop guide for more inspiration, made with clean, wholesome ingredients.
Author: Monika Sangar
Co-founder of Prego Dalliance Sanctuary, Artisan of PDS Parrot Shop
Monika Sangar is a parrot rescuer, bird food chef, and toy designer with over a decade of experience in avian care and nutrition. She is the founder of Prego Dalliance Sanctuary and the author of The Science of Avian Nutrition, a cookbook dedicated to fresh, healthy meals for parrots. Explore more bird care tips and bird toys at PDS Parrot Shop!
1 comment
What is the ratio of the soaked seed mix to the chop?