Evanger’s Hand-Packed Dog Food receives the Advisor’s highest rating of 5 stars.

The Evanger’s Hand-Packed product line includes 6 canned dog foods.

Each recipe includes its related AAFCO nutrient profile when available on the product’s official webpage: Growth, Maintenance, All Life Stages, Supplemental or Unspecified.

Use the links to compare price and package sizes of this Evanger’s product line at an online retailer.

Evanger’s Hand-Packed Chunky Chicken Casserole was selected to represent the other products in the line for this review.

Ingredient Analysis

The first ingredient in this dog food is chicken. Chicken is considered “the clean combination of flesh and skin… derived from the parts or whole carcasses of chicken”.¹

Chicken is naturally rich in the ten essential amino acids required by a dog to sustain life.

The second ingredient is chicken broth. Broths are of only modest nutritional value. Yet because they add both flavor and moisture to a dog food, they are a common addition component in many canned products.

The third ingredient includes carrots. Carrots are rich in beta-carotene, minerals and dietary fiber.

The fourth ingredient lists peas. Peas are a quality source of carbohydrates. Plus (like all legumes) they’re rich in natural fiber.

However, peas contain about 25% protein, a factor that must be considered when judging the actual meat content of this dog food.

The fifth ingredient is apple, a nutrient-rich fruit that’s also high in fiber.

The sixth ingredient is guar gum, a gelling or thickening agent found in many wet pet foods. Refined from dehusked guar beans, guar gum can add a notable amount of dietary fiber to any product.

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 2 notable exceptions…

First, this dog food contains selenium yeast. Unlike the more common inorganic form of selenium (sodium selenite), this natural yeast supplement is considered a safer anti-cancer alternative.

And lastly, the minerals listed here do not appear to be chelated. And that can make them more difficult to absorb. Non-chelated minerals are usually associated with lower quality dog foods.

Nutrient Analysis

Judging by its ingredients alone, Evanger’s Hand-Packed Dog Food looks like an above-average wet product.

The dashboard displays a dry matter protein reading of 44%, a fat level of 22% and estimated carbohydrates of about 25%.

As a group, the brand features an average protein content of 52% and a mean fat level of 23%. Together, these figures suggest a carbohydrate content of 17% for the overall product line.

And a fat-to-protein ratio of about 45%.

Above-average protein. Near-average fat. And below-average carbs when compared to a typical canned dog food.

Even when you consider the protein-boosting effect of the peas, this looks like the profile of a canned product containing a significant amount of meat.

Bottom line?

Evanger’s Hand-Packed is a grain-free canned dog food using a generous amount of named meats as its main source of animal protein, thus earning the brand 5 stars.

Enthusiastically recommended.

However, it’s important to note that some of the recipes in this product line appear to be all meat in design. And that could make them suitable for supplemental feeding only.

Evanger’s Dog Food Recall History

The following list (if present) includes all dog food recalls since 2009 directly related to Evanger’s. If there are no recalls listed in this section, we have not yet reported any events.

• Evanger’s and Against the Grain Dog Food Recall Expands (2/28/2017)
• FDA Cautions Pet Owners Not to Feed Certain Dog Food Products Due to Adulteration with Pentobarbital (2/17/2017)
• Evanger’s Dog Food Recall of February 2017 (2/3/2017)