80/100Outstanding
Brand
Essential Foods
Brand review
Essential Foods dog food review
Essential Foods runs dry and wet side by side, twenty one products with almost all of them grain free. The brand average sits in our Excellent band, with fourteen products Excellent and two Outstanding. Transparency is Outstanding on most recipes and nutritional balance leads the nutrition read. Protein and processing is the softer pillar, Good on half the scored range.
Average score
74
out of 100
Value
—
not yet rated
Ingredient clarity
—
not yet rated
Foods reviewed
20
Dry · Wet
Range at a glance
Broad range- Foods reviewed
- 20
- Food types
- Dry, Wet
- Life stages
- Puppy, Adult, Senior
- Common fit
- Joint support, Grain-free, High energy, Weight management
Currently reviewed Essential Foods foods
- 180/100
- 280/100
- 377/100
- 477/100
- 576/100
- 676/100
- 776/100
- 876/100
- 976/100
- 1076/100
- 1176/100
- 1275/100
- 1375/100
- 1475/100
- 1573/100
- 1673/100
- 1766/100
- 1862/100
- 1954/100
- 20
Price & value
- Monthly cost from
- ≈ Under £30 / mo
- Typical monthly cost
- ≈ £50–80 / mo
Estimated monthly bands for a 15 kg adult dog, from each food’s feeding guide.
Best for
Grain-free recipesDry and wet in one rangePuppies and adultsJoint support extras
Summary figures are derived from this brand’s 20 reviewed foods. Prices and retailer availability can change. Scores are independent and never affected by commission. Guidance, not veterinary advice.
In detail
Essential Foods: the closer look
The range
Twenty one products, twelve dry and nine wet, spread across many small ranges. Most hold a single recipe: Superior Living, Highland Living, Estate Living and Nautical Living on the dry side, with matching pate recipes on the wet. The Beginning covers puppies, including a large-breed pair, and seventeen products are for adults.
Ingredients
Chicken leads on six products, with salmon and duck on four each, then turkey, lamb and fish. Nineteen recipes are grain free. The dry foods add chondroitin, glucosamine, msm, linseed and taurine, and the pates carry salmon oil.
Nutrition
The dry food is dense, with protein as fed from 22.0% on Balance up to 35.0% on Stamina and The Beginning, and energy reaching 400 kcal per 100g. The wet pates sit near 9% protein and about 110 kcal. Nutritional balance is Outstanding on ten products.
Strengths
- Outstanding transparency on most recipes
- Grain free across nineteen products
- Dry and wet recipes built to match
Limitations
- Protein and processing reads Good on half
- No raw or cold-pressed food
- One veterinary diet carries no score
Where it is less of a fit
- If you feed cold-pressed or raw, check the formats here, as Essential Foods is dry and wet
- If protein and processing matters most, check that pillar, which reads Good on ten products and Excellent on nine
- If you are looking at the Essential Balance Pate, check the label with your vet, since veterinary diets carry no score with us
Score overview
Transparency carries the Excellent band read, Outstanding on seventeen products and Excellent on the other three, with value close behind at Excellent on fourteen. Nutritional balance is Outstanding on ten. Protein and processing is the pillar that holds the brand back, Good on ten with one Poor. Balance and Eternal Living read Good where most ranges read Excellent.
The average score is the mean of each product's overall score out of 100 (using the best-scoring variety per product), not a flat average across every variety.
Figures are derived from current catalogue data for this brand's active foods, and the editorial read is ours. Scores are independent and never affected by commission. This is guidance, not veterinary advice. Last reviewed 9 September 2026.
All Essential Foods dog foods
20 foods, ranked by score
80/100Outstanding
77/100Excellent
77/100Excellent
76/100Excellent
76/100Excellent
76/100Excellent
76/100Excellent
76/100Excellent
76/100Excellent
76/100Excellent
75/100Excellent
75/100Excellent
75/100Excellent
73/100Excellent
73/100Excellent2 varieties
66/100Good
62/100Good
54/100Good
Related dog food guides
Ranked shortlists that include Essential Foods foods.
Essential Foods — common questions
Is Essential Foods good dog food?
Across 20 reviewed foods, Essential Foods averages 74/100, which we rate Excellent. It suits grain-free recipes, dry and wet in one range, puppies and adults, joint support extras.
Which Essential Foods dog food scores highest?
Essential Stamina leads the range at 80/100. You can read its full review, score breakdown and retailer prices on its product page.
What type of dogs is Essential Foods best for?
Its reviewed foods are best suited to grain-free recipes, dry and wet in one range, puppies and adults, joint support extras. Use the Food Finder to match a specific food to your dog's age, size and needs.
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