This study examined the effect of conditioning temperature (65 and 90 °C) and die hole length (ø 5 × 45, 65, and 80 mm) during pelleting processing of a standard dry dog food on selected indicators of the MR (total lysine, reactive lysine, fructoselysine, ɛ-N-carboxymethyllysine, (5-hydroxymethyl)-2-furfural, lysinoalanine), browning development and CIE-Lab color. Steam pelleting variables did not cause a significant loss of lysine or change in color and absorbance values.