How to Make Cannabutter in Your Kitchen

Got a craving for your favorite sweet or savory snacks? Indulge yourself and turn them into edibles. Then, it’s time to learn.

Cannabutter or cannabis butter is fun and relatively easy to make at home. Once you have a stick in the fridge, you can use it in any of your favorite treats that usually call for butter. 

Combining your love of weed with home cooking opens up endless opportunities to new and yummy ways to consume marijuana. What sounds better than enjoying a melt-in-the-mouth brownie that gives you a warm, relaxing body high?

Read on to learn how to make cannabutter—once you know how it’s sure to become a staple in your refrigerator.

How to make cannabutter

Cannabutter is a key recipe for edible makers to master commercially or at home. Its versatility is unrivaled when it comes to sweat and savory dishes. For that reason, cannabis-infused butter is one of the most tried and tested recipes in the culinary weed community. 

Imagine the ingredients of the food you’ve eaten over the last week, now substitute the butter for cannabutter. That’s right, you can use it in just about everything, and the best thing is it’s easy to make on your stove or in a crockpot.

Join us as we share step-by-step instructions on how to make the best cannabutter every time. We’ll also cover the decarboxylation process, discuss what you’ll need, and explore what you can make with your cannabis-infused butter.  

As you follow our guidelines, remember there is no one way to cook with marijuana. These are some basic principles to making your edibles potent and yummy, but the rest is up to you. 

Developing your techniques will help to make your food unique and tailored to your preferences. But, most of all, have fun and experiment!  

Decarboxylation

A surprising fact to many is that raw cannabis flowers, otherwise known as buds or nugs, don’t contain high amounts of CBD or THC. Instead, they are rich in CBDA and THCA, which are part of the full spectrum of cannabinoid acids. 

The flowers need to go through a process called decarboxylation. It’s a crucial step to unlock the THC necessary for psychoactive effects and CBD for medicinal relief. 

Don’t feel intimidated by the science. Two of the simplest ways to decarboxylate your weed ready to cook at home include: 

• In the oven: Cut your cooking time in half with a little preparation. Before infusing the cannabis and butter, bake your weed in the oven for around 40 minutes at 240°F. 

This method also stops chlorophyll leaching into your food—preventing your food from tasting like leaves or appearing green. 

• Decarb during cooking: If you’re more of a sporadic baker, you’ll be glad to know that decarboxylating ahead of time isn’t always necessary. 

With this method, you can combine all your ingredients and start cooking. You’ll need to cook the cannabis-infused butter for longer to allow full decarboxylation.

Making cannabutter this way will result in large amounts of chlorophyll escaping into your butter, impacting the appearance and taste.  

What you need to make cannabutter

There are two prime ingredients in making cannabutter; you guessed it, cannabis and butter. There are plenty of options for the latter—unsalted carries fewer impurities for a higher-quality end product.

To clarify or not to clarify the butter. That is the question and a hot debate among veteran weed-infused butter makers. Many people claim that they make perfect cannabutter without clarifying first, while others believe to do so creates superior edibles. 

Ghee butter takes away the hassle of clarifying since it’s already gone through the process and has little to no trace of milk solids. It’s practically an oil and can be infused like any other weed oil. 

Once you’ve chosen your butter, it’s time to focus on what weed is best to use in this recipe. The truth is any weed will do; just research the effects of various strains, so you know what to expect. All parts of the plant—barring the seeds—once decarboxylated, contains some level of cannabinoids. 

Those looking for inexpensive edibles with an unintrusive THC kick, trimmings, leaves, and weed shake are ideal. 

If you’re trying to find out how to make cannabutter with trimmings, leaves, or shake, the answer remains the same—decarboxylate, infuse, and cook.

These parts of the plant are much lower in potency, and how much you use will impact its punch. We suggest using more leaves, trim, and shake than flowers unless you want a single cookie to knock your socks off.

Using high or medicinal-grade marijuana flowers will create a more potent cannabutter. For a balanced experience, use weed strains that boast similar THC and CBD percentages. Alternatively, cook up your favorite strain that gives you the high your desire.  

Now you have the two main ingredients; it’s time to look at the equipment for the two processes. 

For decarboxylation:

• Parchment-lined baking sheet
• Grinder
• Wooden spoon
• Scissors

For the cannabutter:

• Small saucepan/ crockpot/ instant pot
• Candy thermometer
• Fine mesh strainer
• Mason jar
• Tea towel
• Food-safe storage container

With a variety of methods to follow, instant pot cannabutter is preferred by many. This process requires less monitoring and helps to avoid boiling temperatures responsible for killing THC.

Another much-loved method is to use a specially designed cannabutter machine. It takes away all the hassle of decarboxylating and infusing your cannabis when making edibles. 

These cannabis-infusion machines do all the work for you and can also be used for other weed-related infusions like marijuana oil.

Basic cannabutter recipe

If you’re a beginner to the cannabutter game, we suggest you use a crockpot. The low heat and slow cooking time make for a low-maintenance experience that yields tasty results. 

Follow our step-by-step guide below on how to make crockpot cannabutter. If you have decarboxylated marijuana on hand, then your butter will be ready in 4 hours. Otherwise, it’ll require 8 hours to decarboxylate while cooking. 

Step one

Place a clean tea towel in the bottom of your crockpot and nestle your mason jars on top. The towel will create a buffer between your machine and jars to don’t crack or move during cooking.

Step two 

Once you’re happy with your jars position, fill your crockpot with warm water. You need to cover your mason jars but not overflow your machine. The aim is to create a water bath.  

Step three

You now need to place your thermometer into the water and set your crockpot bubbling at high heat. Once the temperature reaches 185 °F, turn it down to low.

Step four

Here’s your opportunity to decarb your weed if you haven’t done so already. First, measure out your flowers and set them in the oven for 40 minutes at 240 °F. 

If you plan to decarb your weed during the cooking process, omit this part. 

Step five

It’s time to divide your ingredients between your mason jars. You should always divide the butter equally to ensure they cook at the same time. Typically two sticks of butter will fit inside a wide-mouth mason jar.

Your decarb weed can be divided however which way you like. For example, you could make one jar more potent than the other or use different cuts of cannabis. 

Step Six

Make sure you wipe any excess butter off the rim of your lid before you close them. The lids don’t have to be super tight; just twist with your fingertips. 

Step seven 

Place your jars back into the water bath and put the crockpot’s lid on. Cook now for four or eight hours, maintaining a constant temperature of around 185 °F. 

Step eight

When the time comes, carefully remove the mason jars and allow them to cool. While you wait, prepare an area in your kitchen for straining.

You’ll need clean mason jars, a mesh strainer like a cheesecloth or paper filter. Some people opt for a french press.

Step nine

Pour the liquid inside the jars through your strainer. You’re aiming to separate the infused butter and plant matter.

Step ten

Transfer the liquid to whatever container you’re going to store it in. For example, you can keep it inside the mason jar or add it to a flexible container like a butter mold.

Place it inside the refrigerator to cool and set

Step eleven

Check on your butter from time to time; once it’s solidified, remove the block of cannabutter and drain any remaining liquid. The unwanted liquid you can see would be leftover water and milk solids if you didn’t use clarified butter. 

There you have it yummy, versatile cannabutter ready to enjoy. You can spread it on sandwiches or use it in your next baking batch. 

Make sure to store the butter in the freezer or refrigerator. Always use your product by the same date on the butter you originally used. 

What can you do with cannabutter?

From a culinary perspective, there aren’t many more ingredients out there that are as versatile as butter—it stands to reason that cannabutter could substitute for it in any recipe you desire. 

When people think of making edibles, often their first thought is how to make weed brownies with cannabutter? The answer is simple—follow your favorite brownie recipe using the cannabutter instead of normal butter! 

Now that you have cannabis butter in your fridge, the possibilities are endless. Try it inside cookies, cakes, and even pretzels if you desire. 

If you can’t eat dairy products and are left wondering how to make edibles without cannabutter? Don’t despair. You can add your chosen weed straight into your recipe without infusing it into butter or oils. 

The only downfall of this is that the texture of the plant matter will come through in your cooking. Many people grind nugs into a herb-like consistency and add them to stews or soups to overcome this issue. 

Cannabutter FAQs

How to make strong cannabutter?

The potency of the butter depends on the strength and quantity of the cannabis you use in the recipe. Remember, flowers are always more potent with THC than leaves, shake, or trimmings. 

Other factors like your cooking temperature and how long you decarboxylate your pot will affect its strength.

Top tips for making your cannabis-infused butter stronger include:

• Choose quality weed with a high THC content
• Add cannabis concentrates 
• Use more flowers 
• Use less butter 

Can I make cannabutter with coconut oil?

Coconut oil is an ideal alternative for butter. Many people who don’t eat dairy will choose this substitute.  

Making cannabis coconut oil is similar to making cannabutter and is a recipe that many people will master simultaneously. When making edibles, you don’t have to choose one or the other. 

Knowing how to make cannabutter with coconut oil might sound tricky, but it isn’t. You can simply add coconut oil infused with cannabis or plain into your mason jars as part of your butter ratios. Whether you use more butter or more coconut oil will depend on your taste and consistency preferences.

Can I use wax to make cannabutter?

Wax is otherwise known as shatter, dabs, honey, or batter and is a THC extract. To make your cannabutter, really pack a punch, substitute flowers for wax, or opt for a combination of both. 

People who have a high tolerance to marijuana or need small regular doses of high THC to tackle an ailment will reap the benefits of wax cannabutter. 

Learning how to cook butter with wax is easy. You can follow the same crockpot recipe we’ve shared. One top tip when decarboxylating is to wait for the wax to finish bubbling to achieve maximum potency.

Grab your toque and apron

Cooking with cannabis and making edibles at home is becoming the norm. But, remember, not only sweet tooth stoners can enjoy these home delights. The internet is ever-growing with exciting cannabutter recipes for savory dishes too.

You can infuse weed with various things, but cannabutter and marijuana oil are perfect staples to have on hand in the kitchen. 

You’ve now learned all there is to know. Why are you waiting? Get in the kitchen and start combining your passion for weed with your love of food.