If you’re interested in cannabis cooking, you’ve probably heard of cannabutter. Since it first became popular in the 20th century, people have used cannabutter to infuse food with cannabis without eating raw chunks of bud.
In this article, we’ll share our best cannabutter recipe, showing you how anyone can make cannabutter in their own kitchen.
What is Cannabutter & Can I Make It?
Before we dive into the recipe, let’s get back to basics. ‘Cannabutter,’ or cannabis-infused butter, is a combination of butter and cannabis. It’s used in all sorts of recipes, including sweet treats (like cookies and brownies) and savory dishes (like cannabis pasta).
Cannabutter is made in many ways, including in a crockpot or via boiling. However, stovetop cannabutter is the most effective, so we’ll focus on that today.
While making your own cannabutter may seem tricky, it’s actually pretty simple. Butter is a versatile and easy-to-cook with substance, so anyone can turn butter into cannabutter – provided they use a low flame and follow our best cannabutter recipe, of course.
Best Cannabutter Recipe
Print RecipeIngredients
- 1 cup of butter (do not use margarine)
- 3 - 5 grams of dried cannabis
- 1 cup of water
Instructions
How to Make Cannabutter
The best cannabutter recipe will take you roughly 2.5 hours and is perfect for beginner, intermediate or expert bakers. Follow these steps to make it.
Step 1. Decarboxylate your cannabis
Cannabutter is primarily used for baking edibles and savory snacks with the ability to give you a THC-derived buzz. However, as absorbing cannabis through food is quite different than consuming cannabis via smoking or vaping, you’ll need to ‘decarb’ your cannabis before you can cook with it.
Decarboxylating cannabis, or ‘decarbing’ it, is the process of heating cannabis to its combustion point. Combustion turns THCA into THC, which is the primary cannabis component with psychoactive effects.
There are three simple steps to decarbing cannabis:
- Preheat your oven to 210°F and line an oven tray with baking paper.
- Lay your cannabis onto the paper and bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Every thirty minutes, use a spatula to shake the cannabis loosely. Shaking will ensure your buds heat evenly.
- Remove cannabis from the oven and set to cool. Allow your cannabis to reach room temperature before continuing with our best cannabutter recipe.
After your cannabis is cool, grind it finely with a cannabis grinder.
Step 2. Melt and simmer
Then, take a small saucepan and heat it over a low flame. Add your butter into the saucepan and stir gently until the butter has fully melted. Once melted, add half a cup of water into your butter.
Add your ground cannabis into the saucepan and turn your flame down to the lowest setting. As the boiling point of butter is only 100°F, a low flame is essential for good-quality cannabutter.
In total, you’ll need to simmer your cannabutter for 2 hours. Stir the mixture every 10 minutes, as the temperature of the cannabutter needs to stay low. If needed, add more water into the mix at one tablespoon at a time.
Note: Never allow the cannabutter to reach boiling point.
Step 3. Strain your cannabutter
Once your cannabutter has simmered, remove it from the heat and allow it to cool. Take a fine strainer or a cheesecloth and strain your cannabutter over a bowl. This will remove the large buds from the mixture.
Step 4. Refrigerate
At this point, you can either use your cannabutter in a recipe or refrigerate it for later use. If you choose to refrigerate, we recommend cooling your cannabutter in the bowl rather than bottling it. This will allow the butter to cool evenly and quickly, which decreases the risk of the butter spoiling.
Step 5. Bottle the final product
At this point, you may have noticed some water pooling in your butter bowl. If this is the case, simply remove the butter and dispose of the water.
Finally, it’s time to bottle your cannabutter! To ensure your butter stays pure as long as possible, choose a jar with an airtight seal (like these canning jars). Use a spoon to scrape your mixture into the jar and compress the butter. Store upright and enjoy.
