How To Make CannaButter

What is Cannabutter?

Cannabis-infused butter or cannabutter is one of the easiest and most common ways to make edibles. Butter is delicious and versatile, and THC is the best medium for cannabis infusions because it binds to fat molecules (including oils such as coconut, olive oil, and vegetable oil).

The process takes a few hours but is easy to do, and this recipe shows what to do even for beginners.

As with all edibles, start low and go slow. After cooking with cannabutter, wait 45-60 minutes for the effect to kick in, and eat more only if you want a more substantial impact.

How to Make Cannabutter

Making cannabutter is cheap, easy, and only uses a few ingredients (more time and patience). Butter burns easily, so observe the butter when cooking.

Why do you need decarboxylation to make cannabutter?

Cannabis flowers must be decarboxylated or “decarbonized” before making cannabis. Skipping these steps will result in butter with little to no cannabis effect.

As mentioned above, decarboxylation uses heat to convert THCA to THC, resulting in THC-containing butter and making it more appealing.

Some recipes call for putting cannabis directly in hot butter. Still, decarbing before will make your cannabutter more effective, and the less time spent soaking buds, the better your infused butter will taste. For this reason, we recommend decarbing in an oven first.

Requirements

• Baking sheet
• Parchment paper
• Oven
• Saucepan, stock pot, double-boiler, or slow cooker
• Mesh strainer or cheesecloth
• Container for cannabutter
• Cannabis grinder (optional)
• 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup ground cannabis (7-10 grams), decarboxylated

When making cannabutter, we recommend a 1:1 ratio of cannabis to butter. If you want milder effects, use less cannabis.

 

Basic cannabutter recipe

Decarb the cannabis.

Preheat the oven to 245ºF. Cover the baking sheet with parchment paper and place the loosely broken-up cannabis on it. Heat in the oven for 30-40 minutes. Gently mix the buds every 10-15 minutes to expose all sides of the buds. (Older, drier cannabis may require less time.) Tip: You can also set your oven to 300ºF and heat for 10-15 minutes, although the low-and-slow approach is recommended to preserve cannabinoids and terpenes better. Ground the cannabis. The grinder can save time by breaking the weed evenly, but you also can damage the weed easily by hand. Be careful not to grind the cannabis into a fine powder that may pass through a mesh strainer or cheesecloth and end in the final product.

Melt the butter.

Melt 1 cup of butter in a saucepan, double boiler, or slow cooker over low heat. Adding 1 cup of water will help control the temperature and prevent the butter from burning.

Add cannabis.

When the butter has melted, add the decarbonated cannabis.

Boiling.

Boil over low heat at 160º200ºF. Do not exceed 200ºF. Otherwise, you can burn the cannabinoids. Simmer for 2 to 3 hours, stirring occasionally. The mixture should not boil at all.

Filter the mixture.

Put a strainer or cheesecloth over the bottle and pour the butter/cannabis mixture into the bottle. Discard the plant material.

Tip: don’t squeeze out all the butter. This adds chlorophyll to the cannabutter and gives it a bad taste.

Cool.

Put a jar of butter in the refrigerator to harden before use. Ideally overnight, or at least for a few hours. If there is too much water at the bottom of the container, remove the butter with a knife and drain the water.