HOW TO MAKE CANNABUTTER: 3 RECIPES

Cannabis-infused butter, or cannabutter for short, is one of the easiest and most enjoyable ways to prepare marijuana edibles.

But, if you’re new to cooking with weed, making cannabutter may be a little bit problematic.

First, you probably have no idea how much of that good you should throw into your pot with butter.

Then there’s also the problem of whether you need to use raw or dried cannabis — and, of course, how to decarboxylate your plants.

Wait, what? Decarboxylation?

You see? That’s what we’re talking about.

But fear not, this article will show you how to make cannabutter from scratch in the comfort of your home. Better yet, we won’t give you only one cannabutter recipe — there’s going to be three of them!

This, fellow weed lovers, is your complete guide to making cannabutter.

Let’s get down to this!

First Things First: Decarboxylation

So, here comes the dreaded word — decarboxylation.

Raw weed won’t get you high because it contains THCA, the inactive precursor of THC. 

In order to get high from marijuana, you need to remove an extra carbon link from THCA so it turns into THC. That’s why you dry cannabis flowers and heat them afterwards.

If you have an oven and 40 minutes of spare time, you have nothing to worry about.

Here’s how to decarb marijuana in 3 simple steps:

1. Preheat your oven to 245 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Grind up your marijuana buds into smaller pieces. Don’t make it a fine powder, though, because it will burn in the oven and destroy your cannabinoids.
3. Spread the weed over a sheet of parchment paper on a baking tray. Transfer the tray into the oven and set the timer for 30–40 minutes. Mix the buds gently every 10 minutes to expose the entire surface area of your marijuana to heat.

With the prep work behind us, we can move on to making our cannabutter.

How to Make Cannabutter: 3 Recipes

In this section, we’ll show you 3 simple cannabutter recipes. You can do it on a stovetop, use a slow cooker, or divide your butter mix into smaller batches and try some alternative cooking methods.

Cannabutter Recipe #1: On the Stovetop

Equipment:

• Stovetop
• Saucepan
• Coffee filter or cheesecloth
• Glass dish

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• ½ oz marijuana buds, ground and decarboxylated

Instructions:

1. Grind the weed to a finer consistency
2. Add 1 cup of butter along with 1 cup of water into the saucepan. Bring to a gentle simmer and keep it over low heat until the butter melts. The water will prevent the butter from burning — if it evaporates too quickly, turn down the heat and add some more water.
3. Now, infuse the butter with your ground weed and mix it well to combine.
4. Continue simmering your butter and weed mixture over minimum heat. Ideally, you should keep the temperature slightly above 160 F but never go beyond 200 F — it’s best to use a cooking thermometer for the job. Simmer your butter for up to 3 hours, stirring every now and then. Remember not to bring it to a rolling boil as it will destroy some THC and make your butter less potent.
5. Strain the cannabutter by lining cheesecloth or a coffee filter over the prepared container. Set a funnel on top of the jar before you pour the hot liquid. Let it soak slowly through the filter; pushing your plant material will transfer some particles to the collecting dish. This, in turn, may affect the taste of your butter.
6. Transfer the butter to a jar and keep it in the refrigerator overnight. You might see some excess water at the bottom of the jar. If that happens, remove the solid butter, get rid of the water, and place it in the jar again.

Cannabutter Recipe #2: In a Slow Cooker

Using a crock pot is a simple way to make cannabutter at home, not to mention it’s a hands-free method. 

The process is pretty much the same as on the stovetop, save for the fact that your presence is reduced to a minimum here. You can follow the ingredients list from the first recipe.

Instructions for Making Cannabutter in a Slow Cooker:

1. Grind up your weed using a grinder. You may use a coffee grinder instead of your regular one — it will pulverize the plant material to a fine consistency, preventing it from passing through to your cannabutter when you try to strain it.
2. Set the slow cooker to Low. The High setting will negatively impact the THC content of your butter, as it exceeds 200 degrees Fahrenheit.
3. Add the butter along with the weed, setting the timer for 3 hours.
4. Turn off the slow cooker and let the butter sit there for about 20 minutes
5. Strain the butter to the jar and place the cannabutter in the refrigerator to let it solidify.

Cannabutter Recipe #3: An Easy Way to Make Quick Edibles

This recipe yields smaller batches, and reliably turns ¼ ounce of marijuana into a half cup of cannabutter. You’re going to use dried buds here, without the pre-bake part. This means that your edibles will be less potent than with decarbed buds, but if you want a quick fix for an unexpected edible cravings — this method comes in handy.

Ingredients:

• ¼ oz. ground cannabis buds
• ½ cup butter

Instructions:

• Finely grind your cannabis buds
• Heat the butter in a saucepan over medium heat until melted.
• Add the weed, stirring frequently.
• Simmer for 45 minutes and give the mixture a regular stir. Your butter should only pop small bubbles on the surface.
• Pour the butter through a strainer and cheesecloth.
• Dispose the plant material
• Place your butter in a jar, seal it, and place it in the refrigerator.
• Enjoy!

How to Make Cannabutter: Final Thoughts

Making cannabutter at home is fun and easy — all you need to do is follow some basic principles and you’ll be all good. We hope that our guide has given you enough insight into this process, and that you’ll soon make your own stick of infused buttery goodness.

Remember to err on the side of caution when dosing cannabutter. It’s difficult to gauge its potency when you’re doing this for the first time, so try spreading ½ teaspoon on a snack and see how this dose affects you. Then you can manipulate the dosage according to your liking.

Which of the 3 recipes for making cannabutter do you like the most? How do you make cannabutter at home? Share your tips with us in the comments!