How to Make the Perfect Cannabutter

Key takeaways.

If you’re a lover of cannabis edibles, making cannabutter is an absolute must-know. Cannabutter, as its name suggests is cannabis-infused butter. It doesn’t have to be butter — it can be coconut oil, too. Making this baseline ingredient means you can then use your cannabis-infused butter to bake brownies, cakes, muffins… the possibilities are infinite.

What else is super cool about making your own cannabutter?

It means you can make edibles with your favourite strains all the time. You don’t have to wait for your favourite edibles brand to make a gummy with your favourite strain. You can make cannabutter with buds from the dispensary and make your own edibles at home!

P.S. There’s a few steps involved but it’s not that hard. And once you get the hang of it, it’ll be just like baking cookies!

Step 1: Decarboxylate your weed.

Decarboxylation is a very important part of making cannabutter. At least it is if you want your edibles to be psychoactive and contain as much THC as possible. Decarboxylation is essentially just a process of heating your buds in the oven. It’s important because if THC doesn’t go through these chemical changes under heated conditions, it’s not psychoactive.

We have full how-to on how to decarboxylate your weed here.

Step 2: Deciding how much weed should go in the butter.

Making cannabutter at home means you’ll never have perfect dosing calculated out. But you can get a rough idea. And the easiest way to get a rough idea is to keep the ratios balanced. For example, if you want to make 1 cup of cannabutter, also use 1 cup of roughly chopped weed — not ground to a powder. 1 cup of cannabis should equate to around 7-10 grams. 

If you use this method, you’ll always know how many grams are in 1 cup of butter. And it doesn’t matter how much butter you use in any recipe, you’ll always know how to get a rough idea of the amount of weed in there. For example, if you use ½ cup to bake something, you’ll know there’s around 3.5-5g in your batch. That lets you guesstimate the amount in each dose.

This also lets you make as much cannabutter as you like. If you want to make 2 or 3 cups, simply use 2 or 3 cups of weed. There will still always be 1 cup of weed to each cup of butter.

Step 3: Make the cannabutter.

Okay — this is where the fun starts. There are three ways to make the cannabutter depending on what machinery you have in your kitchen:

1. On the stovetop in a saucepan
2. In a slow cooker
3. In a Magic Butter machine

Most of us have access to a stovetop and a saucepan, so we’ve got detailed instructions for this. We’ll also give instructions on how to make cannabutter in a slow cooker for those who have one. For those with a Magic Butter machine, it’s really self explanatory. Just put it on the lowest temperature and put it on the “butter” setting.

Also, if you have dietary requirements that prevent you from eating butter, you can always replace butter with coconut oil. Many vegan and lactose-free recipes use coconut oil as a replacement for butter, and you can infuse the cannabis buds into that, too! Then you can get baking away — but without butter!

Stovetop instructions.

1. Assuming you have decarboxylated your cannabis buds, grind them coarsely in a grinder.
2. Measure and weigh 1 cup of coarsely ground weed. This is what your whole batch of cannabutter will contain.
3. Measure and weigh 1 cup of butter (225g). 
4. Put the butter in a saucepan on low heat with 1 cup of water and allow the butter to melt. The water helps to prevent the butter from scorching. Mix.
5. Add your ground buds to the butter and stir in, ensuring all the buds are covered in butter.
6. Never allow the mixture to boil. It should simmer slowly for the next 2-3 hours. Stir it constantly to prevent scorching. 
7. After 2-3 hours, strain the butter and discard the buds.
8. Refrigerate. If any water remains in the butter, it must be drained out of the container by carving through the butter. Best if the butter is then transferred to a dry container.

Slow cooker instructions.

1. Repeat steps 1-3 for stovetop instructions.
2. Turn your slow cooker on to the lowest heat setting. The temperature shouldn’t exceed 100℃ otherwise there’s the treat of cannabinoids being damaged.
3. If you want, you can add a little bit of water to prevent your butter from scorching.
4. Put the butter and the cannabis buds in the slow cooker. Stir it occasionally.
5. Turn it off after 3 hours. When it’s safe, strain the butter and discard the buds.
6. Refrigerate it. If any water remains in the butter, it can be drained out of the container by carving through the butter. It is best if the butter is then transferred to a dry container.

Step 4: Using your cannabutter.

Now that you’ve made cannabutter, you can use it as a replacement anywhere you see butter in a recipe. Now, that recipe has just become a cannabis-infused recipe! If you made cannabis-infused coconut oil, then simply use that anywhere the recipe calls for coconut oil. Treat it like the simple ingredient of butter, but eat it as though it’s loaded with THC.

We often share recipes for a wide range of delicious things on the blog. Be sure to stay updated for other delicious ways to use your cannabutter.

Have you made cannabutter before? What did you make with it? We’d love to hear your stories in the comments!