Countless medical marijuana patients have discovered the healing and soothing effects of recipes made from cannabis butters and oils. These marijuana edibles offer limitless options for ingesting marijuana without the health risks of inhaling smoke. Since cannabinoids are fat-soluble, marijuana butter is an excellent way to turn your favorite recipe into an edible source. This easy marijuana butter recipe produces a cannabinoid-rich butter suitable for baking, cooking, or simply spreading on your toast.
Kitchen Tools
You will need some basic kitchen tools to make marijuana butter. This process can get messy.  So if you plan to make a lot of  marijuana edibles, you may want to consider a set of tools designated only for your cannabis cooking and baking.
- 2 large pots with lids
- Large stirring spoon
- Mesh strainer
- Scale for measuring marijuana
- measuring cup
- Mason jars or containers that can be sealed
- Cheese cloth
Estimating Dosage
Estimating marijuana dosage depends largely on the cannabinoid content of the marijuana you incorporate. Sometime it is a process of trial and error. Cannabis butter can be made from leaf, trichome rich trim or manicure, small scrap buds to small or larfy to trim, buds of any quality, and also kief  or hash. The best method to test the potency is to make a batch of butter and test it yourself. When ingested, cannabinoids take much longer to enter the bloodstream through the digestive system than through the lungs. So the full effects will not be apparent for some time. Wait at least two hours before you increase the dose. If you are trying to maintain a consistent potency, but using different types of marijuana for different batches, you might want to call our friends at SC Laboratories. They can test a small sample of the raw marijuana and tell you the precise cannabinoid content.
The following amounts of marijuana are estimates for each pound of butter.
1 pound = 2 cups = 4 cubes
- Leaf – 1.5 to 2 ounces
- Trim – 1 ounce
- Small or large buds – .5 to .75 ounces
- Kief and hash – 3 to 4 grams
It is better to make your marijuana butter a bit on the strong side. If your cannabinoid content is weak, you will have to use a lot of butter to get the desired effect. You run the risk of either using more butter than the recipe calls for, or having to eat more of the finished edibles than your tummy can hold. Since not all medical marijuana patients have huge appetites, a strong dose should fit into a moderate serving of the finished product. If you find the butter is a bit on the strong side, you can always use less marijuana butter and supplement it with regular butter or oil.Â
Directions
- Fill a stock pot about halfway with water and bring to a boil.
- Add the marijuana and boil for two minutes, stirring occasionally. You can grind the marijuana first or leave it intact, including large leaves and small stems.
- Reduce to a simmer and add the butter to the marijuana and continue stirring lightly now and then for one hour.
- Remove the pot from the heat and let it cool completely.
- Once cooled to room temperature, return the pot to the stove and bring the mixture back to a simmer for another hour. This simmering and cooling process can be repeated as many times as you like; but the return on investment diminishes severely after three cycles. Three times should normally be enough.
- After the third simmer, cover a large strainer or colander with cheese cloth and place it over another large pot. Carefully and slowly pour the hot mixture into the strainer. The water and butter will flow through the cheese cloth, leaving the solid plant material in the strainer.
- Pour an additional two to four cups of boiling water over the leaves in the strainer to rinse any residual butter through the cheese cloth.
- After it has cooled to a comfortable temperature, twist the cheese cloth to squeeze any remaining liquid into the pot.
- Take the pot full of filtered water and butter, cover it, and place it in the refrigerator to cool.
- Allow the mixture to cool long enough for it to completely separate with the water on the bottom and the butter sitting on top in a firm block.
- Remove the block of butter and break it up into manageable pieces. The lower portion of the butter in contact with the water may be softer. This portion of butter contains some water which can be discarded or mixed into the butter.
- Place a few chunks of the butter into a sauce pan, and heat on low until it liquefies, stirring gently.
- Pour the melted butter, one-cup at a time, into mason jars and let it cool before sealing. If sealed properly, the butter will keep in the refrigerator for a week or two. You can also keep the butter for up to six months in the freezer, and defrost as needed.
My mouth is already watering. Time to get my Betty Crocker on.
How to Make Marijuana Butter,
The fact that the author doesn’t mention decarboxylation for cooking in any of her articles is pathetic. This is just such a waste of herb. Bake your herb in a cookie tray for 30-60 minutes at 200-215 degrees… Please do your research before you misinform other stoners.
While I agree that mention of Decarboxylating cannabis should be made in the article, it should be noted that decarboxylation does not have to take place before it is made into butter or oil. The process of converting THCA to THC takes place equally well in the crockpot with the oil or butter. If the steps are followed in this article at least 95% of the THCA should convert to THC with no extra steps needed. While your suggestion of using the oven can work if you are creating an edible cannabis product that will not later be cooked, i.e. Tinctures, it is unnecessary for butter and oil and actually has the potential to do more harm than good. Normal kitchen ovens do not stay at the exact temperature they are set at very well. They have a tendency to have temperature spikes as they come to temperature and adjust to the door being opened etc, and the thermostats are often not very accurate. If your oven gets a little to warm, you run the risk of vaporizing and loosing your precious THC altogether. If you choose to use an oven to decarb, I recommend using a pizza stone and an additional remote thermometer to make sure you don’t go over temperature.
i have made oil three times and it hasnt worked i boiled water put in high quality ground up bud in measurements of 1 pound of butter/oil (I’ve been using coconut oil) strained it so on i thought it looked really good brownies tasted like weed but nothing happened second time i used a quarter ounce with four ounces of oil in the crock pot for 8 hours on low then baked my goods still nothing even tried eating 5 didnt do anything then i tried decarboxylating in the oven and repeating with another quarter and 4 ounces of oil in the crock with the third failure i dont know where i am going wrong but im very frustrated…please help… thank you
Try decarbing the cannabis first (dry) then boil it in the oil with no water.
U should use butter made of cow milk (:
The error might be the baking temperature of the cookies you’re baking
I mean this in the nicest of ways. You most likely smoke a lot of herb. Therefore don’t get the same effect as someone who doesn’t smoke as much. As a non smoker, I get really out there.
So you can add cannabis to any food that contains
animal or vegetable fats, such as cakes, biscuits,
stews or drinks such as milkshakes, drinking
chocolate or yogurts.
Important points to remember when cooking with
cannabis are that you need to ensure an even spread
of cannabis throughout the chosen dish and that the
meal or item produced should not be to heavy. If you
have a full stomach then the cannabis constituents
will take longer to enter the bloodstream.
The basic principal in cooking with cannabis is to first
extract the THC into a fat, for example butter or an oil.
You do this by grinding up the cannabis into a fine
powder and then adding it to a small amount of hot oil
and allowing it to dissolve, then you add the oil/cannabis mix to the food you’re preparing.
If you live in or near an Asian community, you can do
even better by using ghee (clarified butter) which is
widely used in Asian cookery. Because ghee has been
clarified, had all the impurities out, it tends to
become very hot when liquefied, so be very careful
when melting it.
When powdering the cannabis, the pieces should be
as small as possible. Now we come to the difficult
issue of how much to put in One suggestion is to
make several items each the same size, for example
cup cakes or squares of chocolate. Think of each one
as being a spliff and put that amount in the mix, times
the number of items you’re making. If you assume 20
items to 2 grms (a “teenth”) – 0.1 grm in each – that
might be as good a starting point as any but
remember, it’s impossible to give firm advice. If it’s
too weak, you can always eat another but be warned
you might find that even this dose is a bit too much..
If you’re making a few items with a couple of grams of
cannabis, you only need a small amount of oil, say a
large spoonful or so. Heat this in a ladle or serving
spoon but be careful not to burn your fingers.
Once up to temperature turn down the heat so that the
oil is not burning or cooling off.. Sprinkle in your
crumbled cannabis and stir gently. It is up to you how
long you heat the mixture, stirring occasionally, to
ensure the THC fully dissolves, but around an hour is
a good guide. When this is done, add it to your
cooking – any recipe calling for marg or butter -biscuits and cakes are a favourite or if you’re really
lazy melt it into chocolate.
Getting the strength right is the difficult part, since
this depends on the strength of the cannabis you’re
using as well as simply the amount, as we say thanks
to prohibition there’s no way of knowing how strong it
is without “sucking and seeing”. UKCIA sugests that
you make a large number of cakes or biscuits – say
make 20 from 2grms (1/16th ounce) for starters and
see how you go from there. You can always eat more
than one if you think you need it.
hello-I liked your cooking advice. to I am JUST getting into baking and cooking. can I seek your advice and would you respond to my needed help? thank you Andy
At what temperature do you simmer the water at so the THC does not break and evaporate?
Thanks for all the tips, but I have a question, I’ve read many articles about cannabutter and every single one says to zimmer the mix for different time, some like here about an hour or two others said about 18 to 22 hours, so what is the best time?
as far as temperature and time – water doesn’t boil or simmer at different temperatures, it’s not gonna go far beyond something like 212f or about 98 c if you’re using a candy / fry thermometer to measure things because you won’t just believe in science. if you’ve decarbed your herb and you have thc now and not theca – thc doesn’t vaporize til 157c something like 365 f. one of the reasons you use water beyond making things easier is to evenly heat the butter and weed and protect the fat from being cooked and the thc from being vaped, because it’s never going to get much above 215. I do a double boil to protect it even more and I know this is totally superstitious but i like it – i just float a deep hotel pan in a big stock pot.
as far as time – i’ve seen a huge amounts of different accounts – and most of them fail to mention decarbing because most have no idea what that even means. i’ve found that with properly decarbed herb and my double boil method I don’t need to go beyond 4 hours. if i do the taste becomes more bitter, less and I’m able to make a second batch with it – obviously you want one batch with assumable final thc content
hope that helps. this is a good method although the whole heating cooling thing seems totally unnecessary. i’ve never done that and like i said after I do a four hour run if I make a second batch they have no effect. i used to do 8 and after being annoyed of the bitter taste did some testing and 4 is the way to go!
thca***
also was just thinking about the whole double boil – I use steel professional cookware and exposed to a high gas flame the steel can easily exceed 400 f… so perhaps the double boil is smart, yes the herb floats at the top and i doubt the sides of the pot are exceeding the vaporizing temp of thc but just in case it is then the plant matter in contact with the sides of the pot won’t be damaged by heat because the temperature of your inner container will never exceed the temperature of the water it’s floating in, so again never gonna break 220f ish…
again the actual damaging effect of not doing this is probably unnoticeable but i like to contemplate such things… 🙂 i make lots of different candies and a taylor candy/fry thermometer is a great tool for the beginner marijuana cook!
oh one last thing my experience is all based using salted milk fat butter – not coco butter. people rage about coco butter but lipids are lipids and potheads love conjecture.
Please help me with the best way to make the srongest butter I have Rsd and shingles as well cancer I’m a fighter just need a lil help my what I thought was my friend ripped me off no tears just get back yo and pray for help can anyone help me I am in horrible pain I hope to help other paitents with my pain one day open a cool coffee shop I have a dream !!!!
First I need help with thr butter recipe my brownies are beautiful and up lifting for my sick friends I’m off 10 of the 32 pills I was on someone out there with a heart of gold are you out there????
With much Love and Respect XXOO
May anyone who reads this have a blessed and bitchen day be you make some smile 😉
I’ve been cooking butter for over 30 years. I do it exactly the same way the author does. I’ve never had any complaints…not even back in the day when all we used was schwag. Get over yourselves and your stuck up attitudes about doing a very simple thing. Everyone thinks they have a PhD in chemistry now days!
Would it work to infuse the weed into butter using a double boiler? (ie, have the butter and weed in a steel bowl floating in a pot of boiling water). In theory this would keep the infusion process at a constant temperature without contaminating the butter with water. I have never done this before so what do you people with experience think of doing it this way?
It is in fact the best way to do it, I just put mine in the fridge to solidify. While the water does evaporate without careful monitoring their will be H2O residue remamining decreasing your potency