How to Make Cannabutter: Step-by-Step Guide

If you have any plans to make your own cannabis edibles, you’ll want to master the art of making your own cannabutter first. It’s an essential ingredient in countless edible recipes, and it’s surprisingly simple to make your own. This guide will show you exactly how to make cannabutter with a simple step-by-step guide.

What Is Cannabutter?

Let’s start off with a simple question before going into detail. What is cannabutter? Well, cannabutter, which can also be known as cannabis butter, weed butter, or cannabis-infused butter, is simple butter that has been infused with cannabis. It’s a very useful and versatile cooking ingredient, just like real butter, and can be used for various edible recipes.

In general, it’s one of the most popular options for those who want to make cannabis infusions and edibles. This is because cannabinoids like THC can easily bind with the fat molecules of better, which makes the whole infusion process very simple and straightforward. Alternatives to cannabis butter can include cannabis oils, made with bases like olive or coconut oil.

How to Make Cannabutter: DIY Cannabutter Recipe

Knowing how to make butter from cannabis is a super useful skill to learn. So, let’s take a look at how you can make your own weed butter in just five quick and easy steps.

Decarboxylate Your Cannabis

The first step is decarboxylation, which you can learn more about in our decarboxylation guide. Simply put, decarboxylation, or decarbing, is the process of heating cannabis flower in order to remove carboxyl groups from key cannabinoids like THCa and CBDa. This then transforms those acidic cannabinoids into their more potent forms: THC and CBD.

You can decarb your cannabis quickly and easily in the oven at home. Just preheat it to around 240 F and line a pan with a baking sheet or some parchment paper. Sprinkle your loose cannabis flower buds over the sheet and then bake them in the oven for around 30/40 minutes. Give them a little shake every 10 minutes for even heating.

Break Down Your Flower into Ground Form

Once you’ve decarbed your cannabis, you can give it a little time to cool down at room temperature before breaking it down with a grinder or simply with your hands. Try not to grind it down too much though, as very loose particles or powdery cannabis may pass through the cheesecloth you’ll be using later on and could end up in your final baked goods, which you might not want.

Melt the Butter

Next, you can get your butter ready for infusion. Place a cup of butter into a saucepan and let it melt slowly over low heat. You can also use other devices, like a slow cooker or stock pot. Mix in a cup of water too. This will help to keep the temperature steady and prevent the butter from burning.

Infuse the Butter with Cannabis

Next up, you can add your cannabis and let it start to infuse. As soon as the butter has melted completely, pour in the ground-up, decarbed cannabis flower. Then leave the pan to simmer on low heat. Avoid going over 200 F, as this could harm the cannabinoids. You’ll need to simmer for quite a while. About 2-3 hours should be enough for proper cannabis infusion.

Strain the Butter

The last step of how to make cannabutter is to strain it. For this, you’ll need a cheesecloth or a mesh strainer. Put your cloth over a jar and then pour the cannabutter through it, taking care not to spill any. The plant matter should all gather on the cloth, and you can discard it later, while the smooth, melted butter passes into the jar. From there, just put it in the fridge for a few hours or overnight to set.

How to Make Butter from Cannabis: 4 Easy Ways

The cannabis recipe above is one of the simplest and most common methods for making cannabutter, but it’s not the only option. Here are four more quick and easy ways you can prepare your own cannabutter.

Cannabutter Machine

A super simple way to make cannabutter is with an actual cannabutter machine. These machines have started to become quite popular in recent years, and they’re specifically designed to help you infuse cannabis into butter with ease. Just put your buds and butter into the machine, switch it on, and relax.

Instant Pot Cannabutter

You can also use an Instant Pot to make your own cannabutter. Again, this is quick and easy. It simply involves grinding up some decarbed cannabis, putting it into a canning jar, and then putting that into the Instant Pot. You can then pressure cook the cannabis and mix in melted butter, pressure cooking again to let everything infuse nicely before straining.

Crock Pot Cannabutter

If you’ve got a crock pot, you can use that to make your own cannabutter, too! Just add a bit of decarbed flower into a mason jar with a pound of butter for each half-ounce of cannabis. Then fill the pot with water and turn it on at 180 degrees. Place your jar or jars into the water and cook for about eight hours, stirring now and then. Strain and fridge to finish.

Stove Top Cannabutter

The last method is more or less the one that we detailed above. You just have to heat some water and butter in a pan until melted, and then add in your decarbed, ground-up cannabis, which you can easily purchase from a cannabis dispensary in Portland. Mix everything together and simmer for a few hours before straining and cooling.

Importance of Decarboxylation for Making Cannabutter

No matter which cannabutter recipe or method you choose, you have to decarb your cannabis first. This is a super important part of the process because decarbing is what helps to activate and bring out the full power and potential of cannabinoids, like THC and CBD. If you don’t decarb, the infusion will be way less effective and your cannabutter won’t have much use.

Calculating Cannabutter Dosage

Edible dosage is very important in general, and it’s crucial to get the right dose when working with cannabutter. In general, you should start off with half an ounce of cannabis for every pound of butter you use, but you can increase the dose according to your tastes and tolerance levels. Then, find and follow good edible recipes and make sure to use the right amount of butter, as instructed.

How Is Cannabutter Used to Make Edibles?

Cannabutter serves as a key ingredient in the majority of edible recipes. Just like regular butter is a common baking ingredient for cakes and cookies and so on, you can use cannabutter to make cannabis cakes, cookies, brownies, and more. Contact us for ideas or more info on using cannabutter in your cooking.

Overall, making cannabis butter is pretty simple, once you know how. You don’t necessarily need to invest in any fancy devices or expensive gadgets, and you can easily whip up your own cannabutter with nothing more than a saucepan, a mason jar, and some cheesecloth. Give it a try and start your cannabis cooking journey.