How To Make Weed Butter | Presented By High There

When it comes to baking your own edibles, the very first step of the process is making your own DIY cannabutter. We'll walk you through how to make weed butter in just nine easy steps. But before we dive into our simple cannabutter recipe, let's go over some cannabis butter baking tips.

What is weed butter?

Cannabis butter is simply butter that's been infused with weed. Weed butter is commonly used for making sweet baked goods like rice krispy treats and cookies. It's a great option when you want to experiment with baking cannabis edibles at home. It can also be used in candies like chocolates and gummies. In recent years, cannabis chefs have even elevated savory dishes to be infused with cannabis butter.

Although it's a fairly simple process to make your own weed butter, like any process that involves ingredients and heat, there are a few things that can go wrong. Anyone who is using cannabis to create butter doesn't want to ruin their product in the process, so that's why you can easily make weed butter by following the steps in our recipe below.

How much weed is needed to make cannabutter?

The amount and type of weed you use, as well as their respective cannabinoids and terpenes will all affect the potency of your weed butter. However, for the recipe below, we found that using one ounce of cannabis to one pound of weed butter would yield more than enough product to make quite a few cannabis confections.

While you can use flower, trim, kief and even concentrates to infuse your cannabis butter, we're going the tried-and-true route of using flower for our recipe.

Ways to Infuse Cannabutter

As to be expected, there are various methods to infuse cannabutter. Common methods of making weed butter include using a double boiler, slow cooker or with a sous vide machine. For the sake of this recipe, we're going with the double boiler method, but we'll quickly go into detail of all three methods below to help you choose which is best for you.

Method 1: Infusing Weed Butter Using a Double Boiler

Using a double boiler to make cannabutter is great for a few reasons. First, most home cooks already have the tools they need to implement this strategy. Second, it's arguably one of the faster ways to infuse butter, the whole process taking approximately three to four hours.

For those not familiar with the term “double boil,” this is a common setup for working with sauces, chocolate and other delicate recipes. It involves a pot that's filled with water and heated on a heat source like a stovetop. A metal or glass bowl (or smaller pot) is set on top of the first, water-filled pot. Then, the steam from the water in the bottom pot heats the ingredients that are in the top pot or bowl. This process gently heats the ingredients without overcooking or burning them.

Method Two: Slow Cooker Cannabutter Infusion

You can also make weed butter using a slow cooker. The big difference between this method and the double boiler method is time. Using a slow cooker can take up to 12 hours and sometimes longer, while our double boiler method takes just three to four. On the upside, using a slow cooker takes less agitation, so it could be less effort in that respect.

Method Three: Infuse Weed Butter via Sous Vide Machine

Using a sous vide machine to make weed butter is a great option if you have the proper equipment on hand. If not, you can easily purchase a sous vide machine to make your cannabutter online, but prices for even the most basic sous vide machines are typically over $100. Finally, it takes approximately four hours to make weed butter using a sous vide machine.

Weed Butter Recipe

Written By Laurie Wolf

Photos By Bruce Wolf

Whether you're making weed butter for brownies, cookies, savory infusions or more, using this weed butter recipe should give you a solid starting point for making cannabutter, and you can always adjust dosing accordingly during your second try.

Low and Slow

When you're making cannabutter, the key thing to remember is “low and slow” — infusing the butter over low heat for several hours, never letting it boil, allows for full activation of the THC without scorching the herb. You can use any kind of unsalted butter you like, though we find that using high-quality butter provides a better taste. High-quality butter has less water, so you will get a higher yield.

Before THC becomes psychoactive (gets you high), you need to turn the cannabinoid THC-A into THC, the cannabinoid we know and love. A short time in a low oven does that for you. Step one in the canna-butter recipe is that process, called decarboxylation.

It may go without saying, but the better the weed, the better the butter. Even so, you can still make an extremely successful cannabutter using trim. It’s actually a really common way to make weed butter. Also, keep in mind that a lower butter to cannabis ratio will yield a more potent result.

Note that the finished butter will have a green tinge to it because of the cannabis. Cannabutter will keep in the fridge for several weeks and in the freezer for up to six months. You can freeze the infused butter in an ice cube tray, butter molds or whatever works for you.

Weed Butter Tools

1 sheet pan
Parchment paper
Large saucepan
2 large glass bowls
Fine mesh strainer that fits in the glass bowl
Spatula
Knife
Lidded glass jar (to store the finished cannabutter)
Bees wax paper for storage
Wax paper

Weed Butter Ingredients

1 ounce cannabis
1 pound unsalted butter

Step-By-Step Weed Butter Recipe

Step 1: Decarb Cannabis

Heat oven to 245℉. Place the cannabis on a sheet pan covered with parchment. Break up any large buds. Bake for 45 minutes, stirring a couple of times. This process is called decarboxylation.

Step 2: Grind Cannabis

Process the cannabis in a food processor or break up with your hands.

Step 3: Heat the Water

Set up a double boiler with a sauce pan and glass bowl. Place several inches of water in the sauce pan, and place the glass bowl on top. Add several inches of water to the bowl.

Step 4: Melt the Butter

Place the butter in the glass bowl with the water and melt.

Step 5: Infuse Your Butter with Weed

When the butter is melted, add the decarbed cannabis, and stir.

Step 6: Heat the Cannabutter Mixture

Cook the butter for three hours, making sure there is always water in the pot and the bowl. The butter will appear dark and kind of shiny.

Step 7: Strain Plant Matter From Weed Butter

Set the strainer over the empty bowl and carefully pour in the canna-butter/water mixture. Press the butter out of the plant material with the spatula.

Step 8: Cool the Weed Butter

Allow the butter to cool to room temp and place in the fridge.

Step 9: Proper Cannabutter Storage

When the butter is a solid disc, remove from the fridge. Gently run a knife around the edge and it will lift up. Turn it over, dry it and wipe off any plant matter. Discard the water.

Cannabutter can have a shelf-life of three weeks in the fridge (you definitely want to take the butter's expiration date into account). Weed butter can last six months or longer if it's stored in the freezer properly. An effective way to store your cannabutter is by using a vacuum sealer or other airtight container. It's also a great idea to use a storage container that's child-proof.