OG Infusion Basics: Weed Butter
For classic weed butter, plant-based butter, ghee, or even lard infusions
This guide is adapted from The Art of Weed Butter and my article in Bon Appétit. I’ve since improved it further for more accuracy and flavor. The OG Infusions Basics series aims to comprehensively cover infusion fundamentals, spanning from the traditional pot brownie era to contemporary culinary practices.
Whatever infusion method you choose, edibles provide a discreet, judgment-free, smoke-free way to enjoy the flower’s effects. Weed butter is the key ingredient to many of our classic favorites, like brownie batter, cookie dough, and other homemade edibles. This guide helps beginners, home cooks, and chefs alike to find a good footing on the basics of infusing cannabis into butter and fats. All you need to make weed into butter is patience, organization, a reliable recipe, and some understanding of dosing.
The following weed butter recipe loosely translates into 30 mg of THC (or CBD if using) per tablespoon of butter. Your perfect dose will vary on your preference, but 10 mg is a great standard dose. I sometimes even go as low as 5mg. It’s best to start by testing ¼ tsp. of the weed butter you make and wait about an hour to see how you feel. (If this is your first time experimenting with edibles, note that the effects take longer to set in than when inhaling.) Pay attention to how you feel and let your body tell you whether this is a good amount or if you need more or less. Erring on the side of caution will ensure that you have a positive experience.
Let’s get into the recipe.
Step 1: Decarboxylation:
When making weed butter, the first step is to decarboxylate your cannabis. Also known as “decarbing,” baking the cannabis flower transforms the inactive cannabinoids (THCA and CBDA) into their active counterparts (THC and CBD). This unlocks their psychoactive effects and also allows the lipids in butter and oil to easily bind to your weed for the best cannabis infusion.
Whether you prefer Indica or Sativa, THCV, CBG, or CBN—it’s best to use whole cannabis flowers, broken up into a coarse consistency, not ground super fine—unless you want a flurry of weed snowflakes flying around inside your oven or worse, if you sneeze (guess what: you don’t).
What you’ll need:
½ oz cannabis flower
Parchment paper
Glass baking dish or sheet pan
Hand grinder or scissors
What to do:
Preheat the oven to 220°F.
Gently break the buds into large pieces and evenly spread the plant material onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Slide it onto the center rack of the oven and bake for 20 minutes if using old or lower-quality weed; 45 minutes for cured, high-grade weed; or 1 hour or more for anything that has been recently harvested and is still wet.
Check on the weed frequently while it’s in the oven, gently mixing it every 10 minutes so as to not burn it. You will notice that the color of your herb will change from bright green to a deep brownish-green. That’s when you know it has decarboxylated.
Remove the weed from the oven and allow it to cool on the baking sheet. Once it has cooled, break up the decarbed weed using a hand grinder, scissors, or with hands until it’s the perfect consistency for rolling a joint—fine, but not too fine. Anything too fine will slip through cheesecloth (or a joint, for that matter), murking up your butter. You want your cannabutter to be as clean and clear as possible.
Step 2: Cannabutter stovetop infusion:
The next step of the process is more time intensive: A cooking time of roughly 4 hours allows the cannabis to fully infuse into the fat of your choice. While infusing weed in butter or ghee is a popular technique, you can infuse decarbed cannabis into any fat—such as olive oil, sesame oil, or coconut oil—and the infusion process is the same no matter which type of fat you choose. If you do want to make weed butter, I recommend using unsalted butter so you’re able to control the salt level of the final product.
The longer the melted butter and cannabis simmer together, the more potent your cannabutter will be. I sometimes opt for a four-hour infusion here, which delivers just enough potency and a grassy but not overpowering flavor.
Adding water to the pot prevents the cannabutter from scalding, eliminating the need for a double boiler. As long as you keep the saucepan on very low heat (and watch the pot), it’s not likely to burn—though it may perfume your kitchen with a certain, ahem, aroma. (That’s thanks to the terpenes, a.k.a. the aromatic compounds responsible for cannabis’s signature smell.) If you’re still concerned about scalding or want a more discreet, hands-off approach, you can also cook weed butter in a slow cooker set to the lowest setting.
What you’ll need:
1½ cups water
8 oz. clarified butter, unsalted butter, or oil
½ oz. decarboxylated cannabis
Medium saucepan
Wooden spoon
Thermometer
Cheesecloth and/or mesh strainer
What to do:
In a medium saucepan on very low heat, add water and butter or oil.
If using butter, wait for it to melt, then add the ground decarboxylated cannabis. Mix well with a wooden spoon and cover with lid.
Simmer gently for 4 hours, stirring every half hour to make sure the butter isn’t burning. If you have a kitchen thermometer, check to make sure the temperature doesn’t reach above 180°F.
After 4 hours, strain with cheesecloth or mesh strainer into a container, be careful with hot kitchen tools. Let the butter cool to room temperature. Use immediately, or store in an airtight container (a well-sealed mason jar will work) in the refrigerator or freezer for up to six months.
Ways to use cannabutter:
Use your homemade cannabutter in any number of sweet or savory recipes. For a classic approach, substitute 1 tsp. cannabis butter per serving in cheesecake brownies, blondies, chocolate chip cookies, or any other recipe for baked goods you crave with a little magic. Here’s the quick math for dosing: If a recipe yields 12 brownies, substitute 12 tsp. (the equivalent of 4 Tbsp. or ¼ cup) cannabutter for a 10-mg-dose serving. Put another way, if a recipe calls for 1½ sticks (12 Tbsp.) butter and serves 12 people; Use 4 Tbsp. cannabutter plus 8 Tbsp. regular butter for the optimal dosage.
Of course, the possibilities don’t end at baking. Try mixing canna-infused butter with regular butter to elevate a juicy summer corn salad for an herbal and buttery twist. You can also infuse garlic butter on burger buns, shrimp scampi, butter-braised mushrooms, and gnocchi—you get the vibe.
Want to skip the lengthy stovetop infusion? In this OG Infusion series, I’ll also cover how to use other methods, such as sous vide and cold Infusion. So look out for those recipes and guides in the coming weeks. Remember to dose and label responsibly.
Have more questions about infusing or decarbing? Shoot me a message and we’ll go over any of your concerns.