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    Home » How to (DIY)

    How to Make Cannabutter at Home

    September 12, 2021 by Karen 59 Comments

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    Making cannabutter is an easy but methodical process perfect for beginners. Heat weed, immerse in melted butter and steep.

    Whipped cannabutter in a small mason jar.
    Whipped cannabutter.

    Cannabutter (or weed butter) is regular butter that's been infused with dry cannabis to use for cooking, baking, or spreading onto a hunk of bread. Making weed butter is an easy but methodical process that any beginner can do.

    I started taking a CBD oil a few years ago when I developed trouble sleeping and peri-menopausal induced anxiety. The sleep I could help by doing these few things every night.

    The anxiety was tougher.

    It saw me greet every morning by jumping out of bed, saying here we go again, and promptly forgetting how breathing works. In and out, I knew that much, but how often?

    Should I count my breaths? I feel like I'm breathing too many times, why can't I get a deep breath? I'm dizzy, let's curl up in a ball on the floor next to the dirty cat food dish while I contemplate why my stomach is in a constant state of trying to turn itself inside out.

    It was that experience and the success of using CBD that prompted me to grow my own cannabis plants for making weed butter. If you like growing things, I'm an experienced gardener who also writes for publications like The Old Farmer's Almanac - you can see my best vegetable gardening tips here .

    My meno is pausing. And this THC butter recipe helps.

    Cannabis can be split into 2 groups - THC dominant strains and CBD dominant strains. I recommend a 1:1 for making your own weed butter. That means your pot strain will have 1 part THC to 1 part CBD.

    Table of Contents

    • Ingredients
    • Step 1 - Decarbing
    • Step 2 - Grinding
    • Step 3 - Infusing
    • Step 4 - Straining & Storing
    • More on Decarboxylation
    • Dosing
    • TIPS
    • What to Make With Cannabutter

    Ingredients

    7 - 10 grams of dried, decarboxylated cannabis (CBD or THC) - About 1 cup

    1 cup of butter

    1 cup water

    Step 1 - Decarbing

    • Decarb your cannabis by breaking it into pieces and laying it on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 40 minutes in a 240 F oven.
    • Remove the decarbed cannabis from the oven and let it cool a bit. It'll have lost some of its green colour and turned crispy.

    For a superior product work with the buds for this (on the left), not the stems or the leaves (on the right). Having said that, you can make marijuana butter using stems, leaves, shake weed and kief.

    Whatever garbage pot parts you have - they can be made into cannabutter!

    If you're wondering how to decarb kief, leaves and stems - do it the exact same way. By heating in a 240 F oven for 40 minutes.

    Bud from autoflowering cannabis plant being held between two fingers.
    Marijuana bud
    Green cannabis leaf held up between two fingers.
    Marijunan leaf
    A bud of decarboxylated cannabis held in palm of hand.
    Slightly more brown and dry after decarbing.

    Step 2 - Grinding

    • Now you have to either cut or grind the buds so that it's smaller but not a fine powder, which is best for infusing. You can use a grinder (I have a fancy gold, metal grinder) or just cut it up with scissors.

    Gold grinder on AMAZON in Canada.

    Gold grinder on AMAZON in US - (currently not for sale in the U.S., but it does pop up every now and then)


    TIP: A weed grinder is also perfect for grinding dried herbs. I use one for the grinding up the thyme, basil, oregano and sage that I grow and dry. It makes it the perfect consistency for cooking.


    Gold herb grinding surrounded by ground cannabis.
    Luxury grinding with a gold spice grinder

    Step 3 - Infusing

    • Combine 1 cup butter and 1 cup water in a pot and bring to the simmer until butter melts. Once you add your cannabis in the next step you don't want your mixture to go over 200 F.

    Anything between 160 F and 200 F is O.K.

    • Add your decarbed cannabis to the pot of butter and water and stir.* Let it steep at a temperature of around 180 for 3 hours stirring fairly often to keep things mixed up. Use a thermometer in your pot so you can keep an eye on it. If your mixture is at a boil you KNOW you've gone over 200 F. :(
    1 cup of butter melting in a non stick pot.
    On its own butter would scorch.
    1 cup of water being poured into 1 cup of melted butter in a pot on the stove.
    Adding water to it prevents scorching.

    NOTE: The reason you add water is to prevent your butter from scorching and burning. You'll separate the butter and water later.


    Decarbed, ground cannabis being dropped from black bowl into pot of butter and water.
    A sous vide stick in a mason jar being used to infuse cannabutter showing a temperature of 180 F.

    *TIP: TO MAKE THIS EASY AND EXACT, AT THIS POINT POUR THE MIXTURE INTO A LARGE MASON JAR AND USE A STICK SOUS VIDE TO MAKE YOUR CANNABUTTER. JUST SET THE SOUS VIDE TO 180 F, FOR 3 HOURS AND WALK AWAY.

    Would you like to save this stuff?

    We'll email you this post, so you can refer to it later.

    *I have made this cannabutter recipe two ways. With the above controversial method which inserts the Sous Vide stick right in the cannabutter as well as the more traditional method of setting the jar of cannabutter into a pot of water, with the Sous Vide stick in the water. I've found putting the stick right in the butter makes a more consistent product. But you do you! Either way works.

    NOTE: You can also use a slow cooker and make crock pot cannabutter but remember to stir it the odd time and use an instant read digital thermometer to make sure you're staying at 180 F.

    Step 4 - Straining & Storing

    • After 3 hours take the pot off the heat (or turn off the Sous Vide) and strain your mixture through multiple layers of cheesecloth to strain the cannabis from the butter.
    • Squeeze the cheesecloth to get all the butter in it out.
    • Refrigerate the mixture of butter and water overnight. The next day the butter will have hardened at the top of the water and you can use a spoon to lift it out and put it in a new dish.
    • The butter will be grainy and weird. Mash it with a fork and once it's softened enough, whisk it to smooth it out. If you want to be an overachiever you can use an electric beater to get it really smooth.
    • Refrigerate until you want to use it.
    Pouring a green tinged cannabis infused butter out of a mason jar and into cheesecloth.
    Draining cannabis butter through cheesecloth.
    Squeezing a ball of cannabis and butter filled cheesecloth over a strainer.
    I now line a potato ricer with a cheesecloth and squeeze that to get all of the infusion out.
    Hardened butter sitting atop of greenish waste water in a flip top mason jar.
    Overnight the fat should solidify in the fridge.
    Cannabis butter on a soup spoon resting on a mason jar.
    Often it isn't a nice hard crust of butter. Just freeze it until it solidifies enough to scoop out.
    Cannabutter in a white ironstone bowl being mashed with a fork.
    Mash it up. It'll seem grainy and gross.
    Whipped cannabutter in an ironstone bowl with a whisk still in it.
    Finally, whip your cannabutter with a whisk to smooth the texture.

    Whipped cannabutter in a small, low, jam sized mason jar with cannabis scattered around and spatula off to the side.
    Weed butter will last for 2 weeks in the fridge.

    In order for Cannabutter to have any of the beneficial effects of the CBD or THC your cannabis flower (bud) needs to be activated by decarboxylating (decarbing) it.


    More on Decarboxylation

    It's a big scary, sciencey looking word, but all it means is you need to heat up the cannabis to activate it. You need to decarb both THC and CBD to get the benefits out of them.

    Oven knob on Blue Star oven being set to 140 degrees, with pan of cannabis ready to decarb on top.
    Decarboxylation of weed in a 240°F

    In fact, until you decarb the cannabis, what it contains is THCA and CBDA. It's only when you heat it that it becomes THC and CBD.

    You decarboxylate cannabis by heating it on a baking sheet in the oven at 240 F for 40 minutes.

    White digital scale on white table, weighing out 8 grams of cannabis.
    Anywhere from 7-10 grams is ideal for 1 cup of butter

    NOTE: If you're wondering how to make cannabis oil it's the same as making cannabutter. All the steps and measurements are the same. Instead of 1 cup butter, use 1 cup oil. Olive, grape, MCT (unrefined coconut oil) & avocado oil all make excellent carrier oils. *For the steeping phase DO NOT ADD WATER.


    Orrrr - you can make it all in one machine. Both The Magical Butter machine and the higher priced Levo II can decarboxylate and infuse butter or oil all in the handy casing of a small countertop appliance.

    Dosing

    Dosing is a bit of a crapshoot but you can guide yourself if you know what you worked with to make your butter.

    You can use this THC calculator for determining how strong your cannabutter is read this blog post on how to calculate cannabis dosing and stregth yourself.

    TIPS

    • To figure out dosing for yourself without all the math, just spread a small amount (¼ teaspoon or so) onto a piece of bread and eat it. See how you feel 1 hour later and adjust from there.
    • Using more flower does not = more potent. The butter can only absorb so much of the cannabinoids so stick to a maximum 1:1 ratio. 1 cup of butter to 1 cup decarbed flower.
    • Homemade infused cannabutter will last for about 2 weeks in your fridge.
    • If you'll only use it occasionally store it in the freezer.
    • If you find your butter isn't strong enough the easiest way to make cannabutter stronger is to just take more of it. If you add ½ teaspoon to toast, add ¾s or 1 full teaspoon. So basically eat twice as much.

    To make cannabutter stronger you can also remelt the butter and infuse it again with a few grams of stronger cannabis and hope your butter still has room in it to grab more of that THC.

    What to Make With Cannabutter

    • You can use it in everyday cooking like regular butter. Just substitute 1 part regular butter with 1 part weed butter. It's as easy as that.
    • Use it on corn on the cob.
    • Melt it and drizzle it on movie night popcorn.
    • Toss with cooked pasta and parmesan cheese.
    • For your first attempt at cooking with cannabis try these delicious, classic pot brownies made with cannabutter.
    • You can also just slather weed butter onto a hunk of bread about an hour before bedtime. It's an effective alternative to sleeping aids like pills or sleepy-time tea. (without filling your bladder up before bed)
    • Cannabutter can be used in baking, but as you can also try baking with weed itself when you're feeling all pro about your cannabis cooking skills.

    Kick the cat dish out of the way and enjoy effortless breathing and sleeping like an actual well adjusted human person who doesn't have completely unpredictable hormone levels and mood swings.

    A vintage knife rests on one of two pieces of cheese bread with a half teaspoon of cannabutter in front.
    How do you make cannabutter in an apartment?

    Ah yes. The stink factor. Baking cannabis in the oven for decarbing does create an odor. If you have an oven vent, run it on high. This will help a bit. But if you want a completely odor free way to make weed butter you might want to look into one of the small infusion machines like The Magical Butter Machine which you can get on Amazon. These machines don't completely 100% eliminate all of the marijuana scent, but they reduce them to very minimal levels.

    How do you make CBD cannabutter?

    Whether you're making CBD butter or THC butter, they process is exactly the same. Heat the cannabis to decarb, mix it with warmed butter, then steep.

    How much weed do you need to make cannabutter?

    You can use any amount that you want as long as you follow the 1:1 ratio measured in cups. So 1 cup butter & 1 cup weed. Or ¼ cup butter & ¼ cup weed. And so on.

    Why did my cannabutter mold?

    Cannabutter needs to be stored in the refrigerator. Unlike regular butter, this very special butter has another ingredient in it - weed. It's that distinction that makes it more prone to mold. Also, leaving crumbs or anything like that in the butter will cause it to mold more quickly.

    Keep your butter clean and in the fridge and it should last for 2 weeks.

    Can you freeze weed butter?

    You bet you can. Cannabutter freezes perfectly either in premeasured doses, or as an entire stick. Science says it'll last for 6 months but experience says it'll still be fine after that.

    Why is my weed butter watery?

    There are two possible reasons for watery butter.

    1. Your fridge just isn't cold enough to make the butter solidify properly. Stick it in the freezer to get it in good solid form. But take it out before the water freezes as well. (fat freezes more quickly than water)

    2. The butter might not be solidifying because of what the cow ate, believe it or not. The saturated and unsaturated feed an animal takes in is directly related to the fat in products made from that animal. Again the fix for watery weed butter is to just put the cannabutter in the freezer for a bit.

    How much cannabutter does an ounce make?

    One ounce of weed will make 4 cups of cannabutter.

    .25 ounces = 7 grams
    7 grams pot = 1 cup cannabutter

    Therefore:

    ¼ ounce (7 gr) weed = 1 cup cannabutter
    ½ ounce (14 gr) weed = 2 cups cannabutter
    ¾ ounce (21 gr) weed = 3 cups cannabutter
    1 ounce (28 gr)weed = 4 cups cannabutter

    Oh hi. You're still here. I know this was a mammoth post. As luck would have it, I'm well rested and feeling good so I have all the energy in the world to write 2,200 word posts.

    Also, I don't mean to brag but, I'm kind of a world champion breather. I don't even have to think about it.

    How to Make Cannabutter at Home

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    1. Jim Ulibarri

      March 07, 2025 at 1:14 pm

      Do you have to use the weed right away orcan you save it for later after decarbing?

      Reply
      • Karen

        March 09, 2025 at 10:32 am

        Hi Jim. You can save it if you like. Cool, dry place, like a mason jar in a cupboard or basement. ~ karen!

        Reply
    2. Joseph

      December 04, 2024 at 6:15 am

      I would love this on my bread.

      Reply
    3. Robert Barkey

      December 02, 2024 at 2:51 pm

      AWSOME POST. Learned alot, thank you!

      Reply
    4. Lori Hudnall

      August 27, 2024 at 4:04 pm

      Thank You… It turned out great…
      But is there a recipe or something I can do with the leftover weed after I strained the “ Butter “ off?

      Reply
    5. Margaret

      January 07, 2023 at 8:46 pm

      Is there anything you can do with the spent weed and water?

      Reply
      • Karen

        January 09, 2023 at 12:17 am

        Just compost (to my knowledge). Once you infuse the butter that's where most of the THC/CBD has gone, but feel free to do a deep Google search because there is always a radical thinker who comes up with brilliant solutions to things like this. ~ karen!

        Reply
        • Sherry

          March 16, 2023 at 8:11 am

          I use the old spent weed and water by adding it into dog treats. It works WONDERS!

    6. Timothy

      December 04, 2022 at 2:04 pm

      Hi, Karen! I’ve been using your recipe for a while and absolutely love it. I do have a quick question or concern. When I make this recipe, I am not getting the full 1 cup of butter, I get just under a cup. Is there a reason for this or how to prevent this? Additionally, does it lessen the concentrate or potency of the cannabis? Please let me know, thank you!

      Reply
    7. Caroline

      May 03, 2022 at 7:05 am

      Hello Karen. I can't get seeds, plants or products with any THC in it where I live 🙄. I am able to aquire 50/50 THC/CBD tincture however. Do you know how I can use that to make cannabutter? My husband has a chronic painful autoimmune disease that reacts well to the tincture.

      Reply
      • Karen

        May 03, 2022 at 10:34 am

        HI Caroline! If that works for him, you probably don't need to mess around with making butter anyway. :) It can only be made by steeping flower as far as I know. Tinctures are a bit different than a regular steeped oil. ~ karen!

        Reply
        • Caroline

          May 03, 2022 at 5:23 pm

          Thanks Karen. I guess the old adage applies, if it's not broke, don't fix it!

    8. Rafiq Tawa

      December 21, 2021 at 3:00 am

      Looks very Yummy ! Next weekend I am planning to make cannabutter at my uncle's home.
      Also i was suffering from anxiety and this cannabutter helped me alot in this issue. Also the remedy is tasty. I got form medical marijuana card from - https://mymmjdoctor.com/

      Reply
    9. Heather Powell

      September 14, 2021 at 9:17 pm

      I knew I loved you! Your blog is the only thing I follow on the internet! I wish you were my neighbor. Lol! Anyway, in your pictures the buds look very green. Do you cure and dry first? Thanks for this post!

      Reply
      • Karen

        September 15, 2021 at 11:55 am

        Hi Heather, thanks! I'm not sure which photo you're referring to, but they did still look remarkably green after decarbing, but were definitely browner than they were to begin with. ~ karen!

        Reply
    10. Gretchen sexton

      September 14, 2021 at 7:55 pm

      Maybe I could just buy it from you?

      Reply
    11. Carol

      September 14, 2021 at 1:24 am

      What is ig? I would like to follow for tips on how to grow. We do not have very good luck with growing, my husband uses for pain I don't use but would like to learn how to make edibles .

      Reply
    12. Carol

      September 14, 2021 at 1:22 am

      Great post, I been wanting a simple recipe for this, but a cup of bud and you only get a cup of butter, guess my question is do you get more out of the butter then you would get out of the bud? If you smoked it ? Just trying to figure out money wise where you get the most benefit.
      Thank you for you great post.

      Reply
    13. Kim Dunshie Herning

      September 13, 2021 at 4:18 pm

      Good Job, detailed and concise instructions ! I love Cannabis and Cannabis loves me. I use my homemade cannabis concoctions to treat arthritis, carpal tunnel and insomnia in myself. I too started with cannabutter (dairy, or coconut oil) and as my tolerance eeked upwards I was forced to learn to make concentrate. It is amazing what can be achieved with cannabis medicine. Thank you for joining the conversation and teaching the methods to give others the knowledge to help themselves and others.

      Reply
    14. Kl

      September 13, 2021 at 2:40 pm

      For anyone who isn't interested in butter (or interested in using this as a face/body cream--- hell yes it's AMAZING for your skin) coconut oil can be subbed for butter.

      There is also a way to make it in the oven in a mason jar with less fuss. The internet can tell you how. 😆💁‍♀️

      Reply
    15. Lauren from Winnipeg

      September 13, 2021 at 1:48 pm

      If you are new to THC, remember that one person’s dose is not necessarily what will work for you. Everyone processes THC differently and your size has zero to do with it. You can be 6’4” and 250 lbs with a low tolerance and feel shitfaced with 10% THC or you can be 5’ nothing at 115 lbs with a high tolerance and function normally at 20%. It’s trial and error. Start small and work your way up.

      Reply
    16. Annamay Adams

      September 13, 2021 at 12:46 pm

      Karen - did you buy plants or did you grow from seed? It's been quite a few years since I've grown any plants and thats when seeds came with the weed! - Anna

      Reply
      • TD

        September 13, 2021 at 2:13 pm

        I would love to know any info about a source as well, seeds esp. Interested in the CBD part to help with perimenopausal anxiety and insomnia.

        Reply
        • Barbara Olsen

          October 19, 2021 at 1:03 pm

          Our local dispensaries carry clones (baby plants) for purchase.

    « Older Comments

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    My name is Karen Bertelsen and I was a television host. In Canada. Which means in terms of notoriety and wealth, I was somewhere on par with the manager of a Sunset Tan in Wisconsin.

    I quit television to start a blog with the goal that I could make my living through blogging and never have to host a television show again. And it’s worked out. I’m making a living blogging. If you’re curious, this is how I do that.

    So I’m doing this in reverse basically. I’m the only blogger who is trying to NOT get a TV show.

    More about me 👋

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