Cooking with cannabis is easy when you have the right essential cannabis recipes to get you started. Here you will find the most important staple cannabis recipes you can make at home with easy, beginner-friendly step-by-step guides that will allow you to infuse any recipe you already love.
Making Cannabis Recipes in the Kitchen
For the new cannabis consumers in my Well With Cannabis Facebook Community, I often hear that it can feel very overwhelming when deciding where to start at first.
With so many different recipes and so many opinions, it can get confusing and often lead to not wanting to try anything at all.
As I always tell my new members, it’s important to note that edibles affect us all completely differently, which is why it is so important to remain patient and be willing to experiment.
My suggestion would be to try many different things, like the recipes featured in this post, to see what your body responds to best.
Always start with a low dose and titrate your way up from there.
It may take some time to find your perfect option, but when you do, it’s so worth it!
These are my six favorite standard staple recipes that can take you can experiment with.
Mastering these basic recipes will allow you to convert just about any recipe you already know and love into a cannabis-infused recipe.
In this post we will cover the most popular staple recipes:
- Cannabis-Infused Butter
- Cannabis-Infused Coconut Oil
- Cannabis-Infused Olive Oil
- Cannabis-Infused Alcohol Tincture
- Cannabis-Infused Sugar
- Full-Extract Cannabis Oil (FECO)
Join nearly twenty thousand awesome members inside my Well With Cannabis Facebook Community if you have any questions about cooking with cannabis or want to share your creations!
Important to Know Before Making Cannabis Recipes
Consuming cannabis through food is a delicious way to medicate, but it can also have unintended consequences if you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into first.
If you are brand new to cooking with cannabis in the kitchen, there are a few important things to know before diving in and enjoying some of these delicious cannabis-infused recipes.
Here are some important things to know about consuming cannabis edibles:
1. Cannabis Edibles Are Both An Experiment & Commitment
Consuming cannabis edibles is truly a self-experiment that requires both curiosity and patience.
It will likely take several tries for you to find a dosage with an identifiable onset and duration time that you can rely on.
It is for this reason that I always recommend consuming cannabis edibles in the safety of your own home.
I also recommend consuming edibles when you a significant amount of time, at least 24 hours, to stay put and comfortably enjoy the experience.
Experimenting with dosages and duration times requires a time commitment from yourself.
With the notoriously delayed onset and duration time of edibles, you should plan on devoting at least 6-12 hours to your experience.
During this time, plan to be safe in your home with no need to travel anywhere, no driving a car, and no operating heavy machinery.
2. Cannabis Recipes Have a Delayed Onset of Effects
It is important to know is that it could take anywhere between 30-minutes to several hours to feel the effects of your cannabis edible as it makes its way through your digestive system.
As tempted as you may be to eat another serving after not feeling anything for 30-minutes, be sure to give yourself more time before eating it.
This will prevent any accidental overdose of THC, which may cause unwanted side effects if that is not your intention.
3. Cannabis Recipes Can Be More Potent Than Smoking
When cannabis is eaten, it goes through the digestive system.
As it passes through the liver in what is known as the hepatic first-pass metabolism, Δ9-THC is hydroxylated into 11-OH-THC, a potent psychoactive metabolite that readily crosses the blood-brain barrier (1).
This intoxicating metabolite causes more potent, increased intoxicating effects for most edible consumers.
Unknowingly consuming too much THC, especially in the form of cannabis edibles, may result in disorientation, dizziness, drowsiness, anxiety, and tachycardia.
Additionally, each person’s body will react differently to different cannabinoids due to our own unique endocannabinoid systems (ECS).
Understanding your own ECS will help you determine your own personal reaction to cannabinoids.
You can learn more about the Endocannabinoid System in your body with in-depth education from my Cannabis Compass Online Course.
4. Don’t Skip The Process of Decarboxylation
Before getting started making any of these staple recipes, it is important to note that all raw cannabis or dried cannabis must undergo a process called decarboxylation to be able to enjoy the active forms of CBD or THC.
Raw and dried cannabis flower contains what is known as tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA) and cannabidiolic acid (CBDA).
These cannabinoids are found in the raw cannabis plant material and contain their own powerful health benefits. However, these cannabinoids are not intoxicating in their natural state.
Decarboxylation is a process that converts THCa → Δ9-THC and CBDa → CBD.
Using heat and/or solvents is the most common way to decarboxylate the cannabis flower before enjoying it.
5. Determining Final Recipe Potency
Without knowing the concentration of CBD or THC in your starting raw material, and without lab testing, it is nearly impossible to estimate the final potency of your homemade cannabis recipes.
If you know the cannabinoid concentrations of your starting cannabis flowers, you may be able to use an online calculator to guestimate how the final product potency.
6. Enjoy Getting Creative In The Kitchen
One of the biggest things that hold members in my Well With Cannabis Facebook Community back from experimenting in the kitchen is the scary thought of – ‘what if I mess it up?’
For many people, getting cannabis may still be difficult or illegal, and the thought of ‘wasting’ it in a botched recipe is enough not to want to try.
One recommendation I have to get started experimenting in the kitchen with CBD flower.
With less than 0.3% THC, CBD hemp flower is legal in most states, easier to access, and cheaper.
While it does not contain the THC traditionally desired in a cannabis edible, it is a great way to allow yourself time and mistakes in the kitchen.
6 Staple Cannabis Recipes Anyone Can Master
Are you ready to get started making your own cannabis recipes in the kitchen?
Below you will find my six favorite recipes to get started with.
1. Cannabis Butter (or Cannabutter)
Cannabis butter, or cannabutter, is one of the most essential cannabis recipes for anyone looking to make their own edibles at home.
Once you have your cannabis butter made, you can use it in just about any recipe you can dream of that traditionally calls for butter.
This versatile recipe can then be used to make a variety of your favorite edibles.
This easy, step-by-step beginner’s guide will teach you how to make cannabutter at home in a crockpot or water bath.
Once made, you can use cannabis butter in just about any recipe you can imagine, from sweet to savory recipes, like classic brownies to cannabis chocolate chip cookies.
2. Cannabis-Infused Coconut Oil
This recipe is the holy grail of all cannabis recipes as it can be used as the base of many edible and topcial recipes.
It is also naturally vegan, plant-based, and dairy-free.
You can follow this process to make cannabis-infused-coconut oil at home.
Once you have your cannabis coconut oil made, you can easily swap it in anywhere a recipe calls for fat.
This allows you to make just about any recipe a cannabis-infused recipe.
Beyond just cannabis edibles, cannabis-infused coconut oil is the perfect base for many topical recipes like cannabis salve and cannabis lip balm.
3. Cannabis-Infused Olive Oil
Cannabis-infused olive oil is a light, delicious, and versatile cannabis infusion perfect for no-cook applications.
The final product is a cannabis-infused olive oil that can then be used to make so many different delicious cannabis recipes like our popular cannabis-infused pesto or zesty lemon cannabis vinaigrette.
4. Cannabis Alcohol Tincture
A cannabis alcohol tincture, also known as the Green Dragon, is traditionally a medicinal preparation that is oftentimes added to recipes, especially cocktails.
You can follow this process for making your own cannabis tincture with alcohol at home.
Once you have a cannabis tincture made, you can use it as it, or evaporate it down to make full-extract cannabis oil or cannabis-infused sugar.
5. Cannabis-Infused Sugar
I love cannabis sugar because it can act as a staple recipe to infuse all other recipes once it’s made.
I also love the versatility of cannabis sugar; once it is made, you can use it for so many different recipes, including cannabis brownies, chocolate chip cookies, and even cocktails and drinks or a scoop in your morning coffee.
Plus, if you’re looking for a very, very potent recipe – you could use both cannabis butter AND cannabis sugar together for a double dose of CBD or THC.
6. Full-Extract Cannabis Oil
Full extract cannabis oil, also known as FECO, is a concentrated, whole-plant, full-spectrum cannabis extract.
This means that all of the important plant compounds, from cannabinoids to terpenes and other plant materials, are present in the extract.
Once the FECO is prepared, it can be used in various application methods, including sublingual absorption, topical preparations, and cannabis edibles.
It is not recommended to use FECO for inhalation or vaping.
Elevate Your Cannabis Education
The Cannabis Compass Online Course will show you how to dose, use, and apply cannabis safely and effectively so that you can begin to manage your most unwanted symptoms the natural way, from the comfort of your own home.
Use An Infusion Machine For Your Edibles
If the process of decarboxylating and infusing your cannabis edibles seems like too much work, a cannabis infusion machine is a perfect solution for you!
Cannabis-infusion machines are countertop devices that do all the work for you by decarboxylating and infusing your butters, oils, and more.
The most popular machines on the market today include LEVO Infusion Machines and Ardent Cannabis Infusion Machines.
Use a LEVO Machine
The LEVO II machine can be used to decarboxylate, infuse, and make perfect small batches of butter or oil at home.
Want a discount on a LEVO machine? Be sure to use the discount code EMILY10 at checkout for 10% off your purchase!
Use an Ardent Cannabis Machine
The Ardent Cannabis FX Machine can be used to decarboxylate, infuse, and make perfect larger batches of butter or oil and more at home.
Want a discount on an Ardent Cannabis Machine? Be sure to use the coupon code EMILY30 at checkout for $30 off your order!
