Are you looking for a one-pot, set-it-and-forget-it option for making cannabutter or infused oil at home? Look no further than this easy, quick, and efficient infusion method using an Instant Pot or pressure cooker! The best part? It can totally reduce the smell, making at home infusions a breeze. Let me show how easy it is to do the entire process, step-by-step, with this helpful guide.
Table of Contents
Recipe Features
- The best method to decarb and infuse butter oil
- How this method can decrease the order associated with the infusion process
- Want to make it easy? Skip the process, buy my Bliss cannabutter instead, and have it shipped directly to your door!
Why You Will Love This Recipe
It’s no secret that I love using the crockpot for making cannabutter and other infusions, but it can be a lengthy process that leaves me in the kitchen for hours.
I’m constantly trying to make life easier for the cannabis enthusiasts inside my Well With Cannabis Community (any myself as a busy mom!).
So, when I learned you could kill two birds with one stone by using the Instant Pot to decarb and infuse, I created this easy step-by-step to help you learn this method, too.
Not only is this process so simple, but as an added BONUS, it can also significantly decrease the odor associated with the decarboxylation process.
Just place all of the ingredients in a jar in the Instant Pot, set the proper settings, walk away.
You can clean the house or make dinner while the cannabis is decarbing, without worrying about smelling up the entire house.
Once that is done, open up and add your oil of choice to the mason jar. Set the slow cooker option, and get back to work or even just relaxing.
📝 Ready to get started? Below you will find everything you need to know for how to make your own cannabis infusions the easy way with step-by-step instructions, delicious edible recipes to try, and fully-answered FAQs for best results.
Instant Pot Cannabutter or Oil Infusions
Ingredients
- 14 grams dried cannabis flower, buds, trim, or kief (½ ounce)
- 236 grams unsalted butter (2 sticks)
Instructions
- Place your desired amount of cannabis in a mason jar and add a lid to fingertip tightness (not too tight). You do not need to grind the cannabis, just break it up into small, popcorn-sized pieces.
- Place the jar on the trivet or in the steamer basket and place the trivet or basket in the Instant Pot.
- Add 4 cups of water to the Instant Pot. If you have a larger IP, you may need to add more water. Add enough water to cover the outside of the mason jars at least halfway.
- After your selected time, carefully release the pressure. Remove the jars from the pot and set them aside to cool. When cool enough to handle, add your desired amount of butter or oil to the jar.
- Add a lid and twist to fingertip tightness (not too tight). Place the jars back in the trivet or steamer basket and return them to the water bath. Select Slow Cook mode on LOW and set it for 4 hours.
- While the butter is infusing, prepare your straining area. Whether it be a paper filter and funnel, cheesecloth, French press, or a simple coffee filter, you will want to set up a straining station to separate the plant matter from the butter or oil.
- After 4 hours, remove the jars from the Instant Pot. Once cool enough to handle, strain the butter with your method of choice. You can save the leftover cannabis pulp for use in future recipes.
- Add the strained butter or oil to whatever jar you would like to store it in. If making infused oil, the process is over.
- If making butter, you will need to drain off the milk solids at the end of the process. Place the container in the refrigerator and allow it to cool completely. During refrigeration, the infused butter will harden and solidify. Remove the solid block of butter and drain the remaining liquid which is the unwanted, leftover water and milk solids.
- Store this in the refrigerator according to the expiration date on the butter you used, or store for even longer in the freezer.
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Nutrition
What You’ll Need
Cannabis of Choice
- Dried cannabis buds, trim, sugar leaves or kief: Use your desired amount of cannabis, ranging from 3.5 grams to 1 ounce. Check out the flower-to-oil ratio guide if you need help deciding how much to use. Next, select your preference for THC, CBD, or CBG dominant flowers. You can purchase from my online shop.
Depending on the flower you use, with this method, you can create:
- CBD cannabutter
- Kief cannabutter
- CBD oil
- CBG energy and focus oil
- CBN sleep oil
- AVB (already been vaped) oil
Butter or Oil
- Butter or ghee: Unsalted butter, clarified butter, and ghee all work great in this recipe. However, clarified butter and ghee are preferred by many because it eliminates a final step at the end. Regular butter will cause separation. Not sure how many sticks of butter to use? Start with this flower-to-oil ratio guide to help you predict the dose of your own cannabutter.
- Oil of choice: Coconut oil, olive oil, grapeseed oil, avocado oil, MCT oil, hemp seed oil, and more
Depending on the oil you use, with this method, you can create:
Equipment
- Unsalted butter
- Instant Pot
- Trivet – or a canning rack that may fit
- Mason jars – ensure you are using a canning jar for this process
- Straining equipment – coffee filter or cheese cloth
- Silicone butter mold – optional
Note: a complete list of ingredients with amounts and printable instructions is located in the recipe card below.
The Step-by-Step Process
- Step 1 – Place your desired amount of cannabis in a mason jar and add a lid to fingertip tightness (not too tight). You do not need to grind the cannabis; break it into small, popcorn-sized pieces.
- Step 2 – Place the jar on the trivet or in the steamer basket.
- Step 3 – Place the trivet or basket in the Instant Pot.
- Step 4 – Add 4 cups of water to the Instant Pot. The size of your Instant Pot matters here. If you have a larger model, you will need to add more water. Add enough water to cover the outside of the mason jars at least halfway.
- Step 5 – Secure the lid.
- Step 6 – Set the Instant Pot to cook on high pressure for 40 minutes for THC-dominant flower, 60 minutes for CBG-dominant flower, 90 minutes for CBD-dominant flower, and 180 minutes for THC flower you want to degrade into CBN.
- Step 7 – After the desired time in minutes has passed, carefully release the pressure using the quick release function or natural release.
- Step 8 – Remove the jars from the pot with oven mitts or other protection and set them aside to cool. You now have decarboxylated cannabis.
- Step 9: Once cool enough to handle, take off the lid and add your desired amount of butter or oil to the jar.
- Step 10: Add a lid and twist to fingertip tightness (not too tight).
- Step 11: Place the jars back in the trivet or steamer basket and return them to the water bath.
- Step 12: Select Slow Cook – LOW mode and set it for 4 hours.
- Step 13: While the butter is infusing, prepare your straining area. Whether it be a paper filter and funnel, cheesecloth, French press, or a simple coffee filter, you will want to set up a straining station to separate the plant matter.
- Step 14: After 4 hours, remove the jars from the Instant Pot. Once cool enough to handle, strain the butter with your method of choice. You can save the leftover cannabis pulp for use in future recipes.
- Step 15: Add the strained butter or oil to whatever jar you would like to store it in. If making butter, place the container in the refrigerator and allow it to cool completely. You will need to drain off the milk solids at the end of the process.
- Step 16: Enjoy your cannabis-infused butter!
Note: complete step-by-step printable instructions are located in the recipe card below.
Storage Instructions
Store the butter in an airtight container like a sealed mason jar in the refrigerator according to the expiration date on the butter you used.
It can be stored for a long time if you store it in the freezer.
Depending on how it was prepared, infused oil can be stored at room temperature for several months, but it should be kept in a cool, dark place.
If you are storing the butter in the fridge or freezer, never use the microwave to soften or thaw the butter, as it could destroy the cannabinoids and ruin the final product.
Learn how to store edibles here.
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Choose The Right Decarb Time
Each cannabinoid decarboxylates at a different temperature, so it’s essential to select the appropriate time based on the flower you have.
Use this guide to select the decarb time that is right for you.
Decarb Times
- THCA → Δ9-THC – bake at 240°F/116°C for 40 minutes
- CBDA → CBD – bake at 240°F/116°C for 90 minutes
- CBGA → CBG – bake at 220°F/105°C for 60 minutes
- Δ9-THC → CBN – bake at 240°F/116°C for 180 minutes
Notes and Expert Tips
- When making your own batch of Instant Pot Cannabutter, know that you will end up with less butter than you started with. This is normal because you will remove the milk solids and evaporate the excess water during the process.
- While the most common method is to use unsalted butter, using clarified butter or ghee eliminates the need to clarify your butter and strain milk solids.
- If you are doing an oil infusion, you can optionally add in lecithin. Do NOT add this if infusing butter.
- Know that using different strains can result in different experiences from each batch of cannabis infused-butter.
- One of the best ways to make a more potent cannabutter or oil by adding decarbed kief or cannabis concentrates like distillate or FECO.
- Just want to decarb but NOT infuse? Check out this simple guide for how to decarboxylate cannabis in an Instant Pot.
- One of the most beautiful things about this recipe is saving the leftover plant matter to make other cannabis edibles. One of the easiest ways is to throw it in your favorite sauce or salad dressings.
- If you use butter molds, I recommend using a spoon to get the pure, infused melted butter into the first full stick of the mold. You will only need to remove the milk solids from one stick.
- Ready to bake your favorite weed brownies and cookies? Have no fear; it is OK to bake your homemade cannabutter at higher temperatures.
- Looking for more recipes? Check out this cannabutter board, these 25 cannabutter recipes, or these tasty no-bake cannabutter recipes.
Frequently Asked Questions
No worries, there’s nothing wrong with the old-fashioned way! A great alternative could include a crock pot, a stove top, or an infusion machine.
Yes, a true cannabis lover knows that if you want the activated benefits of cannabinoids like THC or CBD, you need to decarb first. This is because raw cannabis or fresh, raw weed contains cannabinoid acids like THCA or CBDA. The process ensures your end result, decarbed weed, contains the “good stuff” or THC and CBD you want. If you accidentally forget to decarb before adding in your cup of butter or oil, don’t worry, you didn’t just ruin those precious marijuana flower buds. Instead, you will just need a longer cooking time of 6-8 hours.
It depends on how potent you want your end product to be and how much cannabutter you want to add to a specific recipe. For a less potent product, add more butter. For a more potent product, add less. Remember, how much weed you use will have a big impact, too. Follow my cannabis flower-to-oil ratio chart to make a batch size perfect for you. If you’re using trim or kief, adjust accordingly. If you want a very potent product, make kief butter instead.
Using up your cannabutter is certainly the most exciting part of this recipe! From sweet to savory, check them out here or simply swap your cannabutter for regular butter in your favorite recipes.
No worries, if you’re unhappy with how your cannabutter turned out the first time, you can follow my guide to fix weak cannabutter. Keep in mind the color does not indicate potency.
Check out my beginner’s blog posts and join the Well With Cannabis Community. for additional support and resources.
Recipes to Use Up Your Cannabutter
Ready to make the most amazing infusions with the help of the Instant Pot cannabutter you just made! You’re in the right place for tasty, delicious recipes.
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Hi 👋 and Help! For some dumb reason, I thought that when it said you could decarb and infuse in the Instant pot, at the same time, I poured about half a cup of oil in the weed (1.8 oz) before decarbing it. Am I screwed? I am going to decarb to a CBN anyway. And there’s not that much oil in there, but what should I do?
Hi Jill. This is a bummer, but you are not screwed. ☺️ You can run the infusion for twice the amount of time to achieve similar results as if you were to decarb first. There may be more green, plantlike flavor, but potency should be close! The longer you run the infusion, the more CBN you’ll convert. I hope this helps!
I was hoping to get some clarification on step 6 on the instant pot recipe.
It says after adding the butter to return the jar to the “water bath”, but 4 cups of water does not create a water bath in an instant pot. Am I supposed to add more water like I would of using the crock pot as my slow cooker? As I understand the term “water bath” means the water should be over the top of the mason jar. If I was reading the crock pot recipe/method correctly, it seems like that called for the mason jar to be fully submerged for the infusion step.
Just wanted to clarify if more water needed to be added to the instant pot for the slow cooker use step?
Hi D. Is there room for your jars to stand on a trivet? If yes, you are going to want to add more water to create a water bath, but just enough to cover the contents of the jars, not the entire jar. If you have to lay the jar down, I would recommend covering the entire jar. I hope this helps!
Hi there Emily, so one noob question, if I set the temp at 240, for 90 minutes I get the THC and CBD ?
Hi Chappie. That is correct, but the flower has to have both THC and CBD. Not all cannabis contains both.
Hello from Australia!
thank you for all your help. It’s so detailed and we are all so grateful.
Mu question is
My brownie recipe needs 110 g of butter.
I want to use 3.5 g of dry bud for potency. You have recommended to use 57g of butter for infusion.
Would you recommend that I use 57 g to infuse and add the remaining infused butter to the recipe? Would this affect the potency of the overall product?
I was also thinking to only use half the brownie dry contents to keep the ratio as your recommendation
Thanks in advance!
Hi Steve. You want to make sure that you use the exact amount of ingredients that the recipe calls for. Adding more butter will throw the recipe off, but if you wanted more potent brownies, you can make your cannabutter stronger. You don’t need to follow the 3.5g:57g ratio. You can use any amount of flower for infusion, depending on how strong or not so strong you want your final product. Does this make sense?
Hi guys
Great recipes.
I’m a “flower” virgin and started making some oil this morning.
Having misread the recipe I’ve put the flowers and oil in the crockpot from the start – I thought the “set-and-forget” recipe was going to be just that. I missed that the decarboxilation was supposed to be dry.
To combat my mistake my plan is to bring the pot, jars and oil / flower mix to 170F then heat for 60 mins. After this, turn down to 150F for 5 hrs.
What effect is this likely to have on the oil?
Thanks very much
Hi Howard. This is actually a common mistake, but no worries! When infusing, we recommend a temperature of around 180º for infusion at 4 hours. Decarboxylation requires a higher temperature of 240º. What we recommend is running your infusion on low (roughly 180º) for eight hours rather than four. This is double the infusion time and will allow for a decent conversion of THC. I hope this helps!
Hi Emily, to melt the butter can I use a hot water bath or just let it sit out to melt?
Hi Heather. A hot water bath works great!
I grew my own plant and am not sure whether it was THC, CBG or CBD dominant. I tried a recipe to make a tincture decarbing in oven at 250 degrees for 30 minutes. I didn’t notice anything different even after 2 dropperfuls. How long do you suggest I cook it in instapot?
Hi Karen. Unless the plant is THC-dominant, you won’t feel any intoxicating effects. What flower:oil ratio did you use? You decarbed enough for THC, but if you want to decarb further follow these guidelines:
• CBDA to CBD → bake at 240°F for 90 minutes
• CBGA to CBG → bake at 220°F for 60 minutes
I hope this helps!
We’re new with our IP do you seal the butter jars or vent once the butter is in for the 4 hours?
Hi Megan. You’ll be using the slow cook setting, so there is no pressure build up. After the four-hour infusion, the butter jars should be removed from the instant pot, then opened and strained once cool enough to handle. I hope this helps!
Hello, I recently picked up a Gummy Mix by a company called LorAnn. I have made my own cannabutter for about 15 years now. Is there a way to infuse a ready made gummy mix with either oil or butter? Just not sure when to add the cannabis item to the gummies.
Hi Patrick. We don’t have any experience with pre-made gummy mixes, but unless the recipe calls for butter or oil, I don’t think the gummies will set properly. You can always experiment with non-infused butter and see if you can find a way to make it work, without wasting you cannabis. I hope this helps!
what id you do not have a wire basket to put inside your IP?
Hi Rene. If you don’t have a wire basket, you can use anything metal as a trivet. You don’t want the glass directly on the bottom as you run a risk of the glass breaking. Make sure whatever you choose is suitable to be used in an oven i.e. heat resistant. Suggestions: Metal lid of a large jar or bottle – Rings from a large mason jar lid – Large cookie cutter – Small round cake rack – Small metal colander – Balls of aluminum foil. I hope this helps!
Did I do it wrong inthe Decarb process? The 4 cups of water did not touch the jars. I’m using the ninja foodi 8 quart
Hi Nancy. The decarb should be fine, but you want to make sure the jars are submerged in the water bath during infusion. You can add more water if needed. I hope this helps!
What lid do you use on instapot when infusing butter on the slow cook setting
Hi Gary. The tempered glass lid is ideal, but you can use the standard Instant Pot lid (set to vent).
When making butter, is the leftover liquid milk product also infused, and worth using?
Hi Apocatastasía. The leftover milk product doesn’t contain any fat, so there it is not infused because there is nothing for the cannabinoids to bind to. It should be skimmed off and thrown away. Have you heard of clarified butter? Essentially that is what you are doing by removing the milk solids from the butter. There is nothing of value in it and it isn’t worth saving. I hope this helps!
Hi! First I love this website. It’s already been so useful.
I was wondering if instead of adding butter or oil for infusing, could I pour coconut milk instead? I feel like I can but still wanted to ask!
Thank you,
Best
Hi Chanel! We are so happy that the website has been helpful for you! ? You can absolutely infuse coconut milk, but you want to make sure it’s full-fat. Emily has a specific guide if you’d like to check it out: https://emilykylenutrition.com/cannabis-milk/
How many grams is a “stick” of butter
Hi SB. There are 114 grams in a stick of butter. Here’s a guide that has further measurements for easy reference.
https://emilykylenutrition.com/cannabis-flower-to-oil-ratio-guide/
Hope this helps!