This easy homemade kief butter guide will show you how to make a super potent cannabutter that tastes absolutely amazing. You will find step-by-step instructions for dosing, decarbing, infusing, and more!
Features
- A super simple kief butter recipe with step-by-step instructions
- Notes on what kief is, how much to use, and how to decarb
- How to buy my Bliss Cannabutter and have it shipped directly to your door!
Why You Will Love This Recipe
My crockpot cannabutter recipe has been the most popular recipe on the site for the past two years.
My Well With Cannabis Community knows that cannabis loves fat and that making an infusion is one of the easiest ways to make edibles.
Understandably for some, the taste of cannabutter can be overwhelming, even off-putting, which is where kief butter comes in.
Kief butter can be a better way to make more potent cannabis butter, and it can taste better - a win-win for most!
In this guide, I will show you how to make your kief butter at home in a few easy steps, give you an idea of how to dose this potent edible, and share great ideas for making kief edibles.
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Ingredient Notes
- 1 gram kief - see the How Much Kief to Use section below for helpful tips on dosing.
- One stick of butter - ordinary butter or unsalted butter will do, but many prefer ghee or clarified butter. You can also make kief oil with any other oil you desire, like olive oil or coconut oil. Want a less potent infusion? Add more sticks of butter. Want to make CBD kief butter? Start with kief collected from CBD flower.
Note: a complete list of ingredients with amounts and printable instructions is located in the recipe card below.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Step 1 - Gather the ingredients and equipment and preheat the oven to 240° F.
- Step 2 - Using a digital scale, weigh the kief to your desired weight into an oven-safe container with a lid, like a mason jar.
- Step 3 - Place the jar in the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes for THC-dominant flower or 60-65 minutes for CBD-dominant flower. New to decrying? Check out this kief decarb guide here.
- Step 4 - While the jar is cooling, prepare a water bath. Fill a saucepan ½ way with water and place over high heat. Once boiling, reduce to low heat to simmer.
- Step 5 - After the decarb cooking time, remove the jar from the oven.
- Step 6 - When the mason jar is cool enough to handle, remove the lid and put in your butter stick or oil. Reattach the lid.
- Step 7 - Place the mason jar in the water bath and let the butter start to melt.
- Step 8 - Once the butter and kief have completely melted, allow it to simmer for 5 minutes. If cook enough to handle, shake a few times gently.
- Step 9 - Remove the jar from the hot water bath. You can allow the butter to harden as is, or you can "clarify" the butter by straining the white foam from the butter before allowing it to solidify.
- Step 10 - Pour the butter into silicone molds and individual portion-sized trays, or leave it as-is in the container.
- Step 11 - Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight to allow the butter to harden.
- Step 12 - Enjoy your kief butter in your morning coffee, on toast, or in all of your favorite baked goods.
Note: complete step-by-step printable instructions are located in the recipe card below.
Storage Instructions
Store the cannabutter in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 10 days. You can store it for even longer in the freezer.
If refrigerating or freezing, be sure to avoid reheating frozen cannabutter in the microwave. Learn how to store edibles so they don't go bad.
Because kief is so high in cannabinoids, depending on the type of flower you're starting with, even a little bit can have a big effect.
If you're using a THC-dominant flower, you will have a THC-dominant kief.
If you are using CBD-dominant flowers, you will have CBD-dominant kief.
It's easy to collect kief with a grinder or kief catcher, and over time you'll quickly save up a lot, especially if you use trichome-heavy strains of cannabis.
How Much Kief to Use
Don't worry if you ask, "how much kief do I need?"
For this recipe, we will measure in grams of kief. A digital scale can help you measure this.
It's difficult to know exactly how potent your kief is without testing it in a lab, but you can approximate its strength if you know what kind of bud the kief came from.
In addition, if you buy kief at a store or dispensary, the label will likely give you a good idea of its potency.
While it's standard to find cannabis flowers roughly 15-25% THC, kief can contain upwards of 70% THC, meaning it can be very potent.
With this in mind, know that a little bit of these sticky crystals can go a long way.
As a general rule of thumb, you'll probably want to start with one gram of kief and increase if needed.
Note, it is not recommended to use my flower-to-oil ratio guide with kief as your end product will end up too strong!
Don't Forget to Decarb
Decarbing is one of the most important things when it comes to making cannabis edibles.
Raw cannabis kief does not naturally contain high amounts of active CBD or THC; it actually contains what is known as cannabinoid acids.
Cannabinoid acids, like CBDA, THCA, and more, have potential health benefits – but they are not intoxicating, meaning you won’t get high.
To convert these nonintoxicating cannabinoid acids into the activated cannabinoids we typically want to consume, the process of decarboxylation must occur.
The common recommendation is to bake at 240°F for 30-35 minutes for THC or 60-65 minutes for CBD in an oven-safe dish with a lid.
Baking in an oven-safe dish that you can later infuse it is a good way to keep all the sticky kief that collects at the bottom of the jar.
The medium heat and short cook time help to prevent any burning that may occur with the very fine consistency of the kief, although it is recommended to pay close attention at the end.
Your kief will have darkened in color. Sometimes, the resin crystals may have melted a little, but that's okay; they will melt into the butter.
Once you've mastered the process of decarboxylation, you can use your new skill to create so many different types of edibles.
Is Kief Butter Better Than Cannabutter?
Many people find this easy kief butter recipe much more enjoyable than weed butter, mainly because of the taste and smell.
Chlorophyll is leached from the plant material into the final infusion when making cannabutter with flower buds or trim.
That, along with excess moisture, makes the final product look and taste green.
The good news? Many people find that making kief butter provides the best edible experience.
Notes and Expert Tips
- You can use this same method to make hash butter or CBD butter.
- When making a water bath, you can do it in a crockpot, Instant pot, or, as we are doing here, on the stovetop.
- After this recipe, you can make kief cookies, kief cookie dough, and all these other amazing kief recipes.
- Need ideas to use your cannabutter? Check out these 25 amazing recipes, our sweet tooth recipes, and no-bake recipes.
- Prefer savory options? Try your kief cannabutter on steak or a cannabutter board.
- If you are wondering how to make kief tea, we've got a recipe for that, too!
- If your kief butter is too strong, gently melt it in another stick of regular butter or two. If it is too weak, follow these instructions.
Frequently Asked Questions
Working with kief can be brand new to even the most seasoned cannabis consumer, so here are some of the most common FAQs I get asked about this recipe from my Well With Cannabis Community.
There are several different methods to get more kief than just the grinder. Investing in a kief collector, kief boxes, or dry ice is a great way to collect as much pure kief as possible.
Kief has a mild nutty flavor, but many people find it much more mellow than traditional cannabutter.
Nope! Once you have decarboxylated kief, you can add it as-is to any recipe you desire. There are many different ways to use it, from edibles to smoking.
Keeping the plant matter in the melted butter is the best way to get the most potency and final result. If you feel you have to strain, you will want to increase your infusion time to 2 hours and then use a coffee filter or other fine tool to strain.
Yes, you can refrigerate and freeze your kief cannabutter.
Absolutely, go ahead and bake those brownies and cookies at 350°F; these higher temperatures won't ruin your favorite cannabinoid, THC.
How to Determine The Dosing
Want to get a more accurate guesstimate of the potency of your cannabis infusions and extractions? Try our popular edibles calculator!
Not sure what your perfect dose is? Learn more here.
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📖 Recipe
Easy Homemade Kief Butter
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 gram kief or your desired amount
- 1 stick butter or ghee
Instructions
- Gather the ingredients and equipment and preheat the oven to 240° F.
- Using a digital scale, weigh the kief to your desired weight into an oven-safe container with a lid, like a mason jar.
- Place the jar in the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes for THC-dominant flower or 60-65 minutes for CBD-dominant flower.
- While the jar is cooling, prepare a water bath. Fill a saucepan ½ way with water and place over high heat. Once boiling, reduce to low heat to simmer.
- After the decarb cooking correct time, remove the jar from the oven.
- When the mason jar is cool enough to handle, remove the lid, and put in your stick of butter or amount of oil. Reattach the lid.
- Place the mason jar in the water bath and allow the butter to start to melt.
- Once the butter and kief have completely melted, allow it to simmer for 5 minutes. If cook enough to handle, shake gently a few times.
- Remove the jar from the hot water bath. You can allow the butter to harden as is, or you can "clarify" the butter by straining the white foam from the butter before allowing it to solidify.
- Pour the butter into silicone molds and individual portion-sized trays, or leave it as-is in the container.
- Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight to allow the butter to harden.
- Enjoy your kief butter in your morning coffee, on toast, or in all of your favorite baked goods.
Chris
Hello, I really just wanted any tips or info from anyone who has made this Kief Butter infusion before. I’ve never made kief, or cannabis, butter before, so this being my first attempt, I just felt like any info/help is better than nothing. Thank you!
Emily Kyle
Hey Chris, I hope someone can chime in and offer some words of wisdom! Good luck 😁
Lynn
Looks very promising! I have not used the butter yet as I just made it yesterday. I love that because this is done completely in a closed mason jar, the smell does not escape and does not overwhelm the house. My only question is that after chilling in the fridge over night, there is about a half inch of white liquid at the bottom of the jar that did not harden. What is this liquid and should it be used it discarded?
Emily Kyle
Hello Lynn! Thanks for giving the recipe a try. This liquid at the bottom is normal, its natural separation that occurs when the milk solids and water leave the butter. More info on that is here. You can discard it!
Yasmine
Hi - I wanna try this out but I was wondering if it has to be a mason jar?
Renée from Team EKN
Hi Yasmine! An oven-safe container with a lid will work. Decarbing in the container that you will later infuse in is a good way to keep all of the sticky kief that collects at the bottom of the jar. 🤗
Dillon
Just wondering how to keep the butter and the kief from separating and layering as it cools.
Renée from Team EKN
Hi Dillon. Unless you infused clarified butter or ghee, you will experience some separation from the milk solids. If you find there is a substantial amount of kief in the separated liquid, gently boil the butter in a saucepan on the stove over low heat and skim all the foam from the top. When you pour back to cool down, there should be minimal separation. I hope this helps!
Ki
Hi, thank you for the detailed recipe. I have been looking for recipes for a while and most of them it says that the butter needs to stay in the hot water bath for 2-4 hours. How much time it should be and also can you kindly share the water temperature, if its okay. Thank you again!
Renée from Team EKN
Hi Ki. Since the keif isn't strained out from the final product, you don't need to infuse the butter for hours. Once the butter and kief have completely melted, allow it to simmer for 5 minutes in the water bath. Temperature should be no higher than 180°. Once cool enough to handle, shake gently a few times. You can then clarify the butter if desired and pour into molds, or let cool in the jar it's in. Allow the butter to fully harden and Enjoy!
Stephanie
Just pulled my jar from the water bath and it it very cloudy at the bottom, even when I shake it. What went wrong?
Renée from Team EKN
Hi Stephanie. No worries! Nothing went wrong. The cloudiness is due to water in the butter. It should all settle, and you can scrape it off. This process will actually clarify your butter. I hope this helps!
Bet Hogue
what would be the brown looking sediment in bottom of jar after set?
Renée from Team EKN
Hi Bet. The brown sediment at the bottom of cooked butter results from the proteins and other particles breaking down when the butter is cooked. This sediment is harmless and can be removed prior to use.
Ryan
Can I use this butter immediately after making it?
Renée from Team EKN
Hi Ryan. Absolutely, but we do recommend letting it get to room temperature first.
Denise
Do you put the lid and ring on the mason jar?
Renée from Team EKN
Hi Denise. The lid and ring need to go on, hand tight only, to avoid any water getting in from the water bath.