How to make cannabutter: Easy weed butter recipe with dosing guide (2026)

Learn how to make cannabutter at home with our easy cannabis butter recipe. We’ve got everything you need to make incredible weed butter, including a decarboxylation guide, dosing calculator, gram measurements, and FAQ. Make delicious edibles from the comfort of your kitchen and skip the trip to the dispensary!

Ingredients

• 1 cup (277 grams) unsalted butter
• 1 cup (236 grams) water
• 1 cup (7-10 grams) decarboxylated cannabis

Equipment

• Oven-safe baking tray
• Parchment paper
• Oven
• Saucepan, stockpot, double-boiler, or slow cooker
• Cheesecloth or fine mesh strainer
• A glass or plastic container to hold cannabutter
• Cannabis grinder

How to decarboxylate cannabis for cannabutter

The first step towards making cannabutter is decarboxylating your cannabis. When you decarboxylate, or “decarb,” cannabis flower, you use heat to transform the THCA present in cannabis into psychoactive THC that is capable of getting you high. Skipping this step will result in cannabutter that has little to no cannabis effects.

Some recipes call for putting cannabis directly in hot butter, but decarbing before will make your cannabutter more effective, and the less time spent soaking buds, the better your infused butter will taste. For this reason, we recommend decarbing in an oven first. Here’s how:

1. Preheat the oven to 245ºF (118ºC)
2. Cover an oven-safe baking sheet with parchment paper and place loosely broken up cannabis flower on it.
3. Heat the cannabis in the oven for 30-40 minutes or until the cannabis has changed color from green to light brown. Gently mix the buds every 10-15 minutes to expose all sides of the buds.

When making cannabutter, we recommend a 1:1 ratio of cannabis to butter. If you want milder effects, use less cannabis.

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Cannabutter recipe: Stovetop method

Making cannabutter is cheap, easy, and only requires a few items (plus some time and patience). Keep in mind that butter burns easily, so keep a close eye on your weed butter as it cooks.

Step one: Grind or break up decarboxylated cannabis

Take your decarboxylated cannabis and grind it to a finer consistency. Grinders break weed down to the same consistency and will save you time, but you can just as easily break up the weed with your hands. Keep in mind that anything small enough to fit through the mesh strainer or cheesecloth will end up in your finished product, so be careful not to grind the weed into powder.

Step two: Melt the butter

On low heat, melt 1 cup (277 grams) of unsalted butter in a sauce pan, stock pot, or double boiler. Add 1 cup (236 grams) of water as well, which will help regulate temperature and prevent the butter from scorching.

Step three: Stir in the cannabis

Once the butter is fully melted, stir in 1 cup (7-10 grams) of your ground, decarboxylated cannabis. Stir gently until cannabis is interspersed throughout the mixture.

Step four: Simmer

Simmer on low heat, between 160-200ºF (71-93ºC); don’t exceed 200ºF (93ºC) or you may burn out the cannabinoids. Simmer for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally. The mixture should never come to a full boil.

Step five: Strain the mixture

Place a mesh strainer or cheesecloth over a jar or container and pour the mixture through it. Discard the plant material. Don’t squeeze out every bit of butter—this will add chlorophyll to your cannabutter, giving it a bad plant taste.

Step six: Refrigerate

Place the container of cannabutter in a fridge, and let it solidify before using, ideally overnight, or a few hours at least. If excess water forms at the bottom of the jar, remove the solid butter with a knife and drain out the water. Once the cannabutter has cooled, it’s ready to enjoy!

Cannabutter recipe: slow cooker method

If you have some time on your hands, it is also possible to make cannabutter in a slow cooker. This method is much less likely to scald your butter when compared to the stovetop method and is much more set-and-forget. However, it can take between 4 and 6 hours.

The slow cooker cannabutter method follows much the same setup as the stovetop method.

1. Melt the butter in the slow cooker
2. Add in water
3. Add in ground, decarboxylated cannabis
4. Turn heat to low and cook for 3-5 hours, stirring occasionally
5. Strain the mixture
6. Refrigerate and enjoy!

Dosing ratio calculator and guide

While it’s hard to know exactly how potent your cannabutter will be, here’s a calculator that will help you more accurately dose how much THC will be in the final amount of cannabutter. A standard edible that you get from a dispensary will have 5-10mg of THC per piece; use that as a rule of thumb to get in the right ballpark, then dial in your ideal dose later.

How strong your cannabutter winds up being is influenced by a few factors, like the potency of the cannabis infused and how long you let the mixture sit on the heat while infusing.

Higher THC percentage does not always directly correlate to potency, especially with the other factors in play. At the end of the day, it’s hard to know exactly how potent your homemade edibles are without trying a small amount.

To test their potency, try spreading ¼ or ½ teaspoon on a snack and see how that dose affects you after 90 minutes. Then decrease or increase the dose accordingly.

You can then use this personalized dose as a baseline for recipes. If making a large batch of edibles, multiply your personalized dose by the number of treats—for a pan of brownies, multiply your personalized dose by 9, 16, or however many brownies you’ll be making, so each one equals one dose.

Cannabis to butter ratio: how to make cannabutter milder or stronger

When making weed butter, we recommend a 1:1 ratio of cannabis to butter: Our recipe above calls for 1 cup (277 grams) of butter to 1 cup (7-10 grams) of cannabis.

However, if your weed butter ends up being too strong, you can always use regular butter in addition to cannabutter if you want milder effects. For example, if a recipe calls for ½ cup (138.5 grams) butter, you can use ¼ cup (69.25 grams) of cannabutter and ¼ cup (69.25 grams) regular butter, or another butter-to-cannabutter ratio.

Additionally, when making weed butter, if the 1:1 ratio of weed to butter seems too strong, you can use half as much cannabis flower—try ½ cup (3-4 grams) of ground flower to 1 cup (277 grams) of butter.

Likewise, if you want stronger cannabutter, you can add more: Try 1 ¼ ( 8-12 grams) ground flower to 1 cup (277 grams) of butter, or more.

Once you have made cannabutter, you can’t increase its potency—the only way to increase its effects would be to eat more of it, or more foods made with it.

Edibles recipes: What to make with cannabutter

Once you’ve made some weed butter, the sky’s the limit on the baked goods and foods you can make with it. There are the classics, like brownies or cookies, but you can also branch out by having cannabutter in pasta, baked potatoes, or even your morning toast.

Some of our favorite dishes are a brownie recipe from Martha Stewart and a peanut butter cookie recipe—the peanut butter can mask the planty taste of weed, if that’s not your thing.

You can also throw a little bit of weed butter in a pan or skillet before cooking any dish.

Get creative! Anything that calls for butter or can get cooked in butter can have some cannabutter thrown in for a stoney kick.

For more recipe ideas, check out our guide to cooking with cannabis.

FAQ

What is cannabutter?

Cannabis-infused butter, or cannabutter, is one of the simplest and most common ways to make edibles. Butter is an ideal medium for cannabis infusion because it’s delicious, versatile to use, and THC needs to bind to fat molecules, which are abundant in butter (as well as oils such as coconut, olive, and vegetable oil).

How is cannabutter used to make edibles?

After you infuse butter with cannabis, you can use that weed butter to make any baked goods, or to simply spread on some toast or other food. People commonly use cannabutter to make weed brownies, cookies, and cakes.

What is the best cannabutter ratio?

We recommend using a 1:1:1 ratio of butter, cannabis, and water, but using less or more cannabis will lead to different levels of potency. Experiment and find the right ratio for you.

How long does it take to make cannabutter?

Around 3-5 hours, including decarboxylation. Different methods will take varying amounts of time.

Can you make cannabutter with leaves or trim?

While you can technically make cannabutter with leaves or trim, it is not recommended, as leaves and trim have much less THC and cannabinoids than the buds. You’ll have to use significantly more trim or leaves for a similar amount of potency.

How do you store cannabutter, and how long does it last?

You can either freeze or refrigerate cannabutter in an airtight container. It will last between 1-3 months in the refrigerator when properly stored, and up to 6 months in the freezer.

Bailey Rahn, Anna Wilcox, Chef Torrin (aka The Dank Chef), Morgan Rosendale, and Pat Goggins contributed to this article.