Cooking With Cannabis – Winning Weed Recipes

If you want to learn about cooking with cannabis, the good news is that it’s much easier than it looks or sounds. Since cannabis-infused treats are becoming increasingly popular, recipes and techniques are abundant, with many options to help reduce the texture and flavour of dry weed.

Cooking with cannabis recipes are becoming more and more widespread among foodies and marijuana enthusiasts alike. 

Today, it’s relatively simple to learn how to infuse any recipe you want with weed, and this article will cover just that, how to go about cooking with cannabis. You’ll learn how to create different infusions and recipes that will take your weed-infused culinary cooking skills to the next level, so let’s get started! 

What are Cannabis-Infused Foods?

Cannabis-infused food is any edible product that has been made with a concentrated cannabis infusion or dried plant material. They can be made using different methods and ingredients, including weed oil or cannabutter, which gets infused into a range of recipes, such as weed gummies, cookies, roasted veggies, and pasta, to name a few. 

Some recipes can almost entirely mask the weed flavour, while others almost highlight the natural terpene profile, enhancing the overall taste. 

There are multiple benefits to eating your weed rather than smoking it, including not inhaling potentially harmful carcinogens, more discreteness, and longer-lasting effects. With this in mind, it’s important to remember that an edible high lasts much longer than it would if you were smoking, but the high itself will also be a completely different experience. 

The high after smoking a joint lasts an average of an hour or two, whereas an edible high can hang around for a good eight hours because by the time it hits your stomach and liver, it’s converted into 11-hydroxy-THC, which is a much more potent compound. 

How To Cook With Cannabis 

As a segue from the last section, it’s critical to note that one significant downside to making your own edibles is that you won’t know the exact dosage since they won’t be lab-tested. However, if you stick to the start low and go slow mantra, you should be fine. 

All you need are some basic cooking skills, and you’ll be amazed by how easy it is and how many different cannabis edible recipes you can make from the comfort of your own home. Weed is a culinary-friendly herb that is teeming with flavour, and the 100+ types of terpenes give each strain its own set of unique attributes. 

The good news is when you tap into this broad spectrum of different aromas and flavours, it’s easy to see why it’s seeping into the mainstream with chefs across the world starting to cook with cannabis. 

This trend has spilled over to the at-home cooking enthusiast or a foodie looking to enhance or experiment in the kitchen by planning an infused dinner, summer barbeque, family event, or holiday party with a twist. 

If you’re new to cooking with cannabis, then working with herbs and making an infusion may seem intimidating at first, but trust us when we say it’s much easier than most people think. If you’re still unsure, don’t worry. We’ve taken the time to outline some simple steps you can follow that will help you get started on your cannabis cooking journey. 

Let’s dig in! 

Making Your Own Infusion 

Choose a Recipe

While this may seem like a pretty self-explanatory step, you want to be sure you’re picking recipes where weed can be easily infused. 

We recommend going with a recipe that uses butter, olive oil, or coconut oil because THC and other cannabinoids are fat-soluble, which is necessary for them to become active. 

Pick Your Strain 

Once you have settled on a recipe, you’ll know what flavours you’ll be working with and what particular strain will pair well with it. 

The most common terpenes found in weed include myrcene (tropical notes), limonene (citrus), nerolidol (ginger, jasmine) caryophyllene (clove), linalool (lavender), and pinene (pine nuts). 

If you stick to recipes that contain these herbs or foods in them, it will naturally pair better with the weed strains that have a similar chemical makeup.  

Make the Infusion 

Now it’s time for the fun part, making your infusion! That said, you need to make sure your weed goes through the decarboxylation process, which is a chemical reaction caused by heating dry cannabis to 121+ °C (250+ degrees °F) for about 30-60 minutes. 

This process releases carboxylic acids out of the THC and activates it so it can be easily added to your favourite recipes. The key here is to keep temperatures low enough to prevent burning but high enough to decarboxylate it. 

Once you have this step completed, you’ll want to infuse your butter or oil. To make sure you set aside enough time, and be aware that it takes 4-6 hours for the oil to infuse and roughly 24 hours for weed butter to infuse, cool, and harden. So, be sure to plan ahead. 

If you have never made either of these products before, don’t sweat it. We’ve got you covered. 

Check out our easy-to-follow, step-by-step guides for how to make cannaoil and how to make cannabutter. 

Determine the Meal Time 

Like we mentioned in step 3, planning ahead of time is imperative for cooking with cannabis successfully. After you have your infusion ready to go, you want to figure out what time you’ll be serving your dish because you want to be sure to allow enough time to cook, eat, digest, and feel the effects of your weed.

This foresight is particularly important if you’re serving multiple courses. It can take up to two hours to feel the effects of weed edibles, and the high can last up to 8 hours. 

Some have found that making and serving an infused appetizer or snack while the main course is cooking allows you to microdose (1-5 milligrams CBD or THC) throughout each course. We would recommend going this route if you want to pace yourself, or if you’re trying to avoid a weed hangover. 

This approach comes highly recommended because it helps you learn or stay within your limits via the start low and go slow motto. Since every infusion you make will be different, pacing yourself and your guests is not only responsible, everyone will have a better time because of it. 

It’s Cooking Time!

Now that you have your recipe picked out, weed decarboxylated, and an infusion made, it’s time for cooking with cannabis! 

It’s best to treat your infusions like an ingredient. So, be sure to have all your measuring cups, spoons, and other cooking accessories ready to go, so you don’t mess up the recipe or your infusion. 

Once everything is said and done, one teaspoon of cannabutter or cannaoil equals roughly one serving containing between 5-10 milligrams of THC (or CBD). Of course, this depends on how strong and how much of a particular strain you use. 

For newbies, we would advise starting with  ½ a serving and waiting for a couple of hours before indulging in more. 

Eat & Enjoy! 

Voila! You’ve successfully survived cooking with cannabis and have created a delicious weed-infused meal! Now it’s time to reap the fruits of your labour. It’s time to enjoy your meal, sit back, relax, and wait for the high to wash over you. 

If you have any food or cannabis infusion leftover, store both in an airtight jar, container, or Tupperware in a cool and dark environment. 

Remember, light and oxygen are the arch enemies of any cannabis product because they significantly degrade the cannaoil and butter, leaching out a fair amount of its original potency, flavour, aroma, and overall freshness. 

Marijuana edibles that are properly stored can last between 60-90 days, but if you decide to keep them in the refrigerator or freezer, they’ll last much longer. 

Cooking with THC Distillate

Suppose you are looking for a more potent experience and want to cut out the middle man of making your own cannabis-infused edibles like cannaoil or cannabutter. In that case, THC distillate presents a simple, straightforward and efficient method of cooking with cannabis.

THC distillate also has the added benefit of not having little to no flavour, making it ideal for multiple dishes, including baking, infused in beverages, or salad dressing.

Prep the Distillate

With your THC distillate still in its container, place the entire container in a bowl or cup of hot water to warm the concentrate. As it warms, measure out the liquified oil or butter necessarily for the specific recipe. 

Infuse Ingredients with THC distillate 

Drop a gram of THC distillate into the oil or butter and mix together thoroughly to ensure homogenization. 

For those who may not know, ensuring homogenization simply means making sure that the ingredients are effectively and appropriately mixed. 

Place the THC distillate oil or butter mixture into the microwave and heat it on medium power for upwards of two minutes to make sure the ingredients are combined. 

Add THC Distillate Mixture to Your Recipe

Once the above steps are complete, all that’s left to do is integrate your THC distillate oil or butter into the rest of your recipe. 

From there, either wait the allotted time for it to cook or bake or ingest your product as-is, depending on your edible and recipe of choice. After that, all that’s left to do is enjoy the delicious flavours and wait for the effects to kick in. 

Using Pre-Infused Concentrates

Cooking with pre-infused concentrates is an increasingly standard procedure for creating edibles as it saves you the trouble of making your own, thereby cutting down on your cooking with cannabis time. 

Determine Your Dish Ahead of Time 

Depending on the flavour profile you are going for when cooking with cannabis, it is important to note that many pre-infused cannabis products will contain more of a weed-like flavour than THC distillate.

In this way, we would recommend using them for baked edibles if you wish to mask this taste. For example, pre-infused coconut oil is a fan favourite for baking edibles. However, it can also be integrated into bulletproof coffees. 

Depending on the concentrate, some carrier oils will have more versatility than others, which will broaden the scope of the foods you can use it in. For instance, pre-infused olive oil is ideal for creating edibles such as salad dressing that can be easily integrated into a meal without the need for baking or heating. 

Decide Which Concentrate You Want to Use 

Pre-infused concentrates come in various flavours and consistencies, with some being easier to work with than others. 

Some concentrates, such as butane hash oil, Rick Simpson Oil (Phoenix Tears) and kief, will still need to go through the decarboxylation process and be infused into a carrier fat oil to be consumed. 

In this way, pre-infused concentrates with a high-saturated fat infusing oil, such as coconut or olive oil, are among the best and easiest for cooking with cannabis.  

Get Cooking

Depending on the concentrate you chose, you can either integrate decarboxylated concentrates, such as shatter, wax, and budder, into foods with high-fat content or oil by crumbling them directly into the pot or container you are cooking with. 

If you opted for an already decarbed concentrate, as long as you keep to a recipe with cooking temperatures below 148°C (~ 300°F), you should be good to go. 

Just as heat is necessary to decarboxylate weed and activate the THC, cooking temperatures that are too high can potentially destroy many of the critical key components and plant materials, such as terpenes, that provide the righteous effects that you want to enjoy. 

3 Easy-to-Make Cannabis Recipes

Weed Hot Chocolate

Learning how to make weed hot chocolate is an excellent go-to move for beginners looking to enter the world of making weed edibles by starting with something simple. 

It is an ideal beverage for getting comfy and cozy during the winter months while serving as a perfect compromise between the childlike nostalgia of unwinding with a fresh cup of hot cocoa with the added adult twist of incorporating your favourite icky sticky. 

Space Cake 

Spice up your next birthday party or celebration by adding an extra special ingredient to the cake.

OG Space Cakes initially only used cannabutter in their recipes. However, with a vast assortment of new cannabis concentrates now available on the market, including THC distillate and pre-infused concentrates, it is now easier than ever to find a Space Cake recipe that is to your liking. 

We would highly recommend giving it a try for a flavour and experience that is out of this world. 

Bhang

While it may not be the first thing that comes to mind when cooking with cannabis and making edibles, Bhang has been around for generations. 

Bhang is a cannabis-infused beverage that is deeply rooted in Indian culture. Traditionally, it was created with a combination of leaves, buds and flowers of female cannabis plants. 

Since then, it has made its way worldwide, with many tokers interested in learning how to make Bhang for themselves. Now, there is an abundance of different recipes to choose from. However, most traditional recipes incorporate yogurt or whey for a thicker and creamier texture.

Cooking with Cannabis – The Possibilities are Endless 

Cooking with cannabis is a delicious and creative way to incorporate weed into your favourite recipes. 

The various techniques are incredibly versatile and can involve learning how to make your own ingredients such as cannaoil or cannabutter or cutting out that step altogether and using other products, such as THC distillate or pre-infused concentrates.

Making your own weed edibles can be an incredibly fun and enjoyable experience. However, it is important to note that dosing can sometimes be difficult. In this way, especially if you’re just starting out, we recommend finding an easy-to-follow recipe that tells you precisely how much weed or concentrate to use.

Whichever you choose, whether you’re using dry bud to create infused products yourself or opting for pre-infused concentrates, be sure that you are purchasing these products from a reputable and trustworthy dispensary. 

Make sure to cook and enjoy responsibly. Start low and go slow, and we’re sure you’ll enjoy the ride.  

Happy cooking!