Making cannabis-infused foods is a notoriously slow-going process. Thankfully, if you are hoping to learn how to make cannabutter fast, we’ve got you covered. Cannabutter is a primary ingredient in many cannabis-infused recipes or edibles. Known as an “extraction”, the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) – the psychoactive part of cannabis that gets you high – is removed from the cannabis and infused with the butter.

The butter from a normal recipe is then substituted with cannabutter. You can use any kind of unsalted butter you like for this recipe, though we find that using high-quality butter provides a better taste. High-quality butter has less water, so you will get a higher yield. We also recommend that you decarboxylate your butter first, to ensure that you are infusing the maximum amount of THC possible into your creamy concoction. Your finished butter will have a green tinge to it because of the cannabis.

If you are new to cooking with cannabis, and you’re not sure how much cannabis to use or don’t understand the process, be sure to read through the guidelines below to ensure that you’ve got the basics down before you get started. If you are not careful, cannabutter can easily scorch and develop a bitter flavor. You can also make Cannabutter at home easily and mess-free with the Ardent Nova FX machine, which helps you create fantastic recipes, infusing cannabis easily into butter.

Directions for Decarboxylating Cannabis for Cannabutter

First thing: you need to decarb your herb. Believe it or not, dried cannabis flower does not actually contain high doses of THC. In order to create the psychoactive, you need to expose your cannabis flower to heat to change the cannabinoid from its precursor form, THC acid. This transformation occurs through a process called decarboxylation. Before making cannabutter, it’s extremely important to decarboxylate your bud sample. This process happens automatically during the smoking of cannabis since you heat the herb with the flame from a lighter. Decarboxylating your herb before you cook is a vital step in the process. If you skip decarboxylation, you will be setting yourself up for a depressing surprise when you find your cannabutter has a weak potency. While the name may sound intimating, decarboxylation is easy. Just heat your herb on a baking sheet before adding it to butter! Here are a few simple directions:

1. Line a flat baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Spread your coarsely ground herb evenly over the sheet.
3. Bake your sample at 240°F (115°C) for up to ½ an hour, stirring occasionally and checking on your flower. This will both activate your cannabis and give it a roasted, nutty taste.

This same decarboxylation process applies to other types of cannabis as well. For example, it is also best to decarb CBD strains, decarb concentrates, and decarb stems before infusing them into recipes.

How to Make Cannabutter Fast

Once you have activated your flower, it’s time to make some butter. While there are several quick and easy ways to make cannabutter, this stove-top Fast Cannabutter method is one of the best for new cannabis chefs:

1. Transform your coarsely ground and decarboxylated herb into a finely ground (but not pulverized) material using a food processor or blender.
2. Melt the butter on low heat in a medium saucepan.
3. Add the finely ground buds to the melted butter a little bit at a time, stirring in between.
4. Simmer on a low heat for 45 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent scorching and to properly mix the material. While simmering, you should see start to see small bubbles forming on the surface.

Once simmering is complete, take the mixture off of the heat and pour the hot contents through a strainer. Let the cannabutter cool at room temperature before placing it in the fridge for storage. Once strained, you’re ready to cool, store, and cook with your cannabutter! As simple as this recipe sounds, if you want to completely cut down on the hassle and prevent scorching, we recommend the Ardent Nova FX machine, the easiest way to make cannabutter at home.

In order for ground cannabis to work in food, you have to decarb it – the cannabinoid THCA in your pot won’t get you high unless it is heated and converted into THC, and your body doesn’t get hot enough to do that. Usually, in making edibles, you decarb the weed first before either using it as a raw ingredient or using it to make cannabutter, hash butter or even kief butter. This recipe can decarb your weed while it’s baking.

Firecrackers are amazingly easy and have only three ingredients: graham crackers, Nutella or some other similar spread and some ground cannabis. The strength of your medible will depend on the strength of your weed, we suggest going very low THC for your first outing if you are just learning how to make marijuana edibles.

Here’s what you do:

1. With your trusty hand-cranked grinder or electric grinder, shred your ganja greens as finely as possible – we recommend a half-gram of weed (or more) per cracker; the number of crackers to sprinkle your ground cannabis on is up to you.
2. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit/162 degrees Celsius.
3. Snap your graham crackers in half – they handily come perforated – so that they are a square.
4. Spread the Nutella (or as an alternative for those with nut allergies you could use whipped feta, sunflower seed butter, nut-free chocolate spread or coconut butter) on one half of each cracker – some put plain ol’ peanut butter on the other half, jelly might be an alternative for that.
5. Sprinkle your ground cannabis evenly across the crackers – both sides should have some kind of spread on them to glue the weed down and the halves together.
6. Put both halves together.
7. Wrap each cracker-spread-and-weed sandwich in tin foil.
8. Bake for 25-30 minutes, depending on oven – check one at the minimum time to make sure they don’t burn.
9. Remove your firecrackers from the oven and enjoy!

A note of advice: people often underestimate the strength of their medibles, so try a small portion to make sure you can handle it. Take a bite, wait half an hour for the effects to kick in, then take another bite and wait again. Or, dive right in, eat the whole thing – but be advised that you may find yourself blazingly high in an hour or so, possibly nervous, potentially nauseous, perhaps very giggly.