Cooking with Cannabis: Beginner Recipes and Dosing Tips for Edibles at Home

## The Short Answer Home-cooked cannabis edibles let adults 21 and older make their own dose-controlled products at a fraction of dispensary prices. The two things that trip up first-time home cooks: incomplete decarboxylation (which leaves the cannabis non-intoxicating) and miscalculating dose per serving (which produces either weak edibles or the infamous 200 mg brownie experience). ## Step 1: Decarboxylation Raw cannabis contains THCA, which is non-intoxicating. Heat converts it to THC. For edibles, decarboxylation has to happen before the cannabis goes into the recipe: **Method:** Preheat oven to 240°F (115°C). Spread cannabis flower on a parchment-lined sheet pan. Bake 30 to 40 minutes, stirring once. Flower should turn slightly darker green/brown. Let cool. ## Step 2: Infuse a Fat Cannabinoids are fat-soluble. Infuse them into butter or oil: **Cannabutter (basic recipe):** - 1 cup unsalted butter. - 1 cup water (helps regulate temperature). - 7 to 14 grams decarboxylated flower (dose-dependent). - Combine in saucepan, simmer low heat for 2 to 3 hours, strain through cheesecloth. **Cannabis oil:** Same method with olive oil, coconut oil, or MCT oil. ## Step 3: Calculate Dose This is where home edibles fail. Dose math: - Start with the THC content of your flower (example: 20 percent THC). - 7 grams flower × 200 mg/g = 1,400 mg raw THC. - Decarb conversion (approximately 87 percent efficiency) = ~1,218 mg available. - Infusion efficiency (typically 50 to 70 percent) = ~609 to 853 mg in the finished butter. - Assume 600 mg to be conservative. If that butter goes into a batch of 30 cookies: 600 mg / 30 = 20 mg THC per cookie. For beginner-friendly dosing, you'd want to split each cookie in half (10 mg per half). Err low. Pros test a batch with a single small sample before committing. ## Step 4: Simple Recipes **Cannabis brownies:** Substitute cannabutter for regular butter in a standard brownie recipe. **Cannabis pasta sauce:** Swap cannabis oil for regular olive oil in the finishing step of sauces (not during high-heat cooking, high temperatures can degrade cannabinoids). **Cannabis honey:** Infuse cannabis into honey using a double-boiler method. Takes several hours but produces a neutral-tasting, versatile infusion. **Tinctures:** Not technically cooking, but DIY tinctures made by soaking decarbed flower in high-proof alcohol for several weeks produce sublingual-ready products. ## Dosing Tips - **Label everything** with estimated dose per serving. - **Start with half your estimated dose** on a first taste. - **Wait the full 90 to 120 minutes** before taking more. - **Refrigerate or freeze** leftovers, cannabinoids degrade at room temperature. ## Things to Avoid - **High heat.** Above 320°F (160°C), THC begins degrading quickly. - **Butter at boiling.** Simmer, don't boil. Boiling degrades cannabinoids. - **Uneven distribution.** Mix infused butter/oil thoroughly into the recipe. - **Underestimating onset.** 90 to 120 minutes for homemade edibles. Don't redose at 45 minutes. ## Compliance - **21+ only.** - **Secure storage.** Edibles that look like standard food products are a pediatric-poisoning risk. - **Label clearly.** "Cannabis cookies - 10 mg each" on the container. - **No serving to non-consenting adults.** Ever. ## Where to Go Next Related reading: [decarboxylation explained](/blog/decarboxylation-explained-why-you-need-to-heat-cannabis-before-cooking), [edibles 101](/blog/edibles-101-how-they-work-dosing-tips-and-what-to-expect), and [start low and go slow](/blog/start-low-and-go-slow-the-golden-rule-of-cannabis-dosing). --- *This article is consumer education for adults 21+. Nothing here is medical, legal, or financial advice. Cannabis laws vary by state, always verify your state's current rules and, for health questions, consult a licensed clinician. For regulated New York retail, verify licensing via the OCM QR-code system at [cannabis.ny.gov](https://cannabis.ny.gov).*