{"frontMatter":{"aliases":["/recipes/cannabutter/"],"categories":["Condiment"],"cook_time":"5 hours 30 minutes","date":"2019-02-24T14:54:51-05:00","description":"Cannabis-infused olive oil decarboxylated and infused in sealed mason jars via Instant Pot sous vide — steady temperature, minimal household smell, and a clean vegan base for any edible.","draft":false,"iscjklanguage":false,"lastmod":"2026-06-27T00:00:00-04:00","methods":["Sous Vide","Pressure Cooker","Baked"],"prep_time":"10 minutes","publishdate":"2019-02-24T14:54:51-05:00","servings":16,"themes":["Cannabis"],"title":"Cannabis-Infused Olive Oil","total_time":"6 hours","weight":10},"raw":"\nCannabis-infused olive oil is a clean, vegan base you can substitute one-for-one\nfor plain oil (or butter) in almost any recipe. Doing both the decarboxylation and\nthe infusion in **sealed mason jars via the Instant Pot's sous vide setting** solves\nthe two usual headaches: holding a steady low temperature, and keeping the strong\ncannabis smell out of the house. Take care with dosing — start low, and blend with\nplain oil to dial in a comfortable strength. **YMMV.**\n\n\u003e Made with butter instead of oil, this is the classic \"cannabutter.\" Swap equal\n\u003e weights and the method is identical.\n\n## Source\n*Adapted from [Leafly](https://www.leafly.com/news/lifestyle/recipe-how-to-make-basic-cannabutter)* — oven method reworked for sealed-jar sous vide.\n\n## Special Equipment\n\n- Instant Pot / multicooker with a **Sous Vide** setting (8-qt used here)\n- Pint mason jar(s) with lids\n- Hand or herb grinder\n- Trivet (keeps the jar off the pot floor)\n- Cheesecloth or fine-mesh strainer\n\n## Ingredients\n\n- 7–10g (¼–⅓ oz) cannabis flower, ground — see the dosing note\n- 240ml (1 cup, ~220g) olive oil\n\n## Instructions\n\n### 1. Decarboxylate — sealed jar, sous vide\n\nDecarb is what activates the THC; skip or shortcut it and the oil comes out weak.\n\n1. **Grind** the flower to a coarse, even consistency — not a powder.\n2. **Jar it dry**: add the ground flower to a pint mason jar, no liquid. Seat the lid **finger-tight only** (it must be able to vent — never crank it down in a heat bath).\n3. **Set up the bath**: place the jar on the trivet, fill the pot with water to the jar's shoulder, and brace or weight the jar so it can't float or tip.\n4. **Run it hot**: set Sous Vide to its **maximum (≈195–203°F / 90–95°C, model-dependent)** for **90 minutes**. If your ceiling is at the low end (~195°F), give it closer to **2 hours** for a complete decarb.\n5. **Cool, then vent**: lift the jar out and let it cool a few minutes before opening — and crack it **under a running vent hood or outdoors.** That brief opening is the only real smell release in the whole process.\n\n\u003e **Honest caveat — potency vs. smell.** The Instant Pot's sous-vide ceiling (~195–203°F) sits *below* the oven's 245°F decarb temperature, so this method activates the flower at the cool end of the useful range — you trade a little activation efficiency for near-zero household smell. That's a fine deal when you calibrate dose by blending anyway. If you want **maximum potency confidence**, decarb the sealed jar with **Pressure Cook (High) for ~40 minutes** instead: it reaches a hotter, more reliable temperature while staying just as contained (sealed jar, sealed pot). Rotate or shake the jar partway, since a pressurized jar heats less evenly than a dry oven roast.\n\n### 2. Infuse — sous vide\n\n1. **Add the oil**: pour the 240ml olive oil into the jar with the decarbed flower. The oil should fully **submerge** it — that's what gives an even extraction. Re-seat the lid finger-tight.\n2. **Bath again**: jar on the trivet, water filled to the oil line.\n3. **Infuse low**: Sous Vide at **185°F (85°C) for 4 hours.** No water goes inside the jar — unlike butter, oil isn't separated from water afterward, so there's nothing to chill-and-lift.\n\n### 3. Strain and store\n\n1. Let the jar cool until warm but still pourable.\n2. Strain through cheesecloth into a clean jar. **Don't wring the cloth hard** — squeezing forces fine plant matter and chlorophyll through, which adds a grassy, bitter taste. Let it drip.\n3. Cap and **refrigerate**.\n\n## Side Quest: Pressure-Cook infusion (faster)\n\nOnce the flower is decarbed (Step 1), you can trade the 4-hour sous-vide infusion for a quick pressure cook — handy when you don't want to wait:\n\n1. Decarbed flower + 240ml olive oil in the jar, lid finger-tight, on the trivet, water around it to the oil line.\n2. **Pressure Cook (High) for 30 minutes**, then a **full natural release** (~20 min).\n3. Strain as above.\n\nAbout an hour start to finish instead of four, at the cost of a slightly less gentle infusion. Just as low-smell — it's still a sealed jar inside a sealed pot.\n\n## No Instant Pot? Oven method (original)\n\n- **Decarb**: 245°F for ~30 min, stirring every 10. Sealing the flower in a mason jar in the oven (same temp, ~45–60 min) cuts the smell dramatically versus open on a sheet — open the cooled jar under a vent.\n- **Infuse**: combine oil and decarbed flower in an oven-safe dish and hold at **~175–200°F for 2–3 hours**, stirring occasionally, then strain. The hard part is holding that temperature steady — which is exactly why the sous-vide method exists.\n\n## Notes\n\n- **Dosing — read this.** Potency is driven mostly by the flower's THC%, not the gram range. As a rough sanity check, ~10g at ~20% THC yields very roughly **1,200–1,600 mg THC per cup of oil**, on the order of **25–35 mg per teaspoon** — strong. The \"serves 16\" figure is a measuring unit (1 tbsp), **not** a dose. Calibrate by blending infused oil with plain oil, and start small.\n- **Olive oil character**: light/refined olive oil tastes neutral; extra-virgin carries olive flavor into the finished dish. Either works.\n- **Cooking with it later**: olive oil's lowish smoke point doesn't matter during the 185°F infusion, but keep heat moderate when you cook with the finished oil — high heat degrades cannabinoids.\n- **Butter version**: substitute 225g (1 cup) butter for the oil and follow the same steps; that's traditional cannabutter. With butter, add a splash of water to the infusion jar and chill the strained result so the butter sets on top, lifting cleanly off the water.\n\n## Storage\n\nRefrigerate in an airtight jar for up to **2 months**, or freeze for longer. Keep it away from light and heat, which slowly degrade potency. Bring to room temperature before measuring — chilled olive oil thickens.\n","title":"Cannabis-Infused Olive Oil","url":"https://notes.improvisedscience.org/recipes/cannabis-infused-olive-oil/"}