Home / Blog / How to Make THC Edibles: Your Guide to DIY Edibles
You are currently viewing How to Make THC Edibles: Your Guide to DIY Edibles

THC edibles are trending more now than ever due to their potent powers, and ease for DIY’ing at home. By infusing common recipe bases, like oil, butter or honey, the possibilities are seemingly endless for THC edibles options. Not to mention, you’ll only need a small amount of cannabis flower or oil to do so. To help navigate the growing world of homemade THC treats, we’ve put together the only guide you’ll need to make DIY edibles.

How To Make THC Edibles?

Most at-home THC edible recipes begin with the same simple base. An oil, or liquid, that’s been infused with cannabis. Meaning once you know how to make THC butter or oil, any recipe or meal that calls for these ingredients, can essentially be canna-infused. Also increasing in popularity is the infusion of cannabis into a simple syrup that can be used in hot-drinks or other recipes that could use some sweetening plus elevating. Here are the simple steps to follow to create your THC bases for a variety of baked goods, treats or recipes. Keep in mind, anywhere that cannabis flower is used, you can substitute with equal amounts of THC concentrates, like distillate, wax, etc.

How To Make THC Butter?

recipe to make thc cannabutter

Just like heat is necessary to get THC’s benefits from smoking, vaping, or dabbing...it’s also the first necessity for DIY edibles and THC butter, too. To release the beneficial cannabinoids found in cannabis, the flower must be decarboxylated or heated up, first. Follow the steps below to do so, before moving on to infusing your butter.

  1. Choose your amount of cannabis flower. For reference, the standard cannabutter recipe is 3.5 grams to 1 cup of butter. Feel free to adjust to your tolerance, or increase the recipe for bulk batches.
  2. Preheat your oven to 220℉ (105℃) and cover a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil. Break apart your cannabis flower, and spread loosely on the baking sheet.
  3. Heat the weed for approximately 30 minutes, shaking the tray every 10 minutes. You’ll know the weed is properly decarboxylated when it goes from green to a light golden brown.
  4. On a stovetop, melt your desired amount of butter in a double boiler. Add up to a cup of water to avoid scorching, when necessary.
  5. Add your decarboxylated weed to the butter and simmer in a consistent temperature between 160℉ – 200℉ for 45 minutes – 3 hours. Never allowing the butter to boil.
  6. Once your butter has been successfully infused, place a cheesecloth over a mesh strainer. Place the strainer over a glass measuring cup.
  7. Pour the butter and plant material into the cheesecloth strainer, and let the mixture flow into the measuring cup below. Avoid squeezing the cheesecloth for excess butter, to avoid undesirable plant material from sifting through.
  8. Pour the measuring cup of infused butter into your desired storage container or jar. Refrigerate or freeze the butter, which will stay good for 2 months in the fridge and up to 6 months.

If this all sounds a little bit too tricky, do not fear. There are a couple cannabutter makers out there that simplify the process. The Levo II is our personal fave. What we love about it is that it’s one machine that does it all. It’s got a built in decarboxylator -just hit the activate button – and a cult following of infusion enthusiasts. Check out their blog for a ton of recipes from infused ranch dressing to peppermint bombs and hot chocolate bombs.

How To Make THC Honey?

how to make thc honey

Now that you know how to make THC butter, the process to make other infused oils or liquids is that much easier. You’ll again decarboxylate your cannabis flower with the same method used for butter. Using the same ratio of 3.5 g to 1 cup of honey, as well. Once your weed is activated through decarboxylation, follow the simple steps below to infuse your honey.

  1. In a double boiler, heat your honey over low heat.
  2. Once heated, add your decarboxylated cannabis flower and mix thoroughly.
  3. Allow the mixture to continue simmering on gentle heat for approximately 40 minutes, stirring often.
  4. Place a cheesecloth over a mesh strainer, and put over a measuring cup or directly over a funnel and jar that you plan to store your infused honey in.
  5. Pour the honey and cannabis flower mixture into the cheesecloth and strainer, and let it freely drain into the jar or measuring cup. Avoid squeezing the cheesecloth to keep unwanted or bad-tasting material out of the honey.
  6. Store your infused honey in a cool and dark space, for 1-2 months.

How To Make THC Syrup?

how to make thc syrup

THC simple syrup is a versatile infusion that can be added to a number of recipes, or drinks. Most commonly it’s added to coffees, teas, or cocktails. It can also be used to sweeten up any recipe or meal, by blending it with common sauces or using it as a drizzle or topping. Some consumers even take the THC syrup sublingually, or like a shot, similar to cough medicine syrups you may be used to.

With this method, you’ll again start with decarboxylating the cannabis flower you’ll plan on infusing into the sugary-sweet liquid. When your buds are ready for infusion, you’ll follow the steps below to make your THC syrup.

  1. Combine equal quantities of water and sugar in a saucepan.
  2. Bring the mixture to a boil to allow the sugar to dissolve completely into the water.
  3. Reduce heat to a medium-low setting, and add your decarboxylated cannabis flower.

How To Make THC Gummies

how to make thc gummies

THC gummies are one of the most popular edible choices. They have a somewhat long shelf-life, are delicious to consume and are relatively simple to make. When learning how to make THC gummies, you’ll come across many different methods that all produce the same result. So, if you’ve set out to learn how to make THC gummy bears, we have the recipe for you. We found the recipe below, to be the most simple and successful.

This technique uses a cannabis tincture or oil, which can also be substituted with infused coconut oil. To infuse coconut oil, you’ll follow the same recipe for ‘cannabutter’ that we’ve already reviewed but with coconut oil versus butter.

One special item you’ll need to buy to make THC gummies are silicone molds in classic gummy bear shapes, or whatever shape you choose.

How To Make THC Infused Gummies

Ingredients:

  1. Spray your silicone molds lightly with oil. Remove any excess oil with a paper towel.
  2. In a saucepan, whisk together the packet of jell-o with the 4 packets of gelatin.
  3. Add your ½ cup of water and cannabis infused oil or tincture.
  4. Bring the mixture up to a light boil, then immediately drop to low while stirring constantly.
  5. Let the mixture simmer for approximately 5 minutes, until you see all liquids consistently blended.
  6. Pour the mixture into a measuring cup, for dispersing into individual molds.
  7. Refrigerate the gummy molds for 15-20 minutes to solidify.
  8. Pop out of the molds, to store and enjoy! Store gummies in the fridge for up to 1 month.

How To Make THC Candy

how to make THC candy

THC candy is easy to consume, and convenient for on-the-go use. It’s a sweet treat that will help get you through the day, when using THC for anxiety or THC for pain. Here is a quick and easy recipe to follow, to make your own THC candy.

Ingredients & materials:

  1. In a saucepan combine the sugar, corn syrup and water.
  2. Bring to a boil and continue stirring until the temperature reaches 250℉.
  3. Stop stirring the mixture once it’s reached 250℉ and let it rise until 305℉. This occurs very quickly, so keep your eye on the thermometer.
  4. Once the mixture has reached 305, remove from heat, and add your cannabis tincture, optional extract and food coloring.
  5. Stir completely, and pour into the candy molds. If making lollipops, add your sticks just prior to the candy hardening.
  6. Once the candies have hardened, remove from molds and enjoy!

How To Make THC Brownies And THC Cookies

cookies thc edibles

Like we’ve already mentioned, once you’ve made your THC butter, THC honey, or other liquid base…you can quite literally add or use the infusion in any other recipe. Including baked goods, like THC brownies and THC cookies. So learning how to make THC cookies is quite easy. Find your favorite cookie or brownie recipe, and substitute its normal amount of oil or butter, with your canna-infused version. If you’d like to lessen the strength of your edibles per serving, you can use just ½ or ¼ of your cannabase to the un-infused version. For example, if cookies call for 1 cup of butter, you can use ½ cup of THC butter and ½ cup of regular butter.

How To Make THC Tea

how to make thc tea

If you’ve already made THC butter, THC coconut oil, or THC syrup, making a THC tea is simple from there. Simply melt or add the THC infused bases into the hot water you’ll be using to prepare your tea. But there’s also a method where you can infuse tea with THC from ground cannabis flower or even trim, leaves and stems. The simple process is outlined below -

  1. Use a mortar and pestle, or something similar, to grind up at least 1 gram of cannabis flower.
  2. Add ½ teaspoon of butter to the flower, to act as a soluble fat for absorption sake.
  3. Put the butter and cannabis mixture into an empty tea bag or tea infuser.
  4. Boil water, and then simmer on medium-high heat. Place the filled tea bag or infuser into the water. Let it simmer for up to 30 minutes.
  5. Remove the pot from the stove and pour into a cup. Flavor with milk or sugar, as you would with any other cup of tea. Or, add in a flavored tea bag to steep for an extra infusion of flavor into your cup of THC tea.

How Much THC In Edibles?

To avoid over-consuming you’ll want to know how much THC is in your homemade edibles. The calculation or dose will not only depend on the type of flower or oil you used, but also the amount. While you can find a number of ‘edible calculators’ on the internet, the formula to do so yourself is just as simple.

How To Calculate THC In Edibles?

To calculate THC amounts in edibles, we’ll assume that the cannabis flower used contains 10% THC to simplify the method. If you know the percentage of THC in your strain, or use our THC percentage chart, you can adjust the following formula accordingly –

  • 1 gram of cannabis = 1000 mg
  • X 10% THC = 100 mg
  • 1 gram of cannabis = 100 mg THC

Now, you’ll figure out the total amount per the number of grams you used in your butter or oil base. Because 3.5 grams is the standard amount of cannabis flower to oil, we’ll use this as an example.

100 mg THC x 3.5 g cannabis = 350 mg THC in 1 cup of butter or oil

Lastly, to figure out your ‘per dose’ mg amount just divide the total amount of butter or oil that was used in the recipe. So, if you used 1 cup of butter or oil with 350 mg to make a batch of 15 cookies, each cookie contains approximately 23 mg of THC. If you only used ½ cup of the butter, you’ll divide 350 by ½ first, equaling 175 mg. Then 175 mg divided by the total amount of pieces the recipe makes.

How Long Does THC Edibles Stay In Your System?

One final question that people ask themselves when making or consuming THC edibles is...how long does THC edibles stay in the body? Depending on dosage, you’re liking to feel the effects of THC for a duration of 4-8 hours. As for how long does THC stays in your system, with any consumption method you can follow the guide below -

Written by Courtney Trzos

To Courtney, it’s always 420 somewhere. After attending Michigan State University and working as Marketing Manager and Communications Specialist for over 10 years, she took her personal passion for cannabis, professionally. In 2017, Courtney began freelancing as a writer and graphic designer for Cannabis brands across the globe, positively promoting the therapeutic and recreational use of the plant. While helping her partner cultivate crops full-time, and learning more about the industry from a seed-to-sale perspective. In Courtney’s spare time, she likes to make homemade edibles, hang with her two kids and watch anything, true crime-related.

This Post Has One Comment

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.