Canna Coconut Oil Recipe: An Alternative to Cannabutter

Cannabutter is a wonderful start to cooking with cannabis and creating your own edibles. It’s easy to make, and you can use it in dozen of recipes. However, it overlooks those who have dietary restrictions, and many recipes fail to provide substitutes. What’s wonderful about the cannabis community is that it’s all inclusive – which means we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to present a vegan and dairy-free alternative, canna coconut oil.

Those of you who already live a vegan or dairy-free lifestyle may be familiar with coconut oil as a substitute, but others might be left with a few questions. The reason why coconut oil is a great substitute for butter is that it remains high in fat and has a similar consistency. Both become liquid around the same temperature range, and coconut oil tends to have a very neutral flavor. You can use a simple one-to-one ratio to replace butter. For example, one tablespoon of butter equals one tablespoon of coconut oil.  

We love using coconut oil in our kitchen because it’s an easy way to infuse cannabis and adds a delightful dimension to many of our favorite recipes. The process of infusing cannabis into your coconut oil is a relatively easy. Before we get started, we need to decide our desired THC content. In this example, we’re going to make this batch average around 5 mg per teaspoon. If this is too strong, make sure to decrease the amount of flower or increase the amount of coconut oil. 

This process allows you to create an infused oil as well as decarbs your cannabis in the process. One thing to note, is that on average cannabis needs to be decarbed, or heated until the psychoactive properties are activated at 240 degrees Fahrenheit. While this double boiler infusion method generally only heats the cannabis to 212 degrees Fahrenheit, the longer you allow the cannabis to infuse with the coconut oil, the more potent it can become as it can reaches a higher internal temperature. You can decarb in an oven before hand, and spend less time infusing into the oil.

Place your coconut oil and ground cannabis together. Slowly fold in your cannabis and stir gently. Once it’s fully incorporated, screw or place the lid on. If using a heat safe container, add water to a shallow stock pot and bring it to a boil, placing the sealed heat safe container in a few inches of water. Over time, you might need to add more water to make sure mixture does not burn. Make sure to add water slowly, and keep an eye on the temperature. Depending on the type of flower you’re cooking with, a low-moisture flower or shake will generally take up to 2 hours. If using fresh trim, it can take up to 6 hours. Stir occasionally to make sure the cannabis is evenly distributed.

Once the mixture takes on a deep green tint and the elapsed time has passed, your cannabis should be fully infused. From here, you want to strain the mixture through a cheesecloth and metal sieve to take out large pieces of flower.

Make sure to gently squeeze the remaining flower in the cheesecloth. Over squeezing will only add additional chlorophyll to your oil mixture without any additional THC.

Now you can either immediately use your canna coconut oil or let it solidify in a sealed storage container. You can use this as a base to incorporate into different recipes, a base for various body salves, or just keep in your kitchen for a little pick-me-up you can eat a spoonful of.

We’d love to know what culinary creations you’ll be making with a canna coconut oil recipe! Feel free to tag us in your culinary creations on our Instagram and Facebook.