Making weed butter in the Instant Pot is easy and straightforward. This Instant Pot cannabutter recipe combines decarboxylation and infusion into one single process. I will share tips on using both the cannabis buds and sugar leaves.
I made this cannabutter to be medium-low strength, so that one can gradually increase the amount they consume for the desired effects. You can easily customize the potency by changing the amount of cannabis used in the recipe too.
How Much Cannabis Should I Use?
In this recipe, I used 1/4 cup dried plant (buds or sugar leaves) to 1 cup of butter. Before arriving at this ratio, I tested other ratio too and collected feedback from my taste testers. I find this ratio works the best, whether one were to consume the cannabutter straight or use it in other edible recipes.
At this ratio, the cannabutter is of medium-low strength, which means the amount of cannabutter consumed can be easily adjusted to suit people of different tolerance level. It is also suitable for making other low-dose edibles. Lower dosage is ideal for helping with sleep, anxiety and pain without being too overwhelming to the consumers.
If you want to change the plant to butter ratio, I suggest using between 2 tablespoons and 1 cup of cannabis to 1 cup of butter. You can still follow the same instructions in the recipe below, and the steps are the same otherwise.
Cannabis Buds vs. Sugar Leaves
Sugar leaves are the tiny leaves around the buds. Although people don’t smoke the sugar leaves, they are perfect in edibles. The sugar leaves contain less THC and CBD than the buds, so you would need to use slightly more to achieve the same level of potency.
How much more exactly? I haven’t been able to find the answer through research and calculation. But I have experimented so that I can share my findings from experience.
When you use the marijuana flower buds, you want to grind them down into coarse flakes first. Because of the extra space taken up by the buds, once they are broken down, they are less in volume as shown in the photo below. 1/4 cup of buds yield between 2 and 3 tablespoons of flakes.
When converting volume to weight, 1/4 cup sugar leaves weigh roughly 5 grams, and 1/4 cup buds (broken down to about 2 1/2 tablespoons of flakes) weigh roughly 3 grams. When I made 2 batches of cannabutter using 1/4 cup of the buds vs. the sugar leaves, they have roughly the same potency according to taste tests.
Note that if you are using the cannabis shake (the leftover broken pieces of buds in the bottom of your jar), you should use about 2 1/2 tablespoons.
Potency of Homemade Cannabutter
During my experimentation and reading, I learned that it’s impossible to accurately measure potency when making edibles in a home kitchen. Besides not having the equipments to test THC and CBD content, it’s also extremely difficult to derive the amount of THC and CBD from calculation. The conversion rate during cooking process can vary, depending on method, temperature and duration. The particular strain of the plant and the soil the plant is grown in also make the strength of your homemade edibles unpredictable.
Keeping all these in mind, the 1/4 cup plant in this recipe is the amount I personally like to use. It’s a simple and straightforward quantity for both the whole buds and sugar leaves.
Ultimately, the best way to test out potency of your cannabutter is through tasting. Over time, you may adjust the plant to butter ratio to your own preference.
Decarboxylation and Infusion in Instant Pot
The main reason I used Instant Pot to make my cannabutter is that I can combine decarboxylation and infusion in one process. Most commonly people decarboxylate cannabis in the oven, and infuse butter with cannabis by boiling butter on the stovetop.
In addition to the convenience of a one-pot recipe, Instant Pot also provides ideal and consistent temperatures for decarboxylation and infusion.
Separating Cannabis Pulp from Cannabutter
After the butter is infused with cannabis, it takes on a yellowish-green colour. In the photo below, the left jar is infused with sugar leaves, and the right jar is infused with the flower buds. In both, the white milk solids have sunk to the bottom of the jars. The clear butter fat flows on the top.
What we want to keep in the end is the butter fat. I collect them by straining the content of the jars while it’s still hot. Note that when the butter cools down it will solidify, therefore we want to strain it in the liquid form.
When straining, I try to keep the content undisturbed – slowly pouring the butter fat through a coffee filter catching the cannabis pulp, and leaving as much milk solids behind as possible. Some milk solids will get through after the first straining, and I usually filter my cannabutter for the second and third time in order to eliminate as much milk solids as possible. This is to help the cannabutter last longer in the fridge. But if you are using the cannabutter within days, you don’t need to worry about the white milk solids mixing in the cannabutter.
After straining and filtering, I will keep the white milk solids and cannabis pulp. They still contain a lot of beneficial compounds, and it would be a waste to throw them away after infusing the butter. I repurpose the pulp along with the leftover milk solids in my gluten-free cannabis peanut butter cookies and cheesy weed crackers.
How to Use Cannabutter
Eating
You can consume the cannabutter straight, by adding it into coffee or hot chocolate, spreading on toast, or melting into your pasta. I recommend starting with 1/2 teaspoon of this cannabutter. Wait for 2 hours for the effect of cannabis to kick in, then assess how you feel and eat more only when you feel comfortable. This will give you a reference to how much of this cannabutter you can consume at a time. If you tolerate small amount very well, you can gradually increase the amount of cannabutter you consume in the future.
Cooking
When using this cannabutter in other edible recipes, I recommend aiming for each serving to contain 1/2 teaspoon to 2 teaspoons of cannabutter. 1/2 teaspoon of cannabutter in a single serving should have a very mild effect on most people. But some people can eat up to 4 teaspoons of the cannabutter from their edibles. For example, there is 1/2 teaspoon of cannabutter in each square of my cannabis chocolate, and I recommend eating between 1 and 8 squares depending on your tolerance level.
When making baked goods, replace butter with cannabutter in your favourite baking recipes. Although many baking recipes have 1/2 to 2 teaspoons of butter in a single serving (ie. 1 cookie or 1 brownie), some do not fall into this range. Check the recipe to make sure the substitution amount of cannabutter per serving is suitable for your tolerance level.
Related: Yummy Edibles You Can Make with Cannabutter
- Classic Weed Brownies
- Healthy Weed Brownies (Gluten-Free, Nutrient-Dense)
- Cannabis Chocolate (Low-Dose, 3 Ingredients)
- Matcha Cannabis Ice Cream
- Weed Ice Cream in 2 Flavours (Vanilla and Chocolate)
Related: Yummy Edibles You Can Make with Leftover Cannabis Pulp


Instant Pot Cannabutter
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup dried cannabis buds or sugar leaves
- 1 cup butter
Instructions
- If using the cannabis buds, grind the buds in a coffee grinder. If using sugar leaves, crumble the leaves by hands. Place the plant in a sealed glass jar.
- Add 4 cups of water into the inner pot of the instant pot. Place a trivet in the inner pot, and then place the glass jar on the trivet.
- Place the lid on the instant pot, and close the pressure valve. Turn on the instant pot to cook on high pressure for 40 minutes, to decarboxylate the cannabis.
- Manually release the pressure and open the Instant Pot. Remove the glass jar from the pot.
- Roughly cut the butter into smaller cubes. Add the butter into the glass jar. Seal the jar with the lid again, and return the jar back into the inner pot.
- Add more water into the instant pot to create a water bath for the glass jar.
- Place the lid on the instant pot, and leave the pressure valve open. Press "slow cook" and select the cooking time for 4 hours. When cooking is done, remove the glass jar from the instant pot.
- While the butter is still hot, strain the butter through a coffee filter, keeping behind the cannabis pulp and the white milk solids. If some milk solid got through, filter again as needed.
Video
Nutrition


The Instant Pot Cannabutter recipe on Yang’s Nourishing Kitchen is a game-changer for cannabis enthusiasts. With clear instructions and helpful tips, it takes the guesswork out of infusing butter with THC. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or a newbie, this recipe will elevate your edibles to new heights. Highly recommended!
Great recipe, seems a little light on the cannabis added so I doubled it, wish me luck!
One of the easiest and best ways to cook with cannabis is to mix up your own batch of Instant Pot cannabutter. Cooking with cannabutter is a fun and effective. Thanks for sharing tips.
Thanks for this insanely beneficial recipe. This cannabutter is delicious and can be used in multiple purposes. And not to mention it is super easy to make. Again thanking you for this recipe.
This is my go-to recipe for butter, thank you. It’s straightforward and simple. Perfect for harvest season ^^
Wow, I love cannabutter! I can’t wait to try this recipe, it looks really amazing. Thanks for sharing it!
Does making canna butter release an unpleasant odour?
If the cannabis you put in is high quality, your house should smell fruity when you make canna butter.
Can we add water inside the mason jar to filter the green flavour a bit? Is this safe adding water in the dealed mason inside the pressure cooker?
Yes, you could add water. I’m not sure it will weaken the taste. Maybe try using shatter or wax instead of flower?
Some additional comments I wanted to add for others I am making another cup of canna butter and was double checking the instant pot settings.
You can calculate the THC in an edible pretty easily.
If you start with 1 gram of flower and it tests at 20% THC and 5% CBD that means 20% of the 1 gram or 200 mg is THC, and 50 mg is the CBD.
There are plenty of web page calculators for you out there to dial down the dosage by serving, but you should be able to do the rough math in your head.
Make 1 cup of butter out of 14g of 20% THC weed:
1g = 200 mg
14g = 2800 mg (half ounce)
There are 16 TBSP in a cup.
2800/16 = 175 mg per TBSP, roughly.
These are some great tips for an edible cooking enthusiast like me. Will definitely add them to my cooking steps & let you know how it went.
Your ideas worked better than I could have anticipated. This was the first butter that wasn’t burned!
Woohoo!!! That’s great to hear.
What ratio would you use is trying get max strength the most potent
I have made with 1 cup cannabis with 1 cup butter before. It’s quite strong when you use the cannabutter and pulp in other recipes.
Going to try making inside jars inside the instant pot. I like the house smelling of flower from the decarb so I will still do that in the stove (when you grow berry strains it smells like fruity pebbles).
I’m not sure what size pot you have but I can’t fit the lid with the mason jars in mine on a trivet. They poke out just ever so slightly.
Oh yes, the sweet smell of decarb! That’s a bummer the jars won’t fit in your Instant Pot. I have multiple trivets, and I did notice the taller one props up the jars too much. Maybe you can find a shorter trivet? I am using 500ml mason jars, the 1 litre size jars definitely won’t fit. I have a 8-quart Instant Pot.
I liked the instant pot cannabutter section the most. Everything in one pot would really save the mess.
Have you tried this using MCT oil?
No I have not, Sharon. The Instant Pot heats up to 245℉ on high pressure. In theory it should work for MCT oil.