Feb 07th 2023

Recipe: Cannabis-Infused Olive Oil in 3 Easy Steps

Infusing your food items with your medicine is an excellent way to deliver the benefits of medical cannabis to your body. Some medical cannabis patients like to make entire infused recipes, such as a batch of brownies or cannabis-infused smoked mac’ n cheese.  However, infusing common items that you use in cooking, such as butter or olive oil, helps you add a little “extra” to your meals without a lot of fuss.

This is a recipe for cannabis-infused olive oil. Olive oil is an excellent carrier for cannabinoids and terpenes, as it is high in fat, helping the body to absorb all the goodness of the cannabis plant.

The Importance of Decarboxylating

Before cannabis can be used in a recipe, it must be activated or decarboxylated (or “activated”) to maximize all of its benefits. Decarboxylation can be done by heating the buds in an oven at a low temperature. A general rule of thumb is to decarboxylate your cannabis in the oven at 220ºF for 30-40 minutes.

Some people choose to decarboxylate their cannabis using a sous vide, especially if they’re concerned about preserving terpenes.

What You’ll Need for This Recipe

Making cannabis-infused olive oil is no easy feat and may take some time and concentration. It also needs specialized equipment, including an immersion stick circulator, your cannabis grinder, a vacuum-sealable bag, and a vacuum sealer.

In terms of other ingredients, in addition to your decarboxylated cannabis flower (about 3.5g per 1 cup of olive oil), you’ll also need a bit of distilled water (3 tbsp) and olive oil. We recommend extra virgin olive oil for this recipe.

This recipe yields 1 cup of cannabis-infused olive oil.

How to Make Cannabis-Infused Olive Oil

1. In a small saucepan, combine olive oil and decarboxylated cannabis and gently simmer over medium heat. Continue to cook for 20 minutes, stirring often.
2. Remove the saucepan from the heat and let steep for 30 minutes more.
3. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve or a cheesecloth into a resealable heat-proof food container with an airtight lid. Keep refrigerated and use it within 30 days.

Keep your cannabis-infused olive oil in the fridge, and it should keep for up to 30 days.

Dosing Your Cannabis-Infused Olive Oil

Depending on the type of cannabis you use and its potency, your olive oil may be strong. Based on this recipe of 3.5g of cannabis flower that tests at 20% THC, each teaspoon of cannabis-infused olive oil will be around 29mg.

Use your cannabis-infused olive oil for cooking with other recipes, dipping a baguette into (with some balsamic vinaigrette, yum), or use it as an ingredient for your salad dressing.

Each tablespoon of Cannabis-Infused Olive Oil contains about 29 mg THC, based on a 20 percent THC strain. Plan accordingly to substitute for a portion, but not all, of the olive oil in a recipe.

This recipe was adapted by a recipe found in Food and Wine magazine.