How to Make Edibles at Home? A Complete Beginner's Guide

The popularity of homemade cannabis edibles has skyrocketed in recent years, and it’s easy to see why. Making your own edibles at home allows you to tailor the potency, flavor, and type of product to your preferences.

Whether you’re looking for a way to enjoy cannabis discreetly, experiment with different strains, or simply create something unique, learning how to make edibles at home is a fun and rewarding process.

Learning how to make edibles may seem daunting. But on the contrary, all you need are the necessary ingredients and proper steps to bake a batch of homemade space cakes, gummies, cookies, and other cannabis-infused treats.

Today, we’ll provide a crash course on making weed edibles. Hopefully, after reading this, you’ll be whipping your own batch in no time.

What are Edibles? Why Make Your Own Edibles?

Cannabis edibles are food or drinks infused with cannabis. They provide an alternative to smoking or vaping and are known for producing longer-lasting effects.

Aside from the long-lasting effects and relaxed experience, cannabis edibles are healthier alternatives to smoking cannabis because they eliminate exposure to carcinogens in smoke like tar.

Inhaling hot smoke or vapor may cause inflammation of your respiratory system, and when inhaling more deeply, you may end up with more tar in your lungs. Using cannabis in your cooking has zero drawbacks and introduces no harmful elements into your respiratory system.

Edibles are available in different sizes and shapes, from bud brownies to cannabis tea. Depending on your needs, you can pick a dessert or go for something savoury.

The amazing thing about cannabis edibles is that practically any food you can think of can technically be weed-infused. It just depends on the form of cannabis you’re using for cooking, and it’s great because you’ve got so many options depending on what you like.

How to Make Edibles?

Making edibles with weed is a science — but not rocket science. There are just two rules you need to get started: Decarb the cannabis and Infusion to make cannabis butter or oil.

Once you have your cannabutter or cannabis oil, you can start infusing them into your favorite recipes. Including Brownies, Cookies, Chocolate Bars, Cakes, Ice Cream, Tea, etc.

Replace regular butter or oil in any recipe with your cannabis-infused version.

Pro Tip: Keep your cooking temperature below 350°F to avoid degrading the cannabinoids during the cooking process.

1. Decarboxylation

You can’t cook herb, you have to decarb it - then extract the THC. Then make candy or pastry, using the THC extract.

Decarboxylation involves heating up the cannabis, which converts the cannabinoid THCA to THC, thus allowing it to get you high. When you smoke, this happens due to the heat of the flame, but with edibles, you have to first heat up the cannabis.

Here is How to Decarb Weed in the Oven:

Grind or cut up the leaves to a coarse consistency and put them in an oven at 240°F (or 115°C) for 40 minutes. This is the sweet spot — hot enough to activate THC without burning off cannabinoids or terpenes.

Keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t burn, and once you notice the leaves turning golden brown, turn off the oven.

Once out of the oven, allow the flower to cool completely before handling. This helps the cannabinoids settle and reduces mess during infusion.

You can Store or use immediately. Use your decarbed weed right away for infusing into butter or oil, or store it in an airtight jar in a cool, dark place until you’re ready.

2. Infusion to make cannabis oil

Once decarbed, the standard is to make cannabutter. THC or CBD is fat-soluble rather than water soluble, meaning they need fats to dissolve and for your body to use them.

Because a lot of baking involves butter, most people infuse that with cannabis, but cooking oil, coconut oil, and honey are other fat-soluble mediums you can infuse with cannabis and then make edibles with.

We recommend using coconut oil or olive oil if you want to use the infused oil on your skin but if you're going to eat it, you can use whatever oil you wish to use.

Here is the tuto about How to Infuse Weed In Fat:

Step 1: Combine fat and decarbed weed

Place the fat and your decarbed flower into a saucepan or slow cooker. If using butter, add a little water to prevent scorching (about ½ cup per stick of butter).

Step 2: Heat low and slow

Stovetop: Simmer on low heat (160–200°F) for 2–3 hours, stirring occasionally. Don’t let it boil!

Crockpot: Set on low for 3–4 hours. Lid optional, but stir every 30–60 minutes.

Step 3: Strain the plant matter

Let it cool slightly, then pour through cheesecloth or a fine mesh strainer into a clean container. Don’t squeeze too hard — it can push out bitter flavors and excess chlorophyll.

Step 4: Chill and store

Allow the infused oil or butter to cool to room temp, then seal and refrigerate or freeze. Label it with the strain name and approximate potency, if known.

Alternatively – you can try the Mason Jar Water Bath Method, which we find to be mess-free and lower odor:

Add your decarbed weed and fat to a mason jar, seal lightly.
Place in a pot of gently simmering water (not boiling) for 2–3 hours.
Remove with tongs, let cool, strain, and store.

How Do you Store Edibles after Baking?

You’re probably wondering how long your homemade marijuana edibles stay fresh. The edibles you make are baked or cooked goods just like any other, and they’ll have the same shelf life as any regular food you make.

In order to keep your weed edibles fresh, store them in a sealable bag or container so they stay preserved and tasty. For baked goods, you can even throw them in the fridge to really prolong their shelf life.

But that’s not to say you can’t eat a stale cookie—it might not taste that great, but it will still get you high. Some amount of THC will typically be in there for up to six months; the main concern is the baked good going bad or getting moldy.

Always, always, keep cannabis edibles out of reach of children, and consider labeling your infused goodies to avoid confusing unsuspecting housemates.

How Do you Measure Edible Dosage for Baking?

Dosing can be tricky when making edibles! Many variables are at play when infusing butter with weed, and there’s no exact science or formula to it.

Here is a rough calculation formula: 1 gram of cannabis at 20% THC contains about 200mg of THC. Divide this THC amount by the number of servings in your recipe for an approximate dosage per serving.

We highly recommend you start with a small amount of cannabis when making infused butter, oil, or anything else, especially for beginners. Start with 5-10mg THC per serving.

Pro tip: Write down the ratio of cannabis to cooking ingredient you use, so that you can copy or adjust the recipe next time. You may think you’ll remember how much you put in, but after a couple edibles it’s easy to forget.

In conclusion

Is there anything better than eating something you’ve prepared at home? Getting high at the same time counts as a bonus.

Hopefully, this article has provided sufficient insight into making homemade edibles.

It sounds scary - but it’s not. Just read the instructions above - and allow a day or so, to get it right. Don’t use your entire stash, until you’re used to the process.

Remember to start with small doses, be patient, and enjoy the process of experimenting with different recipes and flavors!