Even as the cannabis industry continues to grow (congratulations to the state of Michigan for their recreational legalization in these midterms), there is still an unfortunately narrow-palate taste for savory cannabis recipes. When I go into my favorite dispensaries, I’m lucky if I spot a freezer with assorted meals like pizza, lasagna, or perhaps a cream cheese or hummus spread if I’m lucky. Because they look generally unappetizing, I have yet to purchase one of these ready-made, frozen cannabis treats and cannot speak on their deliciousness.
However, I have used my own cannabutter to try recipes and can highly recommend them to you. While cooking isn’t as convenient as popping to the shop and grabbing a snack that will get you high, there’s something that feels so accomplished about cooking for yourself, so making a batch of cannabutter to have on hand will prep you for making edibles. I can only imagine that cannabis olive oil would be tasty in these recipes, or on its own with bread… but I have yet to see any in-stores! However, canna-oil is fairly simple to make following the directions from a myriad of sources. I would only warn that for full blown meals, you use an appropriately dosed strength of butter or oil, because as meals, you might want a portion that would get you a little too high for comfort. Or if they’re going to be strong, make sure you invite your best friends over for a dinner party.
Savory homemade cannabis foods are surprisingly underrated because the flavors available mask and blend with the strong weed taste far better than sweets, in my opinion. Anything with a potent enough flavor, like garlic or curry powder, makes an ideal candidate to be weedified.
For the nervous chef, these are my favorite savory recipes that make for the best cannabutter or canna-oil swapped versions:
Garlic mac and cheese is my go-to for a decadent treat, and makes for an equally decadent edible. Swap out the regular butter for cannabutter in this favorite recipe and enjoy!
Butter chicken makhani is one of my favorite dishes to order in an indian restaurant and is surprisingly easy to make, despite the complex flavor profile. Because it’s basically a mix and simmer situation, you can use cannabutter to make your chicken succulent and moist here!
Latkes are the chosen hashbrowns that we tend to forget until one of our generous Jewish friends shares their leftovers from Passover, and also make amazing edibles. This recipealso includes the how-to for the canna-oil itself, but frying the potato pancakes and serving with sour cream will have you on the next level.
Happy cooking!
