Want to elevate your holiday dishes this year? If you’re celebrating with cannabis-loving friends, you could try making a cannabis-infused Thanksgiving feast.
Believe it or not, you can infuse cannabis into many traditional Thanksgiving treats, including turkey. And the best part? It’s easy. All you do is make cannabutter and use it as an ingredient in a holiday dish of your choice (or two — we won’t judge).
We rounded up some cannabutter recipes that are sure to make for a dope Thanksgiving celebration.
But first, a word of caution: The effects of cannabis can be more potent when it is infused into edible products. When consuming, encourage your guests to start with a small portion and only try more once the effects have kicked in.
How to make cannabutter
First, you’ll need to make your base ingredient — cannabutter.
Cannabutter is simply butter infused with cannabis. It’s what people use to make weed brownies.
The truth is, using cannabutter is the simplest way to infuse any meal with cannabis.
To make it, decarboxylate a one-quarter ounce of ground cannabis. Once the ground buds are decarboxylated, boil them in a saucepan with two sticks of unsalted butter and water. Let the mixture cool overnight to become solid.
RELATED: Cooking with Cannabis: CBD Apple Pie Overnight Oats
Cannabis Turkey
There are a couple of ways to infuse cannabis into a turkey.
The simplest is to rub the meat with your cannabutter as well as salt and pepper when you’re about to put it in the oven. Baste the turkey every hour with a basting bulb, pouring melted cannabutter over the meat.
You could also add additional ingredients to your butter to form a marinade. Mix one-half cup of your cannabutter with one-third cup of apple cider vinegar and honey. Pour in one and a quarter cups of barbeque sauce and whisk these ingredients together until a sauce forms.
Place the marinade into a meat injector and inject the marinade into the meat at least three hours before it starts to cook. If you have extra butter, you can rub it over the skin.
RELATED: These cannabis and CBD products make great holiday gifts
Danksgiving turkey gravy
You can also make gravy with your cannabutter. Just cook your turkey with the cannabutter basted on the meat.
After the turkey has finished cooking, pour the turkey fat drippings into a saucepan. Add enough flour that as you stir the flour into the gravy, it starts to become thicker. You can then add turkey or chicken broth and your remaining cannabutter.
If you want to add a little flavor to your gravy, you can season it with salt, thyme, and dried herbs. Stir the gravy until it is as thick as you want it to be, then serve it warm with your turkey and other dishes in your Thanksgiving dinner.
Don’t forget the sides
If you have a little extra cannabutter, you can serve it on warm rolls or bread. Toast your bread until it is warm enough that the butter will melt over the top of it. As a garnish, you can fry cannabis leaves and sprinkle them over your bread or meat.
RELATED: Is it legal to ship cannabis? The answer is more complicated than you’d think
It’s important to note that all of these dishes served together will probably get you higher than you want to be. We recommend trying one of these recipes at a time.
Keep in mind that edible cannabis can take over an hour to absorb in your system, so proceed with caution when consuming any of these dishes. You should also avoid putting more than the recommended amount of cannabis into your butter, especially if you or those you are serving are new to cannabis or have a low tolerance for THC.
Thanksgiving will get a whole lot more interesting with these easy-to-make THC-infused dishes. Try these to give your friends a little something extra to be thankful for!