Homemade Weed Vegan Edibles Recipes
Estimated 8-minute read
Veganism is a dietary practice that consists of not eating animal based products or products derived from animals; additionally, making the choice to become vegan is not only a food related decision, it’s a conscious change of lifestyle that impacts on daily habits.
When asking my vegan friends about their reasons to pursue this change in their lives, they answered my question with a few motives: improve their health by eating vegetables, oils and seeds, help the environment by consuming less processed food, assist the economy by buying local products and protect animals that are exploited to feed humans.
If you’re vegan and you don’t want to miss out on weed edibles, you’re in the right place. In this article we’ll explore three vegan-friendly recipes that are easy to make and follow, doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner or a pro in the kitchen.
First Things First: Cooking With Cannabis
To follow the recipes I have prepared for you, you’ll need either cannabutter (using vegan butter), cannabis oil, or cannamilk (using non-animal milk). You can actually buy the three of them from your dealer or your local dispensary if they have any available, but for those who don’t live near a cannabis dispensary or just want to put their cooking skills to the test, using cannabis oil to make edibles is your best option!
Cooking Edibles With Cannabis Oil
Ever heard of decarbing weed? I know it may sound very intimidating, but everything you need is an oven, a grinder and your weed.
In order to get the THC out of cannabis it must be heated, something that happens naturally when you vape or smoke. This process is called decarboxylation. To activate the THC in food, your weed needs to be cooked inside the oven. Here’s a quick step-by-step guide:
- Grind the cannabis flower bud with a hand grinder.
- Heat it at the right temperature: start by preheating your oven at 250 degrees Fahrenheit (118 to 121 degrees Celsius).
- Place the ground cannabis on a non-stick, oven-safe tray (you can also add parchment paper to the tray to prevent it from sticking).
- Place the tray in the oven and let it bake for 30 to 40 minutes.
Note: Do not heat your cannabis at a temperature higher than 250 F (121 C) or else you’ll risk vaporizing the cannabinoids and your edibles won’t make you high. You can read about overcooking cannabis here.
Next comes the other part of the process, which is mixing your weed with a fat source; to make it vegan-friendly you could use coconut oil or vegetable oil.
- In a pot, mix and melt your decarb weed, water and oil of your choice.
- Keep the burner in the lowest heat so it doesn’t overcook, then put a lid over it.
- Let simmer for at least 3 hours, keeping the stove at the lowest heat so the liquid doesn’t overheat or evaporate. Do not forget to stir occasionally!
- In a bowl, secure a couple of layers of cheesecloth (wire sieve or coffee filters can also work) with a rubber band and pour the melted cannabutter carefully.
- Place the solid cannabutter in another bowl until its room-temperature, then let it chill in the fridge until it’s fully solid and cold.
Voilá! Your cannabis oil is ready to use in your edibles.
Disclaimer: Taking edibles is not the same as smoking or vaping. The psychoactive effects of infused cannabis can last up from 4 to 6 hours, in some cases even 8. Remember that food must be processed in order to get you high, and naturally, it will take your body up to 2 hours until you start feeling the effects. Take it slow!
Now that we got that out of the way, let’s check out 3 recipes for homemade snacks, all vegan-friendly!
Vegan Pot Brownies
Nobody wants to miss on brownies, so here’s an easy recipe that replaces eggs with aquafaba and other ingredient swaps to make it 100% vegan.
Ingredients:
- ¼ cup of cannabis oil
- 1 ¾ cups of almond flour
- ¼ of vegan butter
- 1 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¼ teaspoon of kosher salt
- ⅔ aquafaba
- 1 ½ teaspoons of vanilla extract
- 2 cups of raw sugar
- ½ tablespoon of baking soda
- ½ cup of chocolate chips
Step-by-step guide:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Grease a baking pan with kitchen spray or vegan butter.
- In a bowl, mix the cannabis-infused oil with the raw sugar, then thoroughly cream them together.
- Add cocoa powder, a pinch of salt, and the vanilla extract until they’re all mixed well and combined. Add as much as you like from each ingredient previously mentioned.
- Time to add the aquafaba! Stir until the entire mixture looks completely smooth.
- Next, beat in almond flour until it’s well mixed and evenly combined.
- In the prepared pan, spread the brownie batter and sprinkle the chocolate chips, then bake for 30 to 35 minutes.
- Insert a toothpick into the brownies until it comes out almost clean.
- Let it cool for 15 minutes.
- Slice them up into squares and enjoy!
Vegan Weed Gummies
Making gummies is one of the easiest things in the world; plus, when you make them home you get to choose the flavor you want by picking your favorite fruit juice. Here’s a recipe from Wow, It’s Veggie with our favorite magical ingredient.
Ingredients:
- ½ of cannabis oil
- 1 cup of fruit juice (your choice!)
- 2 tablespoons of agar powder
- 2-3 tablespoons of sweetener (agave, sugar or maple syrup)
- Silicone or gummy mold
- A dropper or funnel
Step-by-step guide:
- Place a pot over a low flame and use a whisk to mix the fruit juice, your cannabis oil and the sweetener of your choice. You’ll have to keep on mixing it until the texture is absolutely even and liquified.
- Add the agar powder.
- Keep stirring for 15 minutes.
- Fill the gummy molds, preferably with a dropper or funnel so you don’t spill liquid everywhere.
- Put your filled trays in the freezer and let them sit for 30 minutes.
- Enjoy!
Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies
And last but not least, here’s a delicious peanut butter cookie recipe brought by Cannacook.
Ingredients:
- ⅓ cup of cannabis oil
- ⅓ cup of almond milk
- 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
- 1 cup of creamy organic peanut butter
- ⅔ cup of organic cane sugar
- 1 ½ cup of flour
- ½ teaspoon of baking soda
- ½ teaspoon of baking powder
- ½ teaspoon of salt
Step-by-step guide:
- Place a small saucepan over low to medium heat and combine almond milk, cannabis oil, and vanilla extract. Stir from 1 to 2 minutes until every ingredient is melted and well mixed in.
- In a large mixing bowl, pour over the mixture and add sugar and peanut butter. Mix until the consistency looks smooth.
- In the same bowl, add the baking soda, baking powder, salt and flour, then cover the bowl and refrigerate for 25 to 30 minutes.
- Preheat your oven to 350 F (176 C).
- Prepare your tray with parchment paper and then scoop up the dough and roll into balls. Place them apart from each other because they will spread eventually, then press down on the dough with a fork to make a crisscross pattern on top of each.
- Cook for 15 minutes tops and keep on checking them, then let them cool for 5 minutes.
- Enjoy!
But Hold Up… Is Cannabis Vegan?
In my quest for researching vegan recipes, an important question haunted my existence the moment I (thought I) was done writing the whole article: is cannabis vegan?
Let me start by saying that there isn’t a straightforward answer to this. According to Happy Leaf Collective, the cannabis plant needs to be fertilized to grow, and it has come to my attention that most fertilizers use animal products in the growing and cultivating process of marijuana.
Happy Leaf Collective mentions that the vast majority of fertilizers that are commonly used to grow cannabis contain a wide range of animal sources in them. These include pig and chicken blood, worms, bone meal, and several types of manures in the mix. Yes, it’s not like you’re smoking animal parts directly, but the product you’re consuming wasn’t made 100% cruelty-free either, which is crucial for veganism.
The issue with non-vegan weed is similar to clothes made of leather, fur, wool, silk and other materials that have animal parts in them. It could also be compared with makeup and brands that test their cosmetics on animals, not following the practice of producing cruelty-free products. Some say that considering cannabis non-vegan could be taking it too far, but it depends on the beliefs and convictions each person holds, like vegans who choose to eat honey despite it coming from an animal. Whatever the case, there is nothing like taking a conscious and informed decision; making a choice to decide whatever suits you best is always the right thing to do, so don’t let anybody make that call for you.
As a consumer I know it’s hard to know what fertilizers were used to grow your favorite weed strain; however, it is possible to switch to vegan cannabis, and if you ask your dealer or local dispensary they will most likely advise and recommend strains that fit according to your lifestyle. If you’d like to read more about the subject, here’s an introduction to vegan weed.
Author: Mary Jane
Ghezelbash, P. (2021). Vegan edibles: the basics, recipes, and tips. Cannigma. Retrieved from https://cannigma.com/recipe/vegan-edibles/
Happy Leaf Collective. What is Vegan Cannabis? The All-You-Need-to-Know [Complete guide] (2020). Retrieved from https://happyleafcollective.com/blog/what-is-vegan-weed-complete-guide/
Miles, C. (2020). Vegan Cannabis Peanut Butter Cookies. Cannacook. Retrieved from https://www.cannacook.com/2020/11/06/vegan-cannabis-peanut-butter-cookies/
Pedler, T. (2021). 10 Awesome Vegan Cannabis Edibles to Make at Home. Way Of Leaf. Retrieved from https://wayofleaf.com/recipes/bomb-vegan-marijuana-edibles-to-make-at-home
Yore, V. (2020). 3-Ingredient Vegan Gummy Bears Recipe. Wow Its Veggie. Retrieved from https://wowitsveggie.com/vegan-gummy-bears-recipe/
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