CBD cooking is easier than you might think, whether you’re craving sweet treats or savory snacks.

Cannabidiol, or CBD, oil has become increasingly popular for its potential therapeutic effects, ranging from stress management to skincare. CBD is available in a variety of forms, including pills, capsules, and edibles, but oils and tinctures allow for more customized CBD dosage and the ability to easily add cannabidiol to your cooking. Cooking with CBD oil not only helps to cover up the flavor of the compound, but also makes the overall process more fun.

CBD cooking and baking is easy, but it can still be a bit tricky for first-timers. Here are some tips and recipes to get you started.

TRY BOTH SWEET & SAVORY CBD COOKING

Most recipes that include CBD oil tend to focus on sweets and baked goods, and for good reason. It’s generally easier to cover up the inherent bitterness of CBD with sugar or chocolate. However, CBD oils can be just as effectively used in savory dishes.

CBD needs to be infused into a fat or oil-based ingredient, like butter, ghee, lard, or coconut oil, before it can be used in your cooking. In some recipes, alcoholic spirits (vodka, rum, whiskey) can replace the fat component. Avoid wine and beer, which won’t act as great carriers for CBD oil because they are water-based.

Recipe: CBD Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 0.5 oz. unflavored CBD oil
• 3 cups of flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• ½ tsp. salt
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup softened butter
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp. hot water
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Mix your wet ingredients (white sugar, brown sugar, softened butter, and CBD oil) until creamy. Beat in the eggs and stir in the vanilla extract.
3. Add flour to the batter until fully combined. Dissolve the baking soda in the hot water and stir into the batter along with the salt.
4. Fold in the chocolate chips
5. Place parchment paper onto a baking sheet and spoon batter onto the sheet, leaving about 2 inches between each dollop.
6. Bake for 10 minutes or until cookies appear golden brown.

Recipe: Guacamole Dip

• 1 tsp. CBD oil
• 3 avocados
• 1 lime
• 1 tsp. salt
• ½ cup diced onion
• 3 tbs. chopped cilantro
• 2 diced roma tomatoes
• 1 tsp. minced garlic

1. In a bowl, mash up the avocados. Add the salt, lime juice, and CBD oil.
2. Mix in the other vegetables, and add cayenne pepper, more salt, or other seasonings to taste.

MORE TIPS FOR COOKING WITH CBD

Temperature matters in CBD cooking

CBD can be a bit of a fickle ingredient when it comes to temperatures. Warming the oil can increase CBD’s effectiveness, but higher temperatures can kill some of the active components. CBD will begin to evaporate at temperatures higher than 320 to 356 degrees Fahrenheit.

Do not place your CBD oil on direct heat. Heating the oil at too high temperatures can result in the loss of terpenes, which are compounds that work in conjunction with CBD to increase its overall effects. Heating CBD too high also tends to bring out more of its bitterness.

Start small, don’t use too much CBD

When you first start cooking with CBD oil, it’s far too easy to add too much CBD to a recipe, which usually leads to bad flavors, wasted oil, and too much of the compound’s effects. Less is more, at least when you’re starting out.

Along with the CBD serving size, consider starting with smaller batches. If the dish turns out good, then you can prepare the recipe again with a larger batch. This will also help you get more comfortable with different CBD serving sizes, allowing you to make alterations with future recipes so that you can get the most out of your CBD edibles.

Store your CBD oil properly

When you’re not using your CBD oil, make sure you keep it in a cool, dark place. Cannabinoids are naturally sensitive to heat and light, leading to overall degradation in potency and quality. Degraded CBD oil will not be as effective and may impart more bitter, unpleasant flavors into your recipes.

Stick with more refined CBD oils

Filtered, decarboxylated, and other more refined forms of CBD oils tend to work well with all cooking applications. Less refined oils may leave an unpleasant aftertaste, especially if you are working with more herb-heavy recipes.

Less refined CBD oil pairs better with strong flavors

All that said, less-refined or lower quality oils can still be useful in recipes featuring strong flavors, like chocolate or spices. Unfiltered CBD oils also tend to contain more vitamins and helpful amino acids than their filtered counterparts.

Stir as much as possible

From guacamole to chocolate chip cookies to soups, make sure you stir in the CBD oil as much as possible, more than you might even think. This ensures that CBD is evenly distributed throughout the batch so that every bite offers equal potency.

Cooking with CBD is better than drizzling CBD

It’s always recommended that you mix the oil into your ingredients for optimal flavors, but if you are in a rush, you can drizzle the oil directly onto your food. It won’t taste as good, but you can still get the desired effects.

Above all, have fun! As you get more familiar with using CBD oil in your cooking, you can adjust recipes and create custom dishes of your own that taste great and offer the benefits of CBD.

 

DISCOVER THE TOP CBD BRANDS

The market is getting saturated with many different CBD brands. We’ve compared the top brands to help you with your decision. Check it out.