Cannabis Ice Cream Recipe: Steps, Dosing and Safety

To make cannabis ice cream, you heat ground cannabis in the oven first so the THC becomes active, then warm it in cream with butter, sugar and salt, blend in banana, rum and honey, and freeze the mix for at least 4 hours. That is the whole recipe. The part that needs real care is the dose: a single batch is far stronger than most people expect, and edibles take a long time to kick in.

Before you start: why the dose matters more than the recipe

Eating cannabis means no smoke, but it has its own catch. Health Canada says effects from edibles can be felt within 30 minutes to 2 hours, and that it can take up to 4 hours to feel the full effect. It advises looking for products with 2.5 mg of THC or less to start with (Health Canada, Cannabis: lower your risks, page dated June 2019).

That slow start is the main risk. Canada's chief medical officers of health warned that the delay in onset with eaten cannabis can lead people to take more than they meant to (CCMOH statement, January 6, 2020). The classic mistake is eating a scoop, feeling nothing after half an hour, and going back for a second one.

Some quick math shows why a homemade batch is strong. Each gram of flower holds 10 mg of THC for every percent of THC it contains. So 2 grams of flower at 10% THC holds 200 mg of THC before any losses. If 2.5 mg is a sensible first dose, that one tub could hold around 80 starter doses. Your own buds may be weaker or much stronger, and you will not know the exact figure unless they are lab tested.

Our advice is simple:

• Start with a very small spoonful, not a scoop.
• Wait at least 2 hours before you decide to have more, and remember the full effect can take up to 4 hours.
• Skip alcohol that evening, and do not drive.
• Label the container clearly and keep it where children and pets cannot get to it. Ice cream looks like any other dessert in the freezer.

The same CCMOH statement notes that edibles carry a higher risk of accidental poisoning, especially in children and pets, and advises storing them securely in clearly labeled containers, out of their reach. If a child or pet does eat some, contact your local poison control center or a doctor or vet straight away.

For more on portions, see our edibles dose chart.

Not a new idea

Cannabis ice cream is not new, and the recipes around today vary a lot in technique and flavor. More people now share their own versions online. Vegan versions exist too, made with a plant-based cream for people who avoid dairy or are lactose intolerant. The recipe below uses dairy cream.

If you want to try other recipes later, our cannabis edibles section has more.

Step 1: decarboxylate the cannabis

Raw cannabis contains mostly THCA, which does not get you high. When you smoke or vape, the heat turns THCA into THC on the spot. When you cook, that does not happen by itself at the low heat of warm cream, so you do it first in the oven. This step is called decarboxylation.

In one lab study, this change sped up as the temperature rose. The researchers heated cannabis extracts at temperatures from 80°C to 145°C and measured how fast THCA turned into THC at each one (Wang et al., 2016). In a home kitchen, that means a lower oven needs more time.

For this recipe:

1. Grind the buds finely with a grinder.
2. Preheat the oven to 100 to 105°C (212 to 221°F). Home ovens often run hotter or colder than the dial says, so an oven thermometer helps.
3. Spread the ground cannabis on parchment paper on a baking tray.
4. Bake it for about 45 minutes. It is ready when it has turned light golden brown and feels dry and crumbly.

This is a common home method, not a lab-verified one, so treat the strength as a rough estimate.

This recipe is written for buds. You can use sugar leaves or trim, but then the strength of the batch is even harder to guess. Our full guide to decarbing weed goes into more detail.

Cannabis ice cream recipe: the ingredients

• Cannabis: 2 to 2.5 grams, decarboxylated. Pick a strain whose effect you know and like. For a daytime treat, choose one that does not make you sleepy.
• Cooking cream: 500 ml. It gives the ice cream its smooth texture.
• Butter or olive oil: 2 tablespoons. Butter has more fat and gives a richer taste.
• Sugar: 75 grams. You can swap it for stevia, agave, maple syrup, coconut sugar or birch syrup.
• Bananas: 2 ripe ones. They are easy to mash and help the texture. Another soft fruit works too.
• Salt: a pinch, to round off the sweetness.
• Rum and honey: 2 tablespoons of rum and 5 tablespoons of pure honey. Leave out the rum if you prefer an alcohol-free version.

Step 2: make the ice cream

1. Pour the cream into a deep saucepan and warm it over medium heat. Stir all the time with a wooden spoon so it does not scorch or boil.
2. Add the butter, salt and sugar. Keep stirring until everything has melted into the cream.
3. Crumble in the decarboxylated cannabis, by hand or with the grinder, and stir it through well.
4. Slice the bananas and mash them with a fork. Add them to the pan with the rum and honey, then blend the mixture with a hand mixer until it is smooth and creamy.
5. Take the pan off the heat and let it cool. Pour the mixture into a freezer-safe ice cream container and freeze it for at least 4 hours.

Stir well before it goes into the freezer. The cannabis does not dissolve completely, and a batch that is not mixed evenly can give one spoonful much more THC than the next. If you want more control, freeze it in small portion molds instead of one tub, so each portion is the same size.

Eating it: slow and patient

Treat every portion as if it could be stronger than you think. Eat a small amount, then wait. If you feel nothing after an hour, that does not mean it is not working. Health Canada's guidance puts the start of effects anywhere up to 2 hours, and the full effect up to 4 hours.

Write the date, "contains cannabis" and the amount of cannabis you used on the lid. Then you, or anyone else in the house, will know what it is weeks later.

Growing your own for edibles

If you grow your own, you get to choose the strain and you know how it was grown. Our team are growers and smokers themselves, some with close to 40 years of growing experience, and every strain in our range has been grown by us at least once. If you want help choosing a strain for cooking, our guide to the best strains for edibles walks through the options. You can also browse more articles about cannabis products.

If you take medication, are pregnant or have a health condition, talk to a doctor before you eat cannabis.