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Cooking with cannabis has come a long way since the iconic pot brownie or “space cake” of yesteryear.
Today, artisan bakers, chefs, and mixologists have perfected recipes for making everything from cannabis gummy bears to THC-infused gourmet meals with precision and a true appreciation for taste and aesthetics.
If you’re looking to try out your own cooking with cannabis chops, do what you’d do with any cuisine — grab a cookbook and get started.
You’ll probably find it’s easier than you thought. So without further ado, here are the best cookbooks for when you’re ready to start cooking (and baking, frying, and drinking) with cannabis.
Just remember: Start low and go slow!
Best for beginners:
Edibles for Beginners: A Cannabis Cookbook
Number of recipes: 50
Type of recipes: Appetizers, mains, desserts, baked goods
Favorite recipes: Mason jar trifle cups with berries and cake, carrot-walnut cake with caramel cream cheese frosting, beef sliders with the works
Making edibles doesn’t need to be a nerve-wracking experience, and by no means is it a hobby just for expert cooks.
The marijuana cookbook “Edibles for Beginners” walks readers through the edible making process from decarboxylation to infusion to baking, grilling, freezing, frying, and all points in between.
The book was written by Mary Wolf and her mother-in-law, Laurie Wolf, who run the award-winning small-batch cannabis edibles company Laurie + MaryJane in Oregon.
The book includes a handy guide called “flower power,” which details 20 popular strains and their flavor profiles, THC/CBD content, health benefits, and effects — to help the home edibles chef decide which strain is best for their recipe.
And speaking of recipes, it includes 50 delicious recipes to help you easily make edibles for every stage of a meal from appetizers to mains to dessert. And each comes with the THC content labeled, so even a beginner can know more or less what sort of high to expect.
Best for variety:
High Cookery: Your Guide for Cannabis Cooking and the Munchies
Number of recipes: 100+
Type of recipes: Vegetarian, vegan, appetizers, mains, sides, desserts, baked goods
Favorite recipes: Caramelized pineapple and grilled chicken quesadillas with spicy strawberry dip, coffee and coconut canna-bites, oozy stuffed sourdough loaf
Gilad Meiri’s edibles cookbook includes more than 100 recipes ranging from simple popsicles to crispy goat cheese with beet jam and a surprise (the surprise is weed), as well as “health-focused” vegan and vegetarian edibles.
It includes a section on “cannabis cooking 101,” covering the basics of making edibles and infusing basic ingredients with THC, as well as how to make cannabutter, oils, and infused honeys. And all of it includes big, beautiful photos to walk you through things.
Once you get the basics down, you’ll be ready to host even the most refined edibles fan, with recipes like infused chimichurri sauce with ribeye steak, double baked lentil and feta falafel balls, or just some perfect salty caramel sauce.
Best for connoisseurs:
Bong Appétit
Number of recipes: 65
Type of recipes: Cocktails, appetizers, salads, mains, sides, desserts
Favorite recipes: Rib-eye with weed chimichurri, fried soft-shell crab with shishito pepper mole, sweet potato skins with pancetta and chipotle crema
From the same channel that brought you Desus & Mero, Epicly Later’d, and Beerland, this book started out as a spinoff of the “Viceland” television series.
The book was written by the editors of Munchies, Vice’s home for all things culinary. This is a sophisticated, richly laid out book that is just as suited to the coffee table as the kitchen.
And with nearly six dozen edible recipes ranging from spinach and artichoke dip risotto to rib-eye with weed chimichurri and a whole host of cocktails and desserts, this is the type of cookbook that’ll get you cooking even if you’re not looking to make edibles.
Best for wholesome food:
Cooking With Cannabis: Delicious Recipes for Edibles and Everyday Favorites
Number of recipes: 70
Type of recipes: Appetizers, salads, mains, breakfast, beverages, desserts
Favorite recipes: Tomato-vegetable soup with zucchini crisps, spaghetti carbonara, snickerdoodles with chocolate drizzle
A space cake can leave you bent over with the giggles, but that doesn’t mean edibles can’t be serious business. In “Cooking With Cannabis: Delicious Recipes for Edibles and Everyday Favorites,” Laurie Wolf and Mary Wolf of Laurie + MaryJane use their edibles and culinary expertise to craft 70 hearty, wholesome recipes (including recipes for one).
Ranging from entrees like meatballs in marinara to snacks and appetizers like grilled three cheese sandwiches and cannabis drinks like peanut butter-almond smoothies, this is home cooking (with cannabis) done right.
Along the way, Wolf’s accessible, easy-to-follow book provides readers with a wealth of information about cannabis, from decarboxylation to canna-cream, canna-honey, and beyond.
Best for small bites:
Edibles: Small Bites for the Modern Cannabis Kitchen
Number of recipes: 30
Type of recipes: Bite-sized sweets and savory treats
Favorite recipes: Booty call brownies, blood orange shatter blondies, duck meatball sliders
To the newbie, edibles can seem like an investment: Calculating how much weed you need to make cannabutter, whether you have enough in your stash to bake a whole pan of brownies, you get the idea.
Penned by Stephanie Hua, a big name in the cannabis food industry and the founder of the gourmet cannabis marshmallows company Mellows, “Edibles” is the perfect book for those times when you’re looking to make bite-size marijuana treats that are fun long before the THC kicks in.
With options like PB&J chocolate cups, booty call brownies, and spiced superfood truffles, these recipes contain about 5mg THC per serving and are perfect for a dinner party — or just a night at home alone.
Best for your cannabis desserts:
Cannabis Candy and Dessert Cookbook
Number of recipes: 19
Type of recipes: Candies and desserts
Favorite recipes: Cannabis chocolate and salt balls, cannabis chocolate mousse, gummies
The perfect cannabis chocolate, gummy, or crème brûlée can hit the spot like nothing else — and leave you feeling sweeter than ever in about 45 minutes to an hour. But the dispensaries don’t always have enough in stock, or in some states, they aren’t even available to begin with.
Luckily, anybody can whip up cannabis desserts in no time with the “Cannabis Candy and Dessert Cookbook,” which breaks down everything you need to make great weed desserts, from decarboxylation to dosage to extractions to how to make your own tinctures for edible recipes.
It also includes 19 of author Ruth Robinson’s favorite cannabis dessert recipes, including gummies, lollipops, chocolate mousse, and a lot more.
Best for old-school recipes:
The Official High Times Cannabis Cookbook
Number of recipes: 50+
Type of recipes: Appetizers, sides, mains, holiday-themed dishes, desserts, cocktails
Favorite recipes: Sativa shrimp spring rolls with mango sauce, chicken and andouille ganja gumbo, psychedelic spanakopita, pineapple express upside down cake
If anybody should know a thing or two about cooking up some weed and testing out your speakers while you wait for the brownies to kick in, it’s probably the guys and gals at “High Times.”
This edibles cookbook covers the basic mechanics of making edibles, and then moves on to fun, stonery recipes like “psychedelic spanakopita,” “time warp tamales,” and recipes that just scream “I have the munchies and they let me run the kitchen” (see: “cheeto fried chicken”).
The bottom line? These guys know their stuff and they LOVE the subject matter.
Best for cannabis drinks:
Cannabis Cocktails, Mocktails, and Tonics
Number of recipes: 75
Type of recipes: Cocktails
Favorite recipes: Ardent dreamer (tequila), honey duke relaxer (rum), Benny Goodman fizz (gin)
A lot of people don’t like drinking and getting high, but you should consider making an exception for “Cannabis Cocktails, Mocktails, and Tonics.”
This book is your one-stop guide to all types of cannabis libations that go far beyond weed-infused craft cocktails.
Author Warren Bobrow is your bartender for everything from absinthe and weed mixed drinks to “breakfast drinks” and mocktails of all sorts.
Best for vegans:
The Vegan Stoner Cookbook
Number of recipes: 100
Type of recipes: Vegan breakfast, lunch, and dinner meals, cookies, smoothies, snacks
Favorite recipes: Orange french toast, baked lentil potato, yam scramble
Well it only makes sense that people who only eat plants and nuts would naturally want to see just how far they could take a plant-based diet.
In this cookbook, the authors prepare 100 dishes that don’t actually have any weed in them, but which any user can easily add cannabis oil or butter to and be in business.
Think of it like the equivalent of tofurkey or vegan shawarma, technically it’s not a weed cookbook, but it could look like the real deal with a little effort.
Best for Kosher Cooking:
The 420 Gourmet: The Elevated Art of Cannabis Cuisine
Number of recipes: 100
Type of recipes: Appetizers, mains, sides, salads, breads, desserts, vegetarian mains
Favorite recipes: Braised canna-beef stroganoff with wild mushrooms, jalapeño cornbread, strawberry lemon kush bars
There’s always another Jewish holiday around the corner and food is always at the center of the celebration (and the beginning and end).
In “The 420 Gourmet: The Elevated art of Cannabis Cuisine,” author JeffThe420Chef (not his real name — or his Hebrew name) covers the wider world of cannabis cooking, along with a special collection of 420-friendly Jewish favorites such as “Potzo Ball Soup” and marijuana-laced challah bread.
Come for the recipes, stay for the (Jewish) dad jokes.
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