Infusion ratios: one gram per cup
Why every infusion here uses about 1 g of flower per cup, the reference table behind all thirty recipes, and how to scale for stronger or weaker flower.
One gram per cup
Most cannabutter instructions online use 7 to 14 grams of flower per cup of butter. At 18% THCA that is roughly 1,100 to 2,200 mg of THC in sixteen tablespoons: 70 to 140 mg per tablespoon. A recipe calling for half a cup of that butter in a tray of sixteen brownies puts each brownie at 35 to 70 mg, several times the regulated 10 mg serving, and a cook who wants 5 mg brownies has to use a quarter of a tablespoon of butter in the whole tray, which no recipe survives.
The infusions on this site run the other way: 1 gram of flower per cup of butter or oil, which gives about 10 mg per tablespoon (theoretical). At that strength, normal recipe quantities of butter land at normal doses. Eight tablespoons in sixteen brownies is 5 mg each.
The reference infusions
| Infusion | Flower (18% THCA) | Volume | Theoretical THC | Per unit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low-dose cannabutter | 1 g | 1 cup · 16 tbsp | 158 mg | 9.9 mg / tbsp |
| Infused coconut oil | 1 g | 1 cup · 16 tbsp | 158 mg | 9.9 mg / tbsp |
| Infused olive oil | 1 g | 1 cup · 16 tbsp | 158 mg | 9.9 mg / tbsp |
| Infused ghee | 1 g | 1 cup · 16 tbsp | 158 mg | 9.9 mg / tbsp |
| Infused cream | 0.5 g | 1 cup · 16 tbsp | 79 mg | 4.9 mg / tbsp |
| Infused honey | 0.75 g | 1 cup · 48 tsp | 118 mg | 2.5 mg / tsp |
| Alcohol tincture | 3.5 g | 240 ml | 552 mg | 2.3 mg / ml |
| Cannabis sugar | 60 ml of the tincture | 200 g · 50 tsp | 138 mg | 2.8 mg / tsp |
The arithmetic for each is on its recipe page. All of it is: grams × 1000 × THCA % × 0.877, divided by the number of units you made.
If your flower is not 18%
Scale the flower, not the recipe. At 24% THCA, 0.75 g per cup gives the same 10 mg per tablespoon as 1 g of 18%; at 12%, use 1.5 g. The calculator does this in one line, and the infused recipes then need no changes at all because they are written in tablespoons of a 10 mg infusion.
Why not make it strong and use less?
- You cannot measure a quarter-tablespoon of butter accurately, and you cannot spread it evenly through a batter.
- Strong infusions make every mistake bigger. A miscounted tray at 10 mg per tablespoon is a mild surprise; at 100 mg it is a bad night.
- Weak infusions taste better. Less plant material per spoonful means less of the grassy flavour.
- A cup of flower-light butter costs one gram. There is no economy in concentrating it.
Fat, alcohol and sugar
THC dissolves in fat and in alcohol, not in water. Butter, oils, ghee and cream carry it well. Honey and sugar carry it poorly on their own, which is why the honey recipe adds a teaspoon of oil and the sugar is made by drying a tincture onto it. Water-based things, tea and juice, need an infused fat or a tincture added; steeping flower in hot water extracts almost nothing.
- Potency and conversion maths: PubChem molecular weights of THC (314.5 g/mol) and THCA (358.5 g/mol); see the decarboxylation guide for the citations.
- Standard serving of 10 mg THC: Colorado Marijuana Rules, 1 CCR 212-3, Rule 4-210 (a serving testing above 10 mg THC fails), text via Cornell LII, law.cornell.edu/regulations/colorado/1-CCR-212-3-4-210. Accessed 2026-11-14.
- Typical online cannabutter ratios (7–14 g per cup): Leafly, How to make cannabutter, leafly.com/learn/consume/edibles/how-to-make-cannabutter. Accessed 2026-11-14.
