Cooking with CBD Oil: The Do’s and Don’ts

More and more of us continue to add CBD into our daily routines. As with any routine, sometimes you need to find new ways to make it a little more fun or try something different. With CBD, for some people that means cooking! 

And why not? Adding CBD to your daily meal plan is a great way to make sure you get your daily dose. But it can also go a little haywire (and be rather unappetizing), if not done well. To help you out, here are the do’s and don’ts of cooking with CBD oil. 

The Do’s

Do add other oils and fats: There’s a reason CBD is most commonly found as an oil or tincture, and that’s because cannabinoid compounds bind particularly well with fats. In other words, they’re fat-soluble—not water-soluble. So, when adding CBD into your foods and recipes, it’s best to add your CBD oil to another cooking oil or fat source to increase the bioavailability of the compound and the ability of your body to absorb it most efficiently. Butter, ghee, and coconut oil are the winners on this front, but you can also add it to olive oil when not heating it too much. In fact, there is a growing market of cooking oils already infused with CBD, so you might just be able to find a great CBD olive oil without having to make the mixture yourself.

Do use high-quality: High-quality CBD oils are better for myriad reasons across the board, but with cooking, the higher-quality oils that are more refined and highly filtered, like decarboxylated oils, typically blend better with your standard cooking oils than lower-quality CBD oils. CBD oils of lower quality also tend to leave a bitter aftertaste when used in cooking, lowering the appeal, too.

Do use a dropper: Don’t get too excited and add too much. Make sure you’re starting with a low dosage, as always, and adding more as you get more attuned to how CBD in your cooking affects you. Using a dropper helps keep measurements codified and known.

The Don’ts

Don’t overheat: When it comes to heat, CBD oil is pretty temperamental. Not only does it not smell good when it’s overheated, it can also start to evaporate and lose terpenes—one of the kinds of compounds most important for potency. Without terpenes, CBD oil loses some of its effectiveness and beneficial qualities. To guard those terpenes, it’s better to add the CBD oil to another fat source for cooking—or simply at the very end of cooking.

Don’t add too much: This one bears repeating. Like we said above, use a dropper to make sure you’re not getting overenthusiastic with your oil game.

Don’t expect it to hit quick: How long it takes to feel the effects of CBD depends on your method of ingestion, of course. Eating it, as you might expect, is not the fastest way. As part of your food intake, the oil will have to run the course of digestion before it hits your bloodstream, so it will take longer to feel its effects than it might otherwise.

Don’t go expensive: While we definitely recommend using more refined and higher-quality CBD oils, we don’t recommend using your most prized and expensive picks. Cooking is not the most cost-effective way to get your CBD, and with your especially top-range oils, you want to make sure you’re getting the most bang for your buck. 

Ready to get in the kitchen? Check out our earlier blog post for some easy starter recipes to get you going. Let us know how they taste! Happy cooking!