Cooking with Cannabis Latin Style

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with our favorite infused Latin inspired recipes.
Whether you’re new to cooking with cannabis or a pro, there’s recipes for every cannabis chef.
From savory empanadas to a sweet tres leches cake, here’s what cannabis chefs in our circle are cooking up.

5-minute read

Cannabis Cooking, Latin Style

Cooking with cannabis is one of our favorite things to do. Infused food has come a long way over the past few years. It’s so much more than just brownies and gummies. Many Latin dishes lend themselves spectacularly to edibles. So we decided there’s no better way to celebrate Hispanic Heritage month than by sharing our favorite infused Latin recipes with you. Here’s a full menu. Start with a cannabis cocktail to complement an appetizer of infused empanadas. Then move on to a main course of seafood and finish up with an infused tres leches. iBuen provecho!

How to Get Started Cooking With Cannabis

First things first, to make any infused dish, you’ll need cannabutter. You can buy it, or make it yourself. If you’re new to cooking with cannabis, we suggest starting with this easy recipe to make your own cannabutter. Once you’ve got cannabutter, you’re ready to get cooking!

Dosing with Edibles

Before you put your apron on, let’s talk about dosing. When you consume cannabis, you want to pay attention to dosing. Cooking with cannabis is no different. Typically, cannabis chefs plan meals with a total 30mg THC per guest. That’s what our menu here is geared toward as well. But, of course, the dosing can easily be adjusted to fit your needs. If you’re a microdoser, you can adjust the THC content in these recipes much lower. That’s really easy to do. Just proportionately substitute some regular butter or oil for some of the infused variety that each recipe calls for.

Cannabis Infused Cocktails

Whether you’re looking to spice up your happy hour or just starting to dip your toe into the waters of cooking with cannabis, start with a cocktail. Cannabis cocktails are easy to make and great for anyone who’s new to cannabis cuisine. And they’re delicious. This cannabis-infused cocktail recipe is perfect for celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month or to enjoy year round.

A Margarita Recipe From the Queen of Infused Drinks

For all things cannabis cocktails, Jamie Evans is your go-to. While this isn’t exactly cooking with cannabis, Jamie’s truly an expert on all things cannabis cocktail. Earlier this year, we got the scoop on her new book, and she shared a recipe with us that we think you’ll love. Her Spicy Melon Margarita has the perfect blend of spicy, sweet, and refreshment.

Spicy Melon Margarita Equipment

Blender or food processor

Fine-mesh strainer

One 8-ounce (240-ml)

Sterilized Mason jar

Saucer

Citrus juicer

Old-fashioned glass

Shaker tin

Jigger

Hawthorne strainer

Spicy Melon Margarita Ingredients (1 Serving)

Watermelon Juice

1/2 small seedless watermelon

Chile Salt Rim

1 tablespoon (9 g) salt 1/4 teaspoon ancho chile powder or standard chili powder

1 lime wedge

Spicy Melon Margarita

3 ounces (90 ml) watermelon juice

1 ¼ ounce (38 ml) fresh squeezed lime juice

½ ounce (15 ml) Infused Rich Simple Syrup (see recipe in Cannabis Drinks)

½ ounce (15 ml) tequila blanco

½ ounce (15 ml) mezcal

½ teaspoon Aperol

1 small jalapeño pepper, sliced into rounds (set 1 round aside for garnish)

Lime round, for garnish (optional)

Spicy Melon Margarita Instructions

To Make the Watermelon Juice

Place the watermelon flesh into a blender or food processor. Purée for 1 minute or until the watermelon chunks turn into juice. Using a fine-mesh strainer, separate the pulp from the juice over an 8-ounce (240-ml) Mason jar. Discard the pulp, and set the jar aside.

To Create the Chili Rim

Combine the salt and chile powder in a shallow saucer. Rim the glass with a lime wedge. Then dip the glass into the salt mixture creating the chile rim. If you have Tajín on hand, this works great, too!

To Make the Spicy Melon Margarita

Add all the ingredients into a shaker tin, including the watermelon juice and the jalapeños. Add ice, cover, then shake for 25 seconds. Fine strain into an old-fashioned glass filled with fresh ice. Garnish with jalapeño rounds or a lime wheel, and enjoy!

Savory Cooking with Cannabis

Are you ready to make a seriously delicious cannabis infused food? Start off simple, with one of Chef Keena Moffett’s savory recipes. Keena makes cooking with cannabis both easy and delectable. Her infused beef empanadas are really quick to make. So they’re perfect as an appetizer. Or you can also use them for your main dish.

Infused Beef Empanada Ingredients

This is a quick recipe with a cook time of only 20 minutes that makes 15 empanadas with a dose of ~13.33mg THC in each.

Filling

4 tablespoons cannabis butter (200mg THC)

1 white onion, diced

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon dry oregano

2-3 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons chili powder

1 lb ground beef

Salt and pepper to taste

1 egg, whisked (for egg wash)

Infused Beef Empanada Instructions

Filling

Heat the butter in a large frying pan. Add the onions and garlic. Cook until the onions are soft. Add the oregano, cumin, chili powder, salt, and pepper. Add the ground beef, stir until the meat is fully cooked. Allow to cool completely before filling the dough.

Assembly

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200C)

Place a generous amount of the beef filling on the center of each empanada disc.

Fold the empanada discs over the filling. Gently seal the edges with your fingers. To seal, crimp the edges of the empanadas with your fingers or use a fork to press the edges together.

(Optional) Refrigerate the empanadas for 30 minutes to an hour, or make ahead overnight.

Place the empanadas on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Brush the empanadas with the whisked egg.

Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

For more recipes, tips, and tricks for cooking with cannabis, check out Chef Keena Moffett’s YouTube channel.

Main Course: Cannabis-Infused Blue Crab

For your main course, go a little lighter with some seafood. Sisters Shanelly and Roshelly Pena from Higher Dining make some of the cannabis-infused recipes. In spring 2020, they told us about how they’ve been cooking with cannabis to bring their cuisine to another level. One of their most popular recipes is their cannabis-infused locrio de jaiba con coco. We were lucky enough to nab the recipe from them for you.

Locrio de Jaiba Con Coco Blue Crab Coconut Fried Rice

Serving size 3-4

Rice Ingredients

1½ cup of uncooked rice

1 13-oz can of coconut milk

1 tbsp of kosher salt

1 tsp of cannabis oil

Rice Instructions

In a medium saucepan, stir in coconut milk, salt, and cannabis oil. Bring to a boil, and add rice. Stir and cook on high heat for 5 minutes. Lower the heat to low, and cover for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the lid, stir, and serve.

Crab Ingredients

2 tbsp of cannabis oil

1 tbsp of chopped shallots

1 clove of garlic finely minced

1 tsp of salt

¼ cup of chopped celery

¼ cup of carrots diced small

½ cup of corn

1 tbsp of tomato paste

1 tsp of sriracha

3 tbsp of white wine

¼ cup of coconut milk

1 cup of blue crab meat

4 blue crab legs

3 cups of cooked rice

Cannabis oil to drizzle

Chopped cilantro (to garnish)

Crab Directions

On a wok, or in a cast iron skillet, heat 1 tbsp of cannabis oil and add shallots. Cook shallots on medium for about 2 minutes and then add garlic. Allow the garlic and shallots to sweat a bit in their own juice. Then add celery and carrots—cook for 3 minutes. Add the corn, followed by tomato paste and sriracha. After the tomato paste and sriracha have been thoroughly combined with the other ingredients, add the white wine and reduce or cook on high heat for 30 seconds

Add the crab legs, crab meat, and coconut milk and allow to sit on low heat for 5 minutes. Mix in cooked rice. Make sure all of the white rice attains color—light pink. Once rice is mixed in, drizzle with cannabis oil and stir. Serve and garnish with cilantro for a final touch of flavor.

Infused Dessert—A Sweet Latin Treat from a Gourmet Chef

Last year we got to chat with Chef Angelina Bastidas. She made a name for herself on both Top Chef and Bong Appetit. Now she graces Chicago’s fine dining scene with her delectably infused dishes. Her favorite food to cook is tres leches—infused, of course. Here’s the recipe she swears by for this quintessential Latin dessert.

Cannabis-Infused Tres Leches Ingredients

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ cup RSO infused butter

1 cup white sugar

5 large eggs

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups whole milk

1/2 tsp lemon zest

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk

Cannabis-Infused Tres Leches Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a mixer (or using a large bowl and whisk), cream eggs and sugar until pale yellow. Next, on medium speed, add infused butter and vanilla. Follow with sifted baking powder and flour, lastly adding zest. Once all ingredients have been incorporated, place in a buttered or oiled baking pan or quarter sheet tray with parchment. Bake cake until a toothpick is clean, about 20-25 minutes. While the cake is baking, in a clean mixing bowl, whisk whole milk, condensed, and evaporated milk until combined.

Once the cake is fully baked, let cool until slightly warm. Add the three milks; cool the cake in the refrigerator for 2 hours or overnight to set. Garnish with the Chantilly cream or fresh strawberries.

To keep up with what chef Angelina’s cooking up in her kitchen, follow her on Instagram, @chefangelinabastidas.