What Do You Do When Your Instant Pot Says Burn
If you see the Burn message on your Instant Pot, take the following steps:
- Switch off your cooker using the Cancel button.
- Use a quick pressure release by moving the valve to the venting position.
- Remove the lid.
- Remove any food that has become stuck to the bottom.
- Add water or thin liquid to your pot.
- Allow your Instant Pot to cool down before resuming cooking.
What To Do If Instant Pot Says Burn
- Aplikasi Lainnya
What To Do If Instant Pot Says Burn. What to do when the burn sign comes on once the burn sign is on, you need to press the cancel button, then switch the instant pot to venting mode so that it releases the pressure. Next, make sure the steam release is sealed.
Time cooking time as it says on the recipe and then do quick release or natural release as per the recipe. Why does it say burn? If you see the burn message on your instant pot, take the following steps: After releasing the pressure, carefully open instant pot’s lid. The burn warning is one of them.
What Cooking Strategies Can Help Prevent Triggering The Burn Message
One strategy is to make sure that your pot is not full when you cook. The maximum amount of food you should put in an Instant Pot is about 2/3 full. Once the lid is on and the lid is sealed, the food will compress and you can add more.
Another strategy is to make sure your food isnt piled too high. You want to avoid creating a food tower situation since the liquid from inside the food will overflow onto the base during cooking.
Make sure that your food is spread out and that canned foods are not stacked on the base.
Especially at higher altitudes, you may have to adjust some of your cooking times and settings, especially for foods that you have trouble cooking with other methods.
The Instant Pot is a valuable tool that can be used on a daily basis and to cook some really delicious food. Just know that some experimentation may be needed to get the most out of your new cooking tool.
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When The Instant Pot Is Too Hot
Thankfully, your Instant Pot tends to alert you immediately if the bottom of the inner pot is so hot that the food is either burning, or likely to burn. This usually happens in two ways:
- By displaying a message saying “burn” or “OvHt”
- By alerting you with a beeping sound to draw your attention if you’re not looking at the display
What Does Burn Mean On Instant Pot

It doesnt mean that your dinner is completely ruined. Usually the Instant Pot will alert you when it knows theres no liquid left. The burn notice is telling you that there is a problem that can be fixed.
When you see the burn notice youll need to quick release the pressure and open the lid. When you are pressure cooking its important to make sure theres enough thin liquid or enough cups of water for the pot to evaporate and turn them into steam for cooking.
Once the pot is open you can scrape the bottom of your pot and see what is going on. With tomato sauce and other thicker Instant Pot recipes, like chili, youll likely need to add more liquid, stir everything really well, and adjust the cooking timeand maybe use low pressure instead.
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Causes Why Food Burn Happens
Why Does My Instant Pot Smell Like Burning Plastic
Another possible reason for your Instant Pot smelling like burnt plastic is an unburnt protective layer. The smell normally goes away when the additional covering burns with the first use. The company puts in a protective layer to ensure that you know you are buying a brand-new Instant Pot.
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What Is The Instant Pot Burn Message
If you have encountered the Burn message on the display screen, it certainly doesnt mean that your food is burnt or ruined or you need to make something else now.
It simply means that the Instant Pot has detected that a very high temperate at the bottom of the pot and thus the burn warning.
The Instant Pot comes with a lot of safety mechanisms. The burn warning is one of them. The Instant Pots thermal sensors are automatically monitored and controlled. Thus when the inner pot reaches temperatures that are very high, the sensors sense the high temperature and shut off the heat displaying a burn message.
Once things cool down, the heating element turns back on and tries to complete the cooking program however, this burn warning is displayed 5 mines max before the cooker shuts down and returns to standby.
Burnt Rice in Instant Pot
What Does The Instant Pot Burn Notice Actually Mean
According to the official instant pot website, the appliance has built in sensors that can detect high temperatures in the pressure cooking mode. As soon as the temperature crosses a certain threshold, the pot flashes a burn warning message across the LED display. Further heating is suspended to give you a chance to fix whatevers wrong.
This is actually a great safety feature if you think about it! While you do have the inconvenience of uncooked food, the food is NOT going to catch fire and burn as it would on the stovetop if you left it unattended.
And whats more, youll see when you open the pot that most of the food can be salvaged. It is not burnt yet because the cooker has cut off further heating automatically.
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What To Do When Instant Pot Says Burn
Here are 6 steps to follow when your Instant Pot says Burn:
Reason #: Cooking With Ingredients That Burn Easily
Some ingredients just tend to burn easily. They either have a high sugar content or they are dense and stick to the bottom. Ingredients like diced tomatoes, tomato paste and sauce, etc. are notorious for causing you to get the BURN message, but there are tricks to keep that from happening and things you can do if it does happen, mid cook.
Problem | Solution |
---|---|
Recipe includes diced tomatoes. | Add the diced tomatoes on top of the rest of the ingredients in the Instant Pot. Do not mix them in. |
Recipes include tomato paste or sauce. | Before adding any liquid to the Instant Pot, mix the paste or sauce into the liquid and whisk well. Then pour this mixture into the Instant Pot. |
Get a BURN message while cooking a recipe with tomatoes. | Press cancel and slowly release the pressure. Open the lid and use a spatula to scrape the burnt ingredients off of the bottom of the liner. Try and place the tomato on the top of the the rest of the ingredients, then continue cooking. |
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Food Got Scorched At Bottom Of Instant Pot During Saut Mode
When sautéing using the Sautéing mode, small bits of food may get stuck at the inner pot and as a result get a little bit burnt. If not removed before pressure cooking, they end up becoming hotter and the pressure cookers heat sensors will instantly assume that they are burning. Thus, an instant pot burn message will be automatically displayed on the screen.
Solution:
The best way to avoid the burn notice is by deglazing the pot right after sautéing and before pressure cooking.
Deglazing simply means adding some thin liquid like water, broth or cooking wine in the pot and scraping the small bits stuck to the bottom with either a spatula or scraper.
You certainly wont get the burn message if you always deglaze the pot after sautéing. You can also try using a steamer basket to keep food off the bottom of the pot.
Check Pot Bottom & Remove Burnt Content

Check if theres anything stuck to the bottom of the inner pot.
- Minor Burnt Food: If theres only a little bit of food stuck to the bottom, use a wooden spoon to scrub it all off.
- Major Burnt Food: If theres blackened burnt food stuck to the bottom, first remove all food content, then soak the inner pot with soapy water & scrub.
*Pro Tip: If the burnt food is difficult to remove, you can try Pressure Cooking water with vinegar, Natural Release, then scrub some more. *This is when an extra inner pot comes in handy.
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When To Add Thickener To Avoid Pressure Cooker Burn Messages:
You should always add dairy, thickeners, and cream based sauces after the cooking process is complete. You can always use the sauté function or the keep warm function to let them come to temperature after the dairy products or thickener is added.
When the Instant Pot shows a burn warning and you have a cream base sauce, theres a good chance its burned fast to the inner pot on the bottom because things like cheese, cream, and other dairy products burn quickly when not stirred consistently.
Since the pot needs to stay sealed to stay pressurized theres no real way to consistently stir the sauces until the main portion of the cooking is completed.
You Overfill The Instant Pot
If you add to much liquid, you may get the burn message.
If you add too much food, you may get the burn message.
I really like the Jasmine rice recipe, since its easy and works every time. But after a while I wanted to diversify, so I added bell pepper. And it was great!
So next time I added bell pepper and broccoli. AndI got the burn message. It turned out it was too much for the Instant Pot to handle this amount of food at once.
Make sure you dont overfill the pressure cooker and that the liquid and the ingredients do not exceed the MAX PC 2/3 line on the Pot.
Make sure you add more water if you are adding more food.
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Recipe Contains Tomato Products Or Prepared Sauces
Recipes containing products like tomato paste, tomato puree, tomato sauce, cream of chicken, cream of mushroom and alfredo sauce tend to scorch on the bottom while the Instant Pot is coming to pressure.
These ingredients are not thin enough to build steam and some contain fillers like corn starch, flour or cheese which tend to scorch. I see lots of complaints about chili recipes and pasta sauces causing the burn notice.
Steam Escaping Via Sealing Ring
When the silicone sealing ring on the instant pot lid is not properly installed, steam may escape when the pressure cooking mode is on.
To function properly, a pressure cooker must be properly sealed to prevent steam from escaping.
Any issue with the sealing ring will cause a lot of cooking steam to escape so basically, there wont be enough liquid in the pot. Without any liquid, the food inside may start to get dry and this might trigger the burn warning.
Common causes of steam escaping through the sealing ring include a broken or damaged ring, lid not properly closed, food debris stuck on the sealing ring, thus preventing the ring from closing properly, and you might have forgotten to install the sealing ring back after cleaning.
Solution:
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However It’s Still Possible For Dishes To Go Slightly Awry
The pressure level button on your instant pot will let you select your desired pressure level. You may also need to soak and scrub the pot. What do you do when your instant pot says burn? However, if there’s a lot of burning, the flavors may have gotten into the remaining food. I had put my ingredients in, and the chicken got stuck to the bottom of my instant pot. Place the inner pot into the base and cover the pot. Make sure that it didn’t fall out of place. Usually burn shows up when instant pot is almost or at pressure. Scrape any scorched ingredients off the bottom of the pot and discard. Some instant pot recipes will note times when you can add more water as needed to avoid the food burn warning. Thus when the inner pot reaches temperatures that are very high, the sensors sense the high temperature and shut off the heat displaying a burn message. Switch off your cooker using the cancel button. If you’re using an instant pot or another brand with a stainless steel cooking pot, use a strong spoon to scrape dried or burnt food off the bottom of the pot.
This is the first thing that made my instant pot say burn. The instant pot makes dinner a total breeze, and if you’re a parent it’s a lifesaver on busy weeknights when you forgot to plan ahead for dinner. It happens to the best of us! First, make sure there is enough liquid in the pot. Ignore burn for a few minutes and then press cancel.
What Does Burn Message Mean On My Instant Pot
If you see burn display on your Instant Pot, do not panic. The IP detected a high temperature at the bottom of the stainless steel insert and because this appliance has a burn-protection sensor, it turned off heating of the pot which means it stopped cooking. This is a very smart feature and it will prevent your whole dish from burning and smoking up your kitchen, as it would happen in a regular saucepan or pot on the stove.
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Recipe Was Tested With An Older Instant Pot Model
If youre following a recipe youve found in a cookbook or on the internet, you could be getting the burn message because that recipe was developed using an older Instant Pot model which didnt have the burn error as a safety feature.
Back in the old days of when the Instant Pot was first introduced, if there was an overheat condition, the Instant Pot would countdown as though it were pressure cooking even though the float valve wasnt up and the Instant Pot hadnt sealed.
Ever Got The Instant Pot Burn Message

Newbie or not, dread the Burn message? Yes, we understand how frustrating it is when you are cooking a meal and your get the burn message. You have a hungry family waiting or you were cooking for a party or may be just used up the last set of ingredients you had for the recipe. We know, exactly how it feels, its happened to us too. Mind you its not uncommon and it happens to every Instant Pot use at some point or the other.
Guess what, you dont need to panic!!!
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What Does It Mean When Instapot Says Burn
The Burn Notice on an Instant Pot simply means theres an Instant Pot Overheat Error. The Instant Pot has a built-in burn -protection mechanism that prevents users from burning food in the Instant Pot. Many times, when you open your pot after receiving a burn warning, your food will actually be fine!