Causes Why Food Burn Happens
Mistake #: Objects Stuck Under Inner Pot Above Heating Element
Things get chaotic in the kitchen. Sometimes unwanted food, liquid, or things can get on the heating element without you knowing.
When you unknowingly place the inner pot on top and start cooking, the objects will burn.
We dont have any photos to show you the aftermath, but yessadly weve seen fellow users share their photos of toys & kids socks stuck melted on the heating element.
How Long Does It Take To Natural Release Instant Pot
5 to 30 minutesWait for the float valve to drop and the pressure to come down on its own. Press Cancel and open the lid. Natural release takes 5 to 30 minutes or longer, depending on the quantity of liquid in the Instant Pot. The food continues cooking even after pressure cooking is complete because contents are still under pressure.
Also Check: How To Cook Frozen Hamburger Meat In The Instant Pot
Not Deglazing After Your Saut
This is another novice mistake that can lead to an Instant Pot burn message. When you sauté, you will leave small amounts of food stuck onto the bottom of the inner pot.
The mistake people make is that they go straight to the pressure cooking without deglazing the base. This can be done easily by adding a small amount of hot water into the hot base and scraping it clean. This actually adds to the taste of the food.
This confuses the sensors in your Instant Pot and can lead to the burn error.
Why Does My Instant Pot Say Burn
The Instant Pot’s burn message simply means that your Instant Pot has detected that its inner pot has gotten too hot. There may be a slight amount of burned food at the bottom of your pot, but not enough to ruin whatever you’re cooking. Instead of continuing on with this warning, your Instant Pot will actually stop the cooking process to prevent further burning.
There are a number of reasons your Instant Pot will display its burn message. Most of these involve mishaps that may occur during the cooking process, like not adding enough liquid or forgetting to adjust the steam valve to the sealing position. Once you figure out what you’ve done wrong, correcting the error is easy. Here’s what may be triggering the burn notice and the precautions you can take to prevent it.
Also Check: Steam Artichokes Time
How Do You Steam Vegetables In An Instant Pot
There are just two timer settings you need to remember to pressure-steam vegetables in an Instant Pot: 0 minutes and 15 minutes.
While it may seem strange, 0 minutes is the timer setting to use when pressure-steaming cut or cubed vegetables. Because the vegetable pieces steam while the machine is coming up to pressure, they require no additional cooking and are ready once the pressure has been released.
Whole vegetables including potatoes, sweet potatoes, winter squash, and artichokes should be pressure-steamed 15 minutes to cook all the way through.
To steam, place 1 cup of water in the Instant Pot insert steamer basket and add vegetables.
How To Avoid Burn Messages:
There are a few ways you can avoid the Instant Pot burn issue.
- Pot in Pot cooking with the Instant Pot is just putting another container inside the pressure cooker to contain your food. As long as there is enough water in the pot, you cant get a burn notice with pot in pot cooking because theres no food touching the inner pot or the heating element underneath.
- You wont get a burn warning when using pot in pot cooking methods. Recipes like my lasagna, breakfast casserole, hard boiled eggs for egg salad, and even Starbucks egg bites are all examples of pot in pot cooking.
- Another way you can avoid the burn Instant Pot warning is by adding extra liquid. If your recipe consistently gives you a burn warning, you should adjust it to include more thin cooking liquid.
- Low pressure cooking is another way to keep the Instant Pot from saying burn. You can use low pressure cooking for just about anything, its just a matter of adjusting the time to compensate. The Pressure Level button on your Instant Pot will let you select your desired pressure level.
- The heating temperature is also reduced when you cook on low pressure on an Instant Pot so make sure you double check the internal temperature of your food when adjusting the pressure settings.
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Recipe For A Different Size Instant Pot
As you would expect, not everybody has the same size Instant Pot. However, it wont stop people from following the recipe regardless of the size they have.
So, for example, if the recipe is for a 6-quart Instant Pot but you have an 8 quart, you may not have enough liquid in there. You need to compensate for each recipe if it is not directly the same size Instant Pot.
How To Fix Food Burn Message Without Removing The Food
Depending on what you are cooking, you might not have to go through the hassle of removing food, cleaning the pot and restarting the cooking cycle. This is not official solution but I found it works for me like a charm, so I am sharing it with you.
Usually Burn shows up when Instant Pot is almost or at pressure. Means the pressure pin is up. Great! Logically, if it is not a 45 minute pork carnitas of frozen chicken recipe , there is enough pressure built up to finish cooking your meal because it already started cooking while Instant Pot was coming to pressure.
Here is what to do:
This trick will work with many quick cooking recipes, roughly with under 15 minutes cook time like pasta, eggs, chicken pieces, veggies and canned beans. Examples are Instant Pot white chicken chili, Instant Pot potato salad, Instant Pot goulash, Instant Pot turkey chili and Instant Pot butter chicken.
Recommended Reading: Instant Pot Frozen Chicken Wings
Instant Pot Burn What Does This Mean
Interesting enough, some Instant Pots do say the word burn on them at certain times. This usually means that your Instant Pot is overheating and is warning you to investigate and act before its too late.
The Instant pot burn notice is a protection to help prevent your tasty pressure cooker meals from burning and getting spoiled.
The Instant Pot was designed to help people cook easy and fast meals when you are busy and the IP burn notice is a great warning to help keep your meals from getting burnt in the pot.
Why Does My Instant Pot Says Burn
The challenge with using Instant Pot is that food sits at the bottom of the pot and you cant stir the food as it builds up pressure. Therefore, there are rules to follow to prevent you from burning food in Instant Pot!
Here are the 7 common reasons that trigger the Instant Pot Burn Message:
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How To Fix Burn Messages On Pressure Cookers:
Heres a general process you can use to fix your recipe and finish cooking after you see a burn message on your pressure cooker.
Burn Notice: How To Avoid It And What To Do When You Get It
One of the hardest recipes that I have converted to the Instant Pot has to be my familys Arroz con Pollo. Not because its complicated or has extravagant ingredients, but because it was the frist time I ever came upon the dreaded and infamous BURNnotice.
When it first happened to me, I remember getting so scared that I had just ruined dinner and all that work and money I put into ingredients was now trashed. I wish I could say that was the last time it happened, but the truth is my Arroz con Pollo recipe took 7 tries and 6 struggles with the BURN notice, to finally get it right.
However, all the frustration and redos was 100% worth it because it made me an expert when it comes to the BURN message. Every time I had to try again, I learned a new lesson and I decided to write a post to share them with you.
In this tutorial you will learn
- 5 main reasons why youll get the BURN message.
- Tips to keep you from getting the BURN notice.
- What to do if you get the BURN notice and how to fix it.
The following is a video tutorial taking you step by step through everything I will go through in this post.
link for video if it does not show below Youtube Video on Burn Notice
Recommended Reading: How To Cook An Artichoke In An Instant Pot
Not Enough Liquid In The Pot
This is perhaps the biggest cause of a burn message on instant pot.
A pressure cooker needs an adequate amount of liquid in order to generate enough steam and come to pressure.
When the amount of liquid in the pot is not enough, the pressure cooker is therefore unable to generate steam and thus causes the bottom temperature at the bottom of the instant pot to rise instantly.
When the bottom of the instant pot becomes too hot, the burn warning on the pot is instantly triggered.
Typically, Instant Pot requires a 1 cup of liquid. This is usually enough to generate enough steam for cooking various recipes. However, there are certain recipes or ingredients that may require more liquid- otherwise, a burn message is triggered.
For example, food recipes containing high amounts of starch can trigger the instant pot burn message. These may include rice and pasta. These foods typically absorb liquids fast and are generally sticky so youre bound to get the warning if your recipe contains these two ingredients.
Solution:
I recommend using proven instant pot recipes to ensure that 1 cup is
Another problem is that most recipes are created using the most popular instant pot size- the 6-quart port. So if youre still going to add the same amount of liquid in a 6 quart port as you would an 8-quart port, you might end up getting the burn message.
Check Out One Of My Instant Pot Cookbooks
One guaranteed way to make sure you’re going to get a recipe that turns out perfect every time is to use a recipe that has been thoroughly tested by a reputable blogger.
If you want to try one of my tested Instant Pot recipes, grab a copy of one of my five Instant Pot cookbooks.
Indian Instant Pot, Keto Instant Pot, Instant Pot Fast and Easy, Healthy Instant Pot & Vegetarian Instant Pot.
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How To Do A Water Test
If the water test fails, you should file a support ticket with Instant Pot support.
I hope this article has helped you learn about the burn message and how you can avoid it and fix the problem. Please share on social media using the links at the top and bottom of this article. Thanks so much!
Something’s Up With Your Instant Pot
Pressure cookers can be picky, and if one thing is off, your food is at risk. Some of the most common culprits include using a damaged or dirty sealing ring, not closing the lid all the way, and a dirty Instant Pot. If there are food debris in your Instant Pot, they can compromise the pressure by blocking a part, such as the float valve, or simply burn up along the inner pot’s underside.
Read Also: Steaming Tamales In A Crockpot
How Does Overheat Protection Work
The thermal sensors in the Instant Pot automatically monitor and adjust the pressure cookers temperature inside, earning the Instant Pot its popular set it and forget it reputation. It also allows the appliance to recognise when anything is about to burn and turn off the heat before it does.
The inner pot can reach temperatures much beyond the boiling point of water when under pressure, so its critical that things dont become too hot. The goal of the Overheat Protection feature is to protect both your supper and the cooker itself. When the temperature sensor senses too hot temperature, it shuts down and Burn message appears. Once things cool down enough , the heating element will turn back on and try to complete the cooking cycle. If things get too hot again, Instant Pot will try 5 more times before shutting off for good.
Issue #: Theres Not Enough Thin Liquid In Your Recipe
When theres not enough thin cooking liquid in the Instant Pot, it may not be able to generate enough steam to come up to pressure. The bottom of the pot will become too hot, thus triggering the Burn code, very similar to the situation above.
This can be more problematic for people who have 8 quart pots. Because a lot of recipes were created in a 6 quart pot , sometimes they do not account for the extra water needed in an 8 quart.
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What Causes A Burn On Instant Pot
There are a number of culprits when it comes to diagnosing a burn warning on the Instant Pot screen. Thick sauces and food that can burn and stick to the bottom of the pot are two of the biggest problems.
Some people also get the burn warning on Instant Pot when they cook rice and noodle dishes that run out of liquid and get stuck to the bottom of the inner pot. If you are cooking something that would normally burn fast to the pan if it isnt stirred, youll likely get a burn warning on the Instant Pot when cooking at high pressure.
Check The Silicone Sealing
Is there a lot of steam coming from your pressure cooker? This is a sign that there might be a leak coming from the silicone sealing. The more steam that escapes the pressure cooker, the more likely it will be that your food burns.
Thus, check your appliance and the silicone sealing it has around the lid. If there is a crack or damage, as well as any food debris stuck there, this could be the root of the problem.
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