Are you seeing an Instant Pot burn message? It’s a common problem that many Instant Pot users come across! Find out why you’re getting the Instant Pot burn error message, how to avoid the problem in the future, and how to recover from a burn error and salvage your meal.
Lately I’ve been seeing a trickle of complaints about two of my tried and tested recipes: Instant Pot Penne with Sausage and Instant Pot Jambalaya. People are asking me why they’re getting a burn error and what it means when the Instant Pot display says burn.
I own two Instant Pots, and I never see the burn message. I know other bloggers who are also facing this issue with some of their recipes. Their readers are having issues with rice, pasta, and chili recipes in particular. So I did some digging to find out what’s going on.
The Instant Pot has a burn-protection sensor that monitors temperature. According to the Instant Pot website, when a high temperature is detected at the bottom of the inner pot, the burn-protection sensor suspends heating. On prior Instant Pot models the warning ‘ovHt‘ (overheat) is displayed. This message has been changed to ‘burn‘ on newer Instant Pot models.
Some people who own multiple models tell me that they see the Instant Pot burn message more frequently on the newer Instant Pots than they do the ovHt message on the older Instant Pots. They also say that the newer models seem to be reaching a higher temperature than previous models. Some even notice certain ‘hot spots’ on the bottom of the inner pot, where food tends to scorch.
Getting the burn alert doesn’t mean that there’s something wrong with your Instant Pot. It just means that your Instant Pot works differently from previous models and so recipes written for older models may not work as written, and you’ll need to make a few modifications and follow some tried and tested pressure cooking techniques.
It appears that the burn alert happens more often with the newer 8-quart Instant Pots. Both Instant Pots I own are older model 6 quarts, so I borrowed an older model and newer model 8 quart from a couple of friends. I tested the above-mentioned recipes in both Instant Pots numerous times, and made a few discoveries.
If you’re seeing the Instant Pot burn message, the following sections tell you why this may be happening, how to avoid it in the future, and how to fix it when it happens to you.
Thanks to the members of the Facebook groups run by Two Sleevers and Simply Happy Foodie for sharing some of their experiences with the Instant Pot burn error. Thanks also to Monica and Kim for parting with their Instant Pots for a few days!
[Read: 16 Reasons Why your Instant Pot is not Sealing]
Common Reasons for Instant Pot Burn Message and How to Avoid It
1. Sealing Ring Issues
If your sealing ring is not installed properly or if it’s missing, your Instant Pot will leak steam, and that will cause the food at the bottom to scorch and your Instant Pot display will say burn.
SOLUTION: You need to make sure that the sealing ring is pushed into the sealing ring rack all the way in and all around. Clean the sealing ring after use and don’t forget to put it back in place when you begin pressure cooking. Sealing rings can also get worn out or stretched out over time, requiring replacement.
2. Steam Release is Venting
If your steam release handle is in the Venting position or the steam release button is accidentally stuck in the down position (Ultra model), your Instant Pot will leak steam, and that will cause the contents to burn.
SOLUTION: Verify that the steam release handle or button is in the Sealing position.
3. Not Enough Liquid
Pressure cookers work by building pressure from steam generated in the pot, which in turn cooks food at high temperatures. This steam cannot be created if there isn’t enough liquid in the Instant Pot.
SOLUTION: According to the Instant Pot company, your Instant Pot pressure cooker requires 2 cups of liquid. If you’re just starting out, you can prevent the burn notice by always using the minimum recommended quantity of liquid.
Through trial and error, I make recipes with less liquid, even as little as 1/2 cup. To figure out what your minimum quantity of liquid is, you can experiment by doing the water test or initial test run with different quantities of water. According to Jill Nussinow of The Veggie Queen, and author of Vegan Under Pressure cookbook, start with 1/4 to 1/2 cup, and increase the quantity with each subsequent test until you’re able to get the Instant Pot to come to pressure and stay under pressure for 5 minutes.
Keep in mind that many foods (e.g. vegetables, meats) release liquid and that counts toward the minimum liquid requirement. Canned tomato products and thick sauces don’t count toward the quantity of liquid because they are too dense.
Note: When you’re adding liquid, make sure it gets underneath any food that’s already in the inner pot. This prevents the food from scorching and creates steam.
4. Inner Pot not Deglazed
If you’re using the Saute function, food can get stuck on the bottom of the Instant Pot. This can block the heat sensor and trigger the Instant Pot burn warning when you start pressure cooking.
SOLUTION: After sauteing and before pressure cooking you need to deglaze the inner pot. Deglazing involves adding a thin liquid like wine, water or broth to the hot surface and scraping the bottom with a silicone scraper or wooden spatula to remove the caramelized and brown bits that are stuck.
Deglazing adds wonderful flavor to your dish, but more importantly, it cleans the inner pot. So any liquid that you add will make full contact with the bottom of the inner pot and that allows the sensor in the Instant Pot to properly register temperature and pressure.
5. 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 causing the burn notice.
SOLUTION: One pressure cooker technique that’s commonly used to prevent foods from burning and sticking to the bottom is to layer the ingredients in the Instant Pot. If the recipe you’re using tells you to mix all ingredients together before pressure cooking, but you have issues with the burn error, next time adapt the recipe by doing the following:
- Add the dense and starchy ingredients last: e.g. tomato-based or thick sauces
- Don’t stir
- Cover and pressure cook as directed
Another option is to use the Pot-in-Pot (PIP) cooking method to cook dishes that have thick sauces. You don’t ever have to worry about the burn message when you use the PIP technique.
6. Recipe Contains Starch (Pasta, Rice)
Stirring in and incorporating pasta and rice with all the other ingredients may give you a burn message.
SOLUTION: The layering technique described in the above section can also be used for starchy ingredients. Instead of stirring them in, add them at the end, right on top. The pasta or rice needs to be submerged in liquid, so push down on it with a large spoon or spatula to make sure it’s covered in liquid.
7. Instant Pot Too Hot After Sauteing
If you use the Saute function immediately before pressure cooking, especially if you’re using high heat, it’s possible you’ll get a Instant Pot burn message.
SOLUTION: Use medium temperature for sauteing and turn off and cool down the Instant Pot after sauteing and deglazing. You can cool it down quicker if you remove the inner pot from the unit and set it on a hot pad or cooling rack.
Alternately, you can saute on the stovetop and transfer the sauteed food to the Instant Pot to pressure cook.
Note: I find that allowing the Instant Pot to cool down after sauteing is one of the best ways to avoid the burn error.
8. Recipe Tested with Different Instant Pot Size
If the recipe was written for the 6 quart Instant Pot, and you are using an 8 quart, it’s possible that there may not be enough liquid for the 8 quart to come to pressure.
SOLUTION: Either double the recipe or add an extra 1/2 to 1 cup of liquid. Keep the cooking time the same.
What to do when you get an Instant Pot burn message
Sometimes the Instant Pot says ‘burn’ and then changes to ‘On’. If this happens to you, just say ‘thank you’ and let it keep cooking. You’ll probably have some food stuck on the bottom, but you should be able to salvage most of it.
In some rare cases, the scorched/burnt taste may penetrate the entire dish and you may need to start over. But in most cases, it’s possible to salvage your meal when you get the burn error, by doing the following:
1. Press Cancel to Turn Off the Instant Pot
2. Do a Quick Release of Pressure (QR)
3. Open the Lid
4. If there’s nothing stuck to the bottom:
- Let the Instant Pot cool down.
- Most likely, the original liquid may have partially evaporated. Add enough liquid to replace the original liquid that evaporated, plus an additional 1/2 to 1 cup. Lift the food with a spatula to allow the liquid to reach the bottom of the inner pot.
- Resume pressure cooking the dish.
5. If there’s food stuck to the bottom:
- Transfer contents that are not stuck to the bottom to a separate bowl.
- Scrape and clean out the inner pot so there’s nothing stuck on the bottom. * See tip below
- Allow the Instant Pot unit to cool down.
- Most likely, the original liquid may have fully or partially evaporated. Add enough liquid to replace the original liquid that evaporated, plus an additional 1/2 to 1 cup.
- Resume pressure cooking.
* Tip: How to Clean Burnt Food from Inner Pot
- Select Saute mode and allow the Instant Pot to get hot.
- Add 1/2 cup of water to deglaze.
- Scrape the bottom of the inner pot until the food gets unstuck, adding more water as needed.
- Turn off the Instant Pot.
- Empty out the inner pot, wash, and dry.
6. If necessary, reduce the liquid to desired thickness
If you added extra liquid to allow the Instant Pot to come to pressure, you might find that the dish is too watery after pressure cooking is complete. In this case, after opening the Instant Pot, select the Saute function to reduce or cook out the liquid. Another option is to add a mixture of corn starch and cold water to thicken the dish.
7. Optional: use the Pot-in-Pot (PIP) method to finish cooking the dish
Check out my comprehensive guide to using the Pot-in-Pot (PIP) pressure cooking method. This is a great alternative if you want to avoid any further hassles with the Instant Pot burn error. Just transfer all ingredients to a separate oven-proof dish that will fit in your inner pot and use PIP to finish pressure cooking.
** Bonus Tip **
I frequently put my meat on a trivet to raise it up a bit so that the liquid can cover the bottom of the inner pot; this works really well when the quantity of liquid in my recipe is minimal.
I hope this article has helped you learn about the Instant Pot 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!
You might also find these helpful:
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| Instant Pot Pot-in-Pot Cooking | Instant Pot Tips and FAQs | 16 Reasons why Your Instant Pot is not Sealing |
Melissa
This was delicious! I added a bag of frozen mixed vegetables and a chopped potato and it was better than any restaurant version by far. And blending it all at the beginning made it so easy! I did get the burn message but, as usual when it appears AFTER the float is up, I just ignored it and it came to pressure no problem.
Christopher Keller
“Deglaze” is the problem, and your tip/trick was the solution! Thanks so much. You saved dinner!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Awesome! Enjoy your dinner 🙂
Kathy
I just received my new pot and guess what? Burn notice! I did sauté and did not cool the pot down before putting the chicken in! I removed the pot, saved the liquid, washed out the pot and started over. So far so good. My chicken is almost finished! Thanks for all of your help!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Hi Kathy – it’s a rite of passage lol! I hope you had a tasty meal at the end of it all.
Gordon Gilges
Why would you need a carpenter to help you with your “burn notice!?” Well, you really don’t, but the carpenter that installed your counters may NOT have helped! We have a brand-new 8qt and got a burn notice. The sauté portion of the recipe, the recipe instructs to scrape loose all the brown stuck parts in the bowl, which I did. We got a burn code even after that, I took the chicken out and saw that indeed, there was a “hot spot.” I was suspicious, so on a hunch, I grabbed a level, and sure enough, our counter falls away toward the wall, so all the liquid was running to one side of the pot! The other side burned! I stacked a couple magazines under the back side and violà! A good carpenter never blames his tools!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Wow, Gordon! What a very insightful and helpful comment. I hope others will see your comment and check the level of their Instant Pots. When I have a chance, I will have to update my post to include your comment! Thank you for taking the time to share your experience.
Tharina
Hello! I could use some input. About half of the time I make jasmine roce in thr IP I get a burn notice. I am following the water to rice ratio in the manual it came with. I would first assume I need some more water for my pot based on what you said but the rice is often overlooked and mushy after. So I doubt I need more water? Thoughts? What are the ratios you use for jasmine and basmati rice?
Paint the Kitchen Red
Tharina, I use 1:1 for basmati and 1:1.25 for jasmine. What size of Instant Pot do you have? Have you tried cooking a larger quantity? You might try to experiment and see if doubling the recipe makes any difference. Sounds very frustrating 🙁
Dad
Thanks for such a great post. Saved me and my meal. my meal was burning, so I’m thankful for the sensor. It was rice and coconut milk that caused the issue. Should have started with water first and layered. Was able to salvage most and as directed add liquid and continue.
Paint the Kitchen Red
I made the same mistake when I first started out with the Instant Pot 🙂 Glad you were able to salvage your rice!
patricia kleban
Help..my new instant pot has displayed burn on water test
Paint the Kitchen Red
Hi Patricia, if you made sure the vent was on ‘sealing’, you had the minimum quantity of water, and the Instant Pot came to pressure, then it sounds like a defective unit to me. I would either return it or open a support ticket on the Instant Pot website.
Craig Schaffer
Thanks for this article. My wife and I are new IP users so hints and tips like this are a big help. The pasta dish I made tonight pretty much ticked off all the possible causes in this article. Luckily it had been under pressure long enough that I could just shut it off and saved the meal.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Hi Craig – welcome to the Instant Pot cult 🙂 I’m glad you salvaged the meal. It’s a learning process and you’ll figure out what works best for you. Thank you for commenting, it means a lot to me!
Caryn
I am so glad I pinned it. I’m pretty new to the IP world, and got the burn notice today while making spaghetti sauce. Thanks to this post, I was able to figure out the problem and salvage my sauce!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Hey Caryn! I’m really glad I was of help to you; thank you for letting me know. Happy pressure cooking!
Jewel Honstein
this has not happened to me yet but glad you have posted about the burn notice So IF it does happen I can take action Thanks for the info
Paint the Kitchen Red
Thanks for getting in touch, Jewel. It’s always good to be prepared!
Linda
First time use, made beef stew, burn notice. Thought it might be from sauteing first so took pot out, scraped it clean, cooled it down, put stew back in, turned it back on, got to pressure and burn notice. Plenty of liquid. Am so frustrated. Turned it off, unplugged, letting it sit. Dont know what to do, ready to throw the pot, meal and all out!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Linda – without knowing what recipe you used, it’s hard to say what happened. Maybe the liquid was too thick – did you have a thickener added in already? Try the layering technique next time, maybe?
Carmen Bourgeois
Was trying to cook a red gravy with browned ground meat and browned pieces of pork. Set my Insta Pot to pressure cook on high and received the burn notice. I turned it off and checked the level and it was on the max mark. I took some of the sauce out and tried again. Same thing happened. I am stumped. I checked the sealing ring and it was fine.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Carmen, if your sauce is a thick sauce, you probably need to thin it out with some broth or water.
Lorien
This was just what I needed! I have had a lot of burn signals! I was losing faith! Every time it happened it was likely due to your examples! 1st recipe. Chili was too thick, which we like and do in a slow cooker. — should add some water/tomato sauce, and decrease bean amount. 2.Chicken was sauted first in oil and got stuck– should deglaze before adding sauce and let liquid/sauce go under meat. Sauce was added while pan temp was still too high– should remove pan and bring down temp./or saute on stove first. 3.Chicken sauce had tomato paste in place of ketchup as well as added cornstarch for thickening sauce–should stick with called for wet ingredients like ketchup or add water, and cornstarch should be combined with water at the very end on saute again with no lid. Learned a lot. ONE QUESTION: about the escape of steam. As soon as things start to really sizzle in the closed pot I see steam obviously escaping from somewhere at the back of the closed lid. it possible that it’s coming up through the sides of the red steam preassure plug prior to its popping up? Or that it’s coming up through the venting plug eventhough it’s set to SEALING? Or is a little steam escaping normal?
Paint the Kitchen Red
Hi there Lorien – I’m happy to be of help. Steam should not escape from the sides i.e. where the sealing ring is located on the lid. However, before reaching pressure you will see steam escaping from the pressure release valve even if it’s in ‘sealing’ position, and also possibly the metal float valve. That’s normal. Once it’s under pressure it should not leak steam. Once in a while when I am steaming something with a lot of water, I might see a little steam leaking from the pressure release valve, but that’s just the Instant Pot maintaining a safe pressure – this happens very rarely for me.
Sue Marie
I have a newer model that I bought on Black Friday. My 6 qt Duo has the newer buttons as well. When I got a burn message 3x when most members of the IP FB site I belong to had no issues with Wendy’s Copycat Chili, I thought it was the pot because I also heard newer poss were more sensitive. I made it again a 2nd time, being very mindful of what not to do. and even though nothing was stuck to the bottom, I got the dreaded burn message 3x again. One of the tips I read here (which I’ve never seen elsewhere) is to let the pot cool down a bit after using saute. I will try that. Thanks for sharing!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Hi Sue Marie – did you try and layer the ingredients? That and increasing the liquid and letting it cool down. Another thing to do is to saute in a separate pan – kind of defeats the idea of having the saute function though! If you try it again successfully and get a chance, please give us an update 🙂
MacDaddy
A quick way to clean the bottom of the instant pot is to sprinkle about an 1/8 of an inch of baking soda on the bottom then pour in a half to one cup of white vinegar and leave for 30 to 60 minutes. It lifts burnt deposits off with less frustration of scrubbing. Hope this helps other Instant pot owners.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Thank you for taking the time to share that! I’m sure it’ll be useful to others.
Amber H
Thanks for the info! I have the 6 qt. Ultra and have gotten this notice twice. Last night I was making pasta with sauce (also added vegetable broth for the liquid) but he recipe I was using was for the Duo so maybe it needs to be adjusted. The food was still fine but I had to soak the pot with hot water and soap to get the burned parts off. Next time I’ll have to use more liquid.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Hey Amber – Duo vs Ultra shouldn’t really matter. Next time you make it, add the liquid first (increase the quantity, like you said), then the pasta and sauce and submerge the pasta; don’t stir. See if that helps.
Eleanor Steiger
First let me state I have 2 Instant Pots (Ultra 6 qt. & DUO 8 qt.) I love my pots and use them all the time. I don’t this is a user problem something is wrong with new sensors on the newer PC. Instant Pot must have gone with a cheaper sensor to make more money. I am just glad I have the pots from early in 2017 and I never had a burn notice. This is the company’s fault and I think they should admit to it like they did with the Gem pot burning up and getting recalled.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Hi Eleanor – I have no idea what exactly has changed, especially since not everyone seems to have a problem, but obviously something is different. Let’s hope these complaints go away with the next iteration. Thanks for commenting.
Gillian Didier Serre
Hi Neena
I hope you are well cpensated by the INSTANT POT CORP for excellent and we’ll researched information,
Keep up the good recipes and info?
Paint the Kitchen Red
Gillian – that’s so kind of you!! No, I’m not paid by Instant Pot – I’m just a user like you! Thank you for visiting the site and your sweet comment – it means a lot to me.
Tina
Thank you!! I’m a new IP user and just got the “burn notice” today!! Really appreciate your suggestions for dealing with the situation when it happens, and for avoiding this error in the future. Very helpful.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Hi Tina – good timing, since I just published it yesterday! Yes, it’s fairly common so you’re not alone. I hope you’re able to work around it next dish you make. Thanks for commenting!