Burn on Instant Pot - What to Do + Video Guide

Whether you’re new to cooking in your Instant Pot or you’ve been using it a long time like I have, there’s nothing worse than seeing the dreaded BURN on Instant Pot! Well let me share what I’ve learned over the almost 2 years and 101+ Instant Pot recipes too.

First, Watch this Video where I show you exactly how to prevent the Instant Pot burn message. This can happen with a Ninja Foodi too when using the pressure cooker function. The main reason is that you have stuck on food left on the bottom of your inner pot, that’s a no no.

Once you get the hang of this you won’t even think about it, it will just become second nature after that. It only takes a minute or two after sauteeing especially meat.

How to Fix Burn Notice Video

What does it mean when Instant Pot says burn?

When it first happens you will or probably already have freaked out and not know what to do or how it even happened. Especially if you open it up and nothing is in fact burning….what does it even mean?? I can say it hasn’t happened to me very often, but it has happened on occasion. The first thing you need to wrap your head around when you are learning how to use your Instant Pot is that you need liquid inside your pot or the burn warning will turn on for sure.

Can I ignore burn message on Instant Pot?

No, it will turn off and stop cooking when this alert pop up on the screen. You have to do something or it will stop and just sit there. You can save the meal still but of course it is better to avoid it to begin with. A bit of extra liquid and scraping the bottom of the pot usually does the trick but it will have to reach pressure all over again after.

Instant Pot Burn Message after Saute

So….that is tip #1, if there isn’t enough liquid the Instant Pot burn message will surely appear on your Instant Pot screen for sure. Tip #2, many times this is a false alarm and nothing is in fact burning so don’t worry….we can fix it! Tip #3 you need to deglaze your Instant Pot after cooking meat, here’s how to do that.

Instant Pot Food Burn Reset

How to Fix

If you don’t have enough liquid in your pot – as stated above
1. Solution – open the lid then:
  1. ensure there isn’t burnt food inside
  2. another 1/2 cup of liquid
  3. make sure sealing ring is in place
  4. close lid and steam valve again
  5. press off/cancel
  6. set your pressure high/low again
  7. set your time again

Something is burning
1. Solution – open your pot and remove your food, salvage what you can
2. Next time:
  1. make sure to Instant Pot pulled pork (<—-instructions in this post) after searing/cooking meat
  2. leave meat on the bottom and do not stir contents when setting pressure, see how I explain it with my Instant Pot spaghetti

2. If you haven’t deglazed your Instant Pot – after cooking, and especially after searing meat on the saute function you need to do this

Solution – remove meat, turn pot off/cancel & scrape the bottom to remove food stuck to bottom of the pot
1. 1. allow pot to cool
  2. return meat (and other ingredients) to pot
  3. put lid on and close pressure valve again
  4. set to pressure high/low again
  5. resume cooking and that should solve the problem
You’ve used thick sauces – this isn’t recommended when pressure cooking, thick tomato sauce or honey bbq sauce are often culprits

There’s something stuck on your heating element – lift pot up and check underneath for this

I will say that in the years I have been using my Instant Pot I have only maybe had the burn notice come on a handful of times, and I use it almost every day. Once I understood that liquid was key it helped a lot.

Also, most of the time burn came on there was nothing in fact burning so don’t freak out. If you read and understand the reasons why your Instant Pot says burn you will have a lot better chance avoiding burn on Instant Pot machines in the future and enjoying your pressure cooker on a daily basis like we do.