Category: Tips

Ditch the basket and flip that trivet. It will give you more air flow and surface area.

if you take the trivet by it’s handles and bring them down and under the flat part they will act as legs and your food will set closer to the top of the bot, closer to the lid. If you look through the holes on the rack, you will se it under there.

For larger pieces, you don’t even need the rack, thighs and things like fish chops or steaks will fir on the inverted trivet.

I’m adding several of my recipes at the bottom that are common trouble makers for others but the methods are the Key to success.
Also, am adding the Link to my PIP tips. PIP Pot In Pot Tips, Reasons, methods and uses.
land one more tip… About the 2 cup rule IP Tip:

It does appear that some of the newer models of Instant Pot Have more sensitive sensors. But I wonder something. Do you get the notice with just water? Answer…Not usually.
First thing of note, is to Never Ever (even though some of the older recipes may suggest it, but the IPs have changed and they just cant deal with it. I think that they heat up faster which isnt good for “cream of” soups.
These are some reasons for the Burn notice, and ways to avoid it.
Sometimes, if you have used the Pot for cooking something else, you may want to rinse the Lid and ring in Cold Water before putting it back on the Pot because that puts the Ring back into shape so that it will allow the Pot to Seal normally and quickly.

Of course, stating the Obvious, if you have the type that is a manually operating VENT, make sure that it is turned to the “Sealing” Position. If it is the Auto Seal model, it will Seal on its own.
Secondly, check the position of your Ring before putting the Lid on. It needs to straddle the Metal Ring, run your Finger around it to be sure it is seated in the Lid well before putting it on the Pot. Occasionally they will become loose and will need replacing.. try freezing for half hour if you develop a problem with it and replace as necessary.. an improperly fitting Sealing Ring can cause Steam to come out the sides of the Lid. Not normal and can run the Pot out of Water causing the “BURN”.

While I have had the “Burn” notice on One or Two of my Many Pots, (10 ish over the years) I don’t get them. Is it the way I COOK? Hmmm, something to think about.

You may have heard of layering right? Also having “enough Water or clear liquid”.. (meaning brat diet clear).. not to worry, the boiling action in the Pot will mix your sauces in. But after it seals. It’s still boiling inside, put your ear to down close to it.. after the Pin pops up, you will hear it.
However, there may be more to it than that.
My key is a combination of all of them.: The Steam, the Liquid, along with the Veggies that I call Water Veggies, creates liquid….the Meat will create liquid too. Another key issue is that even if you do it all right, and you have a lot of meat or weight on the top of these Water Veggies, the Weight sometimes pushes the Veggies onto the Bottom causing some to Scorch. The FIX for this is to use a long legged trivet set down into the Veggies and place the Meat on top of that.
Many times you will end up with a lot of Liquid in the Pot after they cook down, so figuring out how much Liquid is just enough to still allow the Pin to pop up in a normal amount of time (10 ish min) before the Water runs out from the boil is key. Note… Organic raised Meat does not give off as much liquid as non Organic, so you will need more upfront liquid in the Pot. Make sense.?
At first, while your getting used to what the Pot does, put the 1 c clear liquid in for the 6 q pot and 1 1/2 c. in the 8 q.
Putting too much water in in the beginning, along with Veggies that specifically create Liquid when cooked (Mushrooms, Onions, Cabbage, leafy Veggies, Celery, etc…. ) can create Soup when you don’t want soup .

“TO STIR OR NOT TO STIR”. Items like Gravy Packets, Dressing Packets, Spaghetti Sauces or other Thick Sauces, and “Cream of” Soups all have thickening agents and since you cannot stir while the pot is cooking, these and some other things should go under the “add on top and DO NOT STIR” category. Stir these Trouble making Stinkers in after. ?

So……LIQUID, CLEAN BOTTOM, LAYERING, AND COOK TIME.

About the LIQUID… what about the “2 cup rule”.?
First off, there are a couple of manuals out there and one of them is flat wrong. It will make soup out of your food. I for one don’t always want SOUP. See below pics:

I hope this can help some of you with your “BURN” notices.
some Folks think that it’s because there is not enough clear liquids OR just bad recipes, but it isn’t always the case.

About the Clean Bottom. ….This is very important. Since the heat sensor is in the middle of the heat plate in the bottom on the Base, it is designed to gauge the temperature of the stainless pot and it’s contents. The sensor constantly measures the temperature and it will click power on and off accordingly in order to maintain its heat, just like stove top cooking does…example would be, medium setting. The unit stays at an even temp at medium heat clicking off and on to achieve medium. Same with the pot.
We all know that one of the saftey features of the IP is to prevent overheating. If there is any food burnt or stuck to the bottom of the stainless steel Pot, basically coating it, this interferes with the heat sensor readings. It actually adds thickness to the pot and then makes the Sensor think that it is too hot and the burn notice will kick in, often times shutting the Pot OFF.
It is also critical to deglaze the Pots bttom BEFORE putting the lid on. This gives it the best chance of making it to pressure before the BURN notice kicks on. When the pot is on HI pressure, it kicks into full gear, Hi boil, forcing it to come to pressure.
There are also times when the Burn notice will appear, (where scortching is borderline) and the pot will correct itself and continue the count down regardless, but it may still have a little bit of scorching on the bottom, which may come up and mix in after the food has set for a few minutes after cooking. Not always undesirable. Sometimes I just ignore it, and turn a Timer on IF that Pin is up. I will put the time to 30 min because most things are done by then.

If you are not using a lot of liquid in the IP to create the Steam, then it’s a race, of calculating if you will have just enough Liquid in the Veggies that will sweat out and fast enough to create the Steam, breaking down the Veggies further and fast enough to pop the Pin up without burning or scorching first. Your Meat also adds Liquid as it cooks, so eventually you will know that for example… Chicken, usually will create at least 1/4-1/2 c Liquid on top of the Liquid that you add to the pot to cook it with. You may start with 1 c Broth or Water and end up with 1 1/4- 1 1/2 c Liquid when it’s done. (Organic won’t do this. It doesn’t give up as much as regular store bought, because Liquid is added to theirs)…..So in a dish with…let’s pick Chicken and Rice together, your Rice takes 1 c rice to 1 c water, your Chicken adds 1/4 to 1/2 so your Rice will be absorbing 1 c. This leaves the Chicken Liquid, adding 1/4 c to your Liquid. Your Onions and Celery also add Liquid, so all of this will make for soggy Rice, so unless you adjust your amount of liquid that you add, you could end up with sog…. but you still need at least that 1 c liquid to get the pot to come to pressure. Right? This is where you count on the veggies giving up some of their Liquid and the Chiicken to give up some of its before it seals, thus the race is on. For this, I usually subtract 1 tbsp water from my cup of liquid……Hopefully it will seal before boiling away too much Steam which reduces the amount of Liquid needed to seal that Pot. Sometimes you get the Burn notice anyway and it will fix itself if the Cook Time is set to like 4 min, counting on about 25 min for NPR to finish cooking the Meat. Works for me every time…I never have rubber Chicken and it is always done. Check out my Chicken Cacciatore recipe. Chicken Cacciatore IP.
also check out my rice-a-roni recipe with or without chicken. Rice a Roni IP with or without Chicken.
And then there is the famous “Stroganoff”. Stroganoff IP. Here is another Delicious and Successful Recipe that could give the “sensitive Pot” the Burn notice, but as long as it is After the pin goes up then leave it go to continue cooking for 4 min and allow for the full NPR time on the Recipe. Braised Pork Thai style. Now this one is typically served in a Hot Pot style Ceramic Bowl, and the Rice, like with the perfect Paella, is Purposely encouraged to be a bit crunchy on the Bottom. The trick in the IP is not too much, if at all. Braised Pork Thai Style with Calrose Rice. IP

The bottom Picture is an example of the amount of Broth is created by all of the Veggies added for Pot Roast, using very little Liquid in the Pot to start with. I ONLY ADDED 1/2-3/4 c of Liquid to begin with, so almost all it comes from the Veggies and the Meat itself.

Cube Steak or Swiss steak IP

Here is the recipe for my Pot Roast in the pic below with the cream and mushrooms below.. another pic is just the Broth created from the Roast and Veggies.

#3 pot roast With Mushrooms and Cream

I think that everyone dreads the Stinky ring. Right.
Some people even have separate rings for savory, and for sweet.
When the Instant Pot pressurizes, the molecules of the food that you are cooking become trapped in the silicone ring as it expands under pressure and stay trapped as it cools, so it only stands to reason that the way to get the smell out is to re expand the ring with fresh, clean food. Rice does the trick.

Some people offer ideas to remove the smell such as setting it in the sun. Which works, but if you don’t have time to wait all day, or if you live in the Pacific Northwest where sun is not always available there is another solution….
Make some Rice! Yes Rice. Oatmeal Works too. Rice is more forgiving because it’s ok if it tastes a tad bit savory, which we don’t notice most of the time… (Sometimes it takes two batches), it not only takes out the smell, but it also refreshes the color. ?

simply use a food processor to blend until smooth and replace cup for cup in recipes.