Fix: Instant Pot Hissing While Cooking

We all know that instant pots are one of those kitchen appliances that are designed to make our lives easy and simple. Instant pots have gained immense popularity because of their ability to cook food instantly without any hassle. However, you must have witnessed your instant pot hissing while cooking and this weird sound may be frightening for you. And you must have thought – “should my instant pot be hissing?” We all have been there; you need not worry. Once you know the reason for its hissing, you would be able to handle the issues in a much better way.

So, why do your instant pot hiss? Is it normal and safe? How can we avoid it? We will be answering every one of these questions in this blog. Let’s get started.

Is Instant Pot Hissing Normal?

That scary hissing sound coming out of your instant pot might have made you think “should my pressure cooker be hissing?” or is it time for you discard it and buy a new instant pot altogether? Let me tell you this is normal and is an expected characteristic in almost all instant pots and pressure cookers. The instant pot’s lid is intended to remove the extra steam present inside and bring it to acceptable levels for the food to cook properly. The safety valves of your instant pots tend to open for releasing extra pressure at the time when the pressure inside the instant pot builds up.

You will often find steam coming out of instant pot lid while cooking during this phenomenon. This is also accompanied by the rattling of your instant pot’s lid sometimes. However, the instant pot hissing is supposed to happen as long as you are using it to cook something. Instant pots are the quietest in most situations since they can manage pressure more effectively, but even a little hiss is normal.

Why Do Instant Pots Make Hissing Noise?

To explain it more simply, we can say said that the instant pot making noise or hissing can be thought to be similar to that of a kettle’s hissing. Here, if we talk about the hissing of a kettle, it tends to hiss once the steam is heated enough to lift the lid on the kettle. This is accompanied by a whistle that makes it easier for the user to know if the water is ready. The same principle can be applied in the case of instant pots as well. However, when you hear your instant pot hissing, you should not conclude that the food is ready.

The steam or even a little amount of water within the instant pot is released as soon as the instant pot has come to full pressure. The instant pot does so to release small amounts of excess pressure trapped inside the pot. The instant pots can naturally resist high-pressure cooking without hissing the cooker, but it does not guarantee that the hissing would never happen.

Is It Safe If Instant Pot Is Hissing?

Yes, if your instant pot is hissing, it’s totally safe. nevertheless, there might be an issue if the hissing sound goes on for a long period. There might be a possibility that you may not have seated your instant pot properly or something may have gotten damaged. The written manual sent along with the instant pot might help you with detecting as well as troubleshooting the issue.

The instant pots, ideally, should not hiss, make noise, or rattle for lengthy durations.  It should be incredibly quiet and practically imperceptible, even if it hisses. This is attributed to the computer chips it contains that maintain a “food-acceptable” temperature and pressure inside the instant pot. The instant pot should hiss a bit after you’ve completed cooking because it is programmed to release the pressure at a quick pace.

Can A Hissing Instant Pot Explode?

The simplest yet promising answer to this question is NO. It is not going to explode if you hear your instant pot hissing. So, you can relax and not stress over it. This is because they are equipped with almost 10 safety features- Lid close detections, Leaky lid protection, Anti blockage vent, Temperature controls, High-temperature warning, Lid lock under pressure, Automatic pressure control, Excess pressure protection, Extreme temperature, and power protection, and Pressure regulator protection- that are designed specifically to protect them from such occurrences.

The features are meant to prevent the instant pots from operating in an unsafe manner. In case anything unlikely happens, the instant pot will stop right there or reduce the internal pressure automatically.

Related: Why Does My Instant Pot Say Burn?

What Might Cause An Instant Pot to Make Hissing Noise?

Here are the probable reasons that could explain your instant pot hissing while cooking or why the hissing gets out of hand or sounds odd.

1. Your Instant Pot Is Improperly Sealed

Sometimes this can only be a simple error if the pressure valve is not sealed or partially sealed before cooking. It could have opened unintentionally even if you made sure you sealed it correctly. Specific signs other than the hissing sound include the Instant pot taking extremely long to achieve high pressures. Because much of all the steam produced is released via the open valve, your food will not cook quickly too. In order to ensure that your meal is cooked properly, there must be a particular pressure maintained within the pot. Hence, it is essential to take care of this problem.

2. High-Pressure Buildup Inside the Instant Pot

As stated above, high pressure in the cooker can result in your instant pot making noise. When you hear your instant pot hissing while cooking, it is an alarm for you that there is a need to reduce the pressure within the instant pot. In this case, you may have sealed your instant pot well but somehow the valve must have got closed when you started cooking. The cooker cannot communicate to the cook, yet they may still be alarmed by the hissing sound indicating the need to lower the pressure.

3. Insufficient Liquid Inside The Instant Pot

Another reason that can lead to your instant pot hissing is there must be insufficient liquid inside it. Instant pots usually require roughly a cup of water for giving optimal performance and pressure. In instances like these, your instant pot might also begin hissing and your food won’t be correctly or quickly prepared. This also depends on your recipes because some are just going to be cooked well with 1⁄2 a cup of water. Liquid products such as tomato sauce are highly thick and need to be diluted with water or broth before boiling to provide the best possible results.

How to Stop Your Instant Pot From Making Hissing Noise?

1. Add Appropriate Liquid To The Instant Pot

In case you find your instant pot hissing while cooking, you can consider adding an appropriate amount of liquid to the instant pot. Some meals and recipes in your instant pot will need more liquid than usual. It would be prudent to add some extra broth or water to the instant pot so that it works well. If your dish becomes too watery after cooking, the Saute function is a fantastic option to minimize the amount of fluid and to thicken the meal. Otherwise, you may use flour, potato flakes, and maize starch as a thickener agent.

2. Don’t Overfill Your Instant Pot

Overfilling your instant pot has many negative impacts, including taste and texture loss. The extra pressure created from the glut of the liquid is responsible for this. Food breaks down due to excessive pressure. As far as the risks are concerned, if the pot is filled too high, the food may potentially block the pressure valve.

The risk of an over-increased pressure level starts to develop when the valve is blocked. If the safety valve becomes unable to vent adequately, this will affect the working of the lid in terms of regulating the pressure. This in turn might turn into a serious problem as the pressure inside the instant pot can grow to dangerous levels.

3. Fit The Sealing Gasket Properly

If you notice steam coming out of instant pot lid while cooking or the sealing ring is not fastened properly, you may adjust it in place. All you need to do is open the instant pot and press the sealing around the ring rack until it is securely placed. You can check and confirm if it’s placed correctly by turning the ring around the ring rack.  It is positioned and secured correctly if the ring rack is rotated about the same effort that you used to push it. Try to put it in position again if it does not rotate correctly.

Frequently Asked Questions

Final Thoughts

Instant pots should generally make no noise for most of their cooking cycles. However, they might make a hissing sound sometimes. This is normal and you don’t have to worry if you hear your instant pot making noise. It’s a part of the cooking process. But you should be concerned if the hissing continues for longer periods or sounds abnormal. It would be best for you to check for damaged or broken parts. You can also follow the aforementioned points for determining the cause for your instant pot hissing and troubleshooting the same.