Did you know you can sterilize jars in an Instant Pot? It’s a quick, easy, fuss-free way to ensure your glass jars are ready to store your delicious homemade preserves.
In this article, we show you a step-by-step guide on how to safely sterilize your glass jars in your Instant Pot.
What is an Instant Pot?
An Instant Pot is a multi cooker with lots of different functions. They can sterilize, pressure cook, steam and slow cook – they can even make yogurt and cook rice.
Certain Instant Pots have a sterilize function. These include Duo Plus, Viva, Ultra. Older models can sterilize glass jars using the ‘steam’ or ‘pressure cook’ functions.
Absolutely! Instant Pots are a great way to sterilize your preserve jars. As they reach very high temperatures in a pressurized container, they are able to kill 99.99% of bacteria.
Best of all, sterilizing jars in an Instant Pot is extremely easy and quick.
What about metal lids?
Yes, you can sterilize metal lids in an Instant Pot. Make sure you unscrew them from the jars and place them separately on the rack inside the Instant Pot. if they are sealed on the jars when sterilizing, the pressure may cause the glass jars to explode inside the appliance.
If you have a Kilner jar with rubber rings in the lid, remove these and sterilize them in boiling water for 3 minutes.
📖 Recipe
How to sterilize jars in an Instant Pot
Yield: sterlized jars
Prep Time: 2 minutes
Active Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 2 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Estimated Cost: $0.50
Here’s our step-by-step guide on how to sterilize glass jars and bottles in an Instant Pot.
Tools
Instant Pot
Glass Jars
Lids
Instructions
Thoroughly wash your empty glass jars with soap and hot water. Rinse them properly, making sure to remove all soapy suds. Remove rubber rings – these can be sterilized in boiling water for 3 minutes.
Fill your instant pot with water. The amount of water depends on the size of your Instant Pot. As a guide, use the following: 250ml (1 cup) for a 3-quart Instant Pot, 500ml (2 cups) for a 6-quart Instant Pot, 750ml (3 cups) for an 8-quart Instant Pot, and 1 liter (4 cups) for a 10-quart Instant Pot.
Insert a steam rack or basket to prevent the jars from touching the base of the Instant Pot. This could either crack the jar or cause the Instant Pot to malfunction.
Place your jars upside down in the instant pot. You can also sterilize metal lids, but don’t place them on the jars when you sterilize them. Leave them loose inside your Instant Pot.
Close the lid of the instant pot, making sure it is properly sealed.
Modern Instant Pots have a sterilize function, but you can still use older models. Select either ‘sterilize’ (modern Instant Pots), or ‘steam’ or ‘pressure cook’ (older Instant Pots) and set time for 15 minutes.
When the sterilization process is complete, release the pressure valve on your instant pot. Allow the instant pot to cool down for about 5 minutes and then remove the jars and lids using a jar lifter or tongs.
Fill the jars with your preserve immediately, while they are still warm.
Place your jars and lids upside down in the instant pot. Close the lid of the instant pot, making sure it is properly sealed. Select either 'sterilize', 'steam' or 'pressure cook', depending on your instant pot model. When the sterilization process is complete, release the pressure valve on your instant pot.
Modern Instant Pots have a sterilize function, but you can still use older models. Select either 'sterilize' (modern Instant Pots), or 'steam' or 'pressure cook' (older Instant Pots) and set time for 15 minutes. When the sterilization process is complete, release the pressure valve on your instant pot.
Experiments carried out at Sao Paulo University indicated that a pressure cooker is comparable in efficiency to an autoclave and can reach temperatures required to destroy bacilli. The efficiency of deep sterilization was tested by using a piece of gauze contaminated with bacillus subtilis spores.
Water is necessary to create steam in the instant pot. When water changes phase from liquid to vapor (steam) it expands approx. 1000x in volume; this is what brings the pressure up in the instant pot and allows for higher temperatures to sterilize the grain.
In fact, if you do process jars in your instant pot, it can actually hurt the quality of the foods inside the jars. At noted above, the instant pot max reaches pressures of 10 to 12 psi, which while not hot enough for pressure canning, is much hotter than a boiling water bath canner.
Place your jars and lids upside down in the instant pot. Close the lid of the instant pot, making sure it is properly sealed. Select either 'sterilize', 'steam' or 'pressure cook', depending on your instant pot model. When the sterilization process is complete, release the pressure valve on your instant pot.
Fill the canner and jars with hot (not boiling) water to 1 inch above the tops of the jars. Boil 10 minutes at elevations of less than 1,000 ft.At higher elevations, boil 1 additional minute for each additional 1,000 ft.elevation.
An Instant Pot can almost perform "scientific-grade sterilization", it can steam sterilize for the purpose of food, and medicine, from the CDC, Recognized minimum exposure periods for sterilization of wrapped healthcare supplies are 30 minutes at 121°C (250°F) [...]
Following the manufacturer's instructions, seal the pressure cooker and heat it on a burner. Stove burners, electric fifth burners, or kitchen hot plates tend to heat pressure cookers more quickly than than laboratory hot plates do. Keep at 15 psi for at least 15 min.
I prefer to use the oven sterilization method (as opposed to the hot water method) which is as follows: Preheat your oven to 275 degrees. Wash each canning jar or mason jar and lid with hot soapy water then rinse but don't dry them. Place each clean jar on a baking tray and place in the oven for 10 minutes.
Ensure that the soil is no higher than four inches deep and cover each pan with foil. Then, close the lid while leaving the steam valve open just enough so that the steam can escape; when that happens, it is time to close the pressure cooker and heat the soil at 10 pounds of pressure for 15 to 30 minutes.
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