Instant Pot Trivet Beginner’s Guide

What is a trivet?

An Instant Pot trivet is a stainless steel rack that holds food or food containers above the liquid in the inner pot. 

The instant pot trivet with handles has two metal hinges on the sides. They act as handles for you to lift the trivet with the cooked food or containers out of the Instant Pot.

This tool is particularly useful for steaming, pressure-steaming, and cooking with the Pot-in-Pot (PIP) method.

Does Instant Pot come with a trivet?

You can use a trivet in Instant Pot to cook a wide variety of dishes such as cheesecakes, lasagna, ribs, bread, vegetables, and pot-in-pot rice. It’s also great for preserving more nutrients and retaining more flavors.

1) Making Cheesecakes, Lasagna, Bread

If you’re making recipes such as Instant Pot Cheesecake #17, Instant Pot Lasagna, or Instant Pot Bread #15 in a springform pan or push bottom cake pan, you’ll need to put the cake pan on a trivet in Instant Pot to keep it away from the water.

2) Preserve more nutrients

Steaming on a trivet is one of the best cooking methods for retaining vitamin C content in vegetables. In this study, researchers have found steaming will retain up to 40% more vitamin C when compared to boiling.

Since water-soluble vitamins such as vitamin C can leach into the cooking liquid, it’s best to steam the vegetables on a trivet to retain more nutrients. Unless you’re drinking the cooking liquid as well!

3) Retain more flavor

Putting meat on a trivet can prevent some of the meat flavors from leeching into the plain liquid, unless the cooking liquid is well seasoned or will be consumed with the meat.

For example, in our easy Instant Pot Ribs Recipe, we placed the baby back ribs on a steamer rack because the cooking liquid is mainly just water.

Using the Instant Pot trivet is super easy! The two hinges are only used as handles becuase they aren’t stable enough to stand or act as legs.

Correct way to place the trivet in Instant Pot:

Incorrect way to place trivet in Instant Pot:

You can mainly use the trivet for pressure steaming and the pot-in-pot method.

1. Pressure Steaming

This pressure steaming method is very common for cooking a wide variety of food. It helps retain more nutrients or flavor.

5 Steps to Use a Trivet for Pressure Steaming:

1. Place trivet and 1 cup of water in the Instant Pot’s inner pot.
2. Put food on top of the trivet in Instant Pot, then close the lid.
3. Turn the Venting Knob from Venting Position to Sealing Position.
4. Press the “Manual” or “Pressure Cook” button, then set the pressure cooking time.
5. When pressure cooking cycle is done, release the pressure by turning the Venting Knob from Sealing Position to Venting Position. Then open the lid.

*Pro Tip: In order to cook with a trivet in Instant Pot, you must add some liquid such as water in the inner pot. 1 cup (250ml) of water is usually enough. 

How hot can food get on a trivet in Instant Pot?

We conducted a few experiments in our Test Kitchen using the official trivet for Instant Pot. We found that pressure steaming food in the Instant Pot can reach 233°F (111.7°C) on a trivet.

2. Pot in Pot Method

The Pot-in-Pot (PIP) cooking method is one of the best ways to reheat food with thick liquid in the Instant Pot.

You can use this PIP method to cook both main and side dishes in the same pot at the same time.

It’s also a great way to avoid triggering Instant Pot’s burn message when cooking with thicker liquid.

How to use Trivet for the Pot in Pot Method:

1. Place trivet and 1 cup of water in the Instant Pot’s inner pot.
2. Put food in an oven-safe container.
3. Place food container on trivet, then close lid. For more gentle cooking, you can cover the food container with a lid or aluminum foil.
4. Turn the Venting Knob from Venting Position to Sealing Position.
5. Press the “Manual” or “Pressure Cook” button, then set the pressure cooking time.
6. When pressure cooking cycle is done, release pressure by turning Venting Knob from Sealing Position to Venting Position. Then open the lid.

*Pro Tip: You’ll probably need to increase the pressure cooking time depending on your food container’s material.

Read more about the Pot-in-Pot Method: Instant Pot Pot in Pot Rice

Instant Pot Trivet Substitute