Imagine this: you’re cooking with your new Instant Pot, and everything is going great. You’ve made a few dishes, and they’re tasty and easy to make. Now, you go to clean your pot. You scrub the interior metal container of the pot, and also clean the lid.

As you’re cleaning the lid, you hear a “plunk” noise. When you look down at the counter, you see that the valve from your Instant Pot has fallen off. Is your new pot broken? It is time to ditch the Instant Pot and get a new one?

Not so fast. Your Instant Pot’s valve is actually designed to pop off easily. This allows you to clean the valve periodically, which is an important and useful thing to do.

How to Fix Instant Pot Valve That Came Off

So if your valve popped off by mistake, how do you fix it? Luckily, the process is pretty easy.

Start by finding the valve. If you look at the lid of your pot and the valve is missing, try checking in your drawers or cabinets.

When you find the missing valve, turn it over the find the little hole on the bottom. You’ll see that it has a small silicone seal around it. The seal shouldn’t come off the valve. As long as the seal is still there, you’re in good shape.

Align the hole with the small metal tube on the top of the Instant Pot lid. Make sure that the horizontal part of the valve is pointing towards “Venting”.

Press the valve down to re-connect it. Turn it to Sealing, and make sure it stays on.

Good as New

Great job! Your Instant Pot should be back to working just fine. In the future, you can always remove this valve manually by switching it to Venting and gently pulling upwards on the valve. It’s a good idea to clean it periodically since food can sometimes get lodged in the little vertical tube or in the valve itself.