My Instant Pot Ring Smells Like Curry
A pressure cooker sealing ring that holds the smell of every strong meal it has cooked
The short answer
The ring is not dirty. It is doing what silicone does: its surface takes on the oils from strong food, and no wash fully removes them. The maker's own guidance is the fix: rings wear out and should be replaced every 12 to 18 months, sooner when they hold odors. Buy the genuine two-pack, keep one ring for savory food and one for sweet, and you solve the smell by swapping rings rather than by scrubbing. No star rating is printed for this product, for reasons the evidence section explains.
Why does this happen?
Silicone looks solid and behaves like a sponge at a microscopic scale. Steam and pressure drive spice oils into its surface layer, and the ring then gives that smell to the next mild food you cook. Yogurt and cheesecake are the famous examples.
The ring is also the seal. A stretched or worn ring leaks steam at the rim, slows pressurizing, and eventually fails to seal at all. The smell is an early sign of the same aging that ends in a leak.
Third-party rings are the risk in this category. The fit varies by a millimeter, and that millimeter matters. Odor complaints arrive earlier, and the cooker maker treats non-genuine rings as outside its warranty. The savings are small. The fit is the whole point of the product, and that is the risk: a bad fit can mean a ring that leaks or takes on smells sooner.
The fix, in order
The steps are ordered cheapest first. Stop at the one that solves it and skip the rest; the product is there only for where the free steps run out.
Free step
Air and soak the ring you have
Wash the ring, soak it in vinegar and water, and dry it in sunlight if you can. Store the lid upside down so the ring airs instead of sitting in moisture. This buys you time. It does not make the ring new again.
Free step
Check the age of the ring
If the ring is past a year of regular use, or still holds odor after the soak, it is time to replace it, by the maker's guidance. Keeping on with it will spoil more meals than a new ring costs.
The product step
Fit the genuine two pack
Match the size to the pot model exactly, seat one ring marked for savory cooking, keep the second for sweet and neutral food, and swap them at the lid in seconds. Mark the savory ring with a dot of food-safe marker so everyone who cooks knows which ring is which.
The product for this step
Instant Pot genuine sealing ring, 2 pack
The evidence, in tiers
Tier 1 · The method
The method is the manufacturer's own: Instant Pot's care guidance sets sealing ring replacement at 12 to 18 months, or 6 to 12 where the ring holds odors, and attributes odor retention to the nature of silicone. That guidance comes from the maker, who has no reason to sell you a rival ring, and it is the basis of this page.
Tier 2 · This product
No star rating is printed for this ring because we could not check the figure against the original listing for this guide: listings are split by pot size and the rating combines them, so any number printed here would not be reliable. What the listing record does show, read in November 2026, is Amazon's Choice status for the genuine two pack and more than a thousand bought in the past month, which is a sales record rather than a score. We have not fitted this ring for this guide, and no claim is made here that we have.
Ring sizes follow model lines, and the 6 quart ring does not fit the 8. The model number is on the back of the cooker; buy from that, not from memory.
Tier 3 · What owners report
Owners who rotate two rings report the odor transfer gone, which is what the maker's replacement schedule would lead you to expect. Reviews of third-party rings carry the early odor and fit complaints the maker warns about, in numbers large enough to show this is the general view.
The alternatives, conceded where they win
| Option | What it is | The honest verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Genuine sealing ring, 2 pack | Maker made, model sized, rotation ready | The pick: fit guaranteed by the maker, warranty intact, rotation solves the smell. |
| Third party rings, multi pack | Unbranded silicone, cheaper per ring | More rings for less money, and the reviews carry the fit and odor complaints. It saves money in the wrong place, on a pressure seal. |
| One genuine ring | Single replacement | Entirely fine if the pot never cooks sweet or neutral food; the second ring is for the rotation, not the seal. |
| Deep cleaning the old ring forever | Soaks, sunlight, dishwasher cycles | Each round helps less as the ring ages. It delays replacing a part that is meant to be replaced. It does not remove the need to replace it. |
The honest price comparison
Write the month on the new ring's box. When the savory ring still smells after a wash at the six-month mark, it has done its job and the next two-pack is due, not another soak.
Where it falls short
The weaknesses below come from the product's own review record, the same record the recommendation rests on.
- It is a recurring consumable cost, small but permanent, and the page will not pretend otherwise.
- Sizing across model lines confuses buyers; the wrong size is the most common return.
- Rotation only works if cooks remember which ring is which; mark them.
- A new ring takes a cook or two before it seats as easily as the old one did.
The product, in short
Instant Pot genuine sealing ring, 2 pack
Questions people ask next
Why does the ring hold smells so stubbornly?
Because silicone absorbs volatile oils into its surface under heat and pressure. Washing cleans the surface; the absorbed oils leave slowly, which is why sunlight and air help and why replacement is scheduled.
Can I run the ring through the dishwasher?
Yes, top rack. It helps with surface soil and does little for absorbed odor, and that is true of every cleaning method for this part.
Steam leaks around my lid. Is that the ring?
Often, yes, especially on an older ring that has stretched. Check the ring is seated evenly all the way round first; if a seated, aging ring still leaks, replacement is the fix. The float valve and steam valve have their own checks in the manual.
Do I need different rings for yogurt and curry?
'Need' is a strong word, but swapping rings is the difference between yogurt that tastes like yogurt and yogurt that faintly tastes of curry. The two-pack exists for this exact reason.
Instant Pot care guidance on sealing ring replacement and odor · Amazon listing record for the genuine sealing ring two pack (November 2026) · Instant Pot model sizing documentation
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