<p>The disclosed induction cooker comprises: a top plate on which a cooking vessel is placed; an inverter that is provided under the top plate and contains an induction heating coil that heats the cooking vessel; a control unit that controls the inverter; and an infrared sensor, provided under the top plate, that detects infrared radiation that is emitted from the bottom of the cooking vessel and goes through the top plate. The infrared sensor outputs a voltage corresponding to the temperature of the bottom of the cooking vessel. The control unit is provided with: a cooking-state determination sequence that determines the amount of water in the cooking vessel; a scorch sensing unit that determines that food has burnt and become stuck to the bottom of the cooking vessel; and a cooking-vessel sensing unit that determines from the operating state of the inverter whether or not a cooking vessel is present. If the cooking-vessel sensing unit senses that the cooking vessel has been removed mid-cooking, the determination of the cooking-state determination sequence is reset.</p>
