Abstract: The atmospheric plasma discharge technology was adopted in this study to treat the surface of pre-processed chicken,of which sterilization process was studied while keeping the flavor of product. Based on the measurement of the sterilization rate and sensory evaluation,the single-factor test,such as discharge power,treatment time and gas flow,was investigated,then further optimized by response surface method. The results indicated that,the optimized parameters for atmospheric plasma discharge technology treatment of pre-processed chicken were gas flow rate of 40 L/min,discharge time of 52 s and discharge power of 450 W,reached experimental sterilization rate of 96.34%±0.32%,nearing the theoretical values by 3.04% difference. These data indicated that atmospheric plasma technology could treat food surface in a nonthermal condition with significant sterilized effect.