The aim of this work was to study the effect of the modified atmosphere packaging and lemon grass essential oil which can inhibit bacterial growth on the quality-keeping packaging of steamed bread. Through the precise control of gas mixing ratios and lemon grass oil amount, the steamed bread was packaged, and its key quality indicators of pH and the total number of colonies were regularly tested. According to the evaluation indexes, the optimal atmosphere packaging gas ratio was N2(30% ) + CO2(70% ), and the lemon grass oil addition was 6 μ L. In conclusion, modified atmosphere N2(30%)+CO2(70%), lemon grass essential oil (6 μL) and their combination were applied to steamed bread packaging, and obviously prolonged the shelf life.