A evaporative light-scattering detector(ELSD)-hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatographic method was developed for determination of sodium glutamate in monosodium glutamate and chicken essence.Methods A Venusil HILIC (4.6 mm×250 mm, 5 μm) column at 30 ℃ was used to separate the target compound. 0.02 mol/L ammonium acetate (glacial acetic acid adjust pH=4.5)-acetonitrile (20∶80, V/V) was used as mobile phase with the flow rate of 1.5 ml/min. The target compound was detected by ELSD. Water was used for ultrasonic extracting sodium glutamate in samples. The solution was analyzed by HPLC after filtration. Results Sodium glutamate showed good linearity with the detection range of 6.0-20 g/L. The spiked recoveries into monosodium glutamate and chicken essence were respectively 98.5% and 94.7% and relative standard deviations (RSDs) were respectively 1.07% and 2.14% (n=5).Conclusion The method could be used for determination of sodium glutamate in monosodium glutamate and chicken essence.