To establish a detection method for paraquat residues in bamboo shoots by ultra performance liquid chromatography-tandem with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry. Methods Samples were extracted with methanol-0.1 mol/L hydrochloric acid solution(1∶1,V/V). After cleaned up with Oasis WCX solid phase extraction columns(60 mg/3 ml), samples were separated in UPLC BEH HILIC column(100 mm×2.1 mm,1.7 μm). The analytes were detected with mass spectrometer in multiple reaction monitoring mode with external standard. Results It showed good linearity with the correlation coefficients of 0.998 2 in the range of 10-500 μg/L. The limit of detection was 2 μg/kg and the limit of quantitation was 5 μg/kg. Under 5,0 and 200 μg/kg spiked levels, the recoveries ranged from 82.2% to 104.8% with the relative standard deviation (RSD) of 8.3%-10.9%. Conclusion The results indicated that this method was simple, rapid, sensitive and suitable for the determination of paraquat residues in bamboo shoots.