In order to maintain the physico-chemical stability of clove essential oil (CEO) during food processing and storage, and to decrease the adverse effects of CEO on food sensory qualities, prepared chitosan-TPP nanoparticles loaded with CEO by ionic gelation. The preparation process and the physicochemical characteristics of CEO-loaded chitosan nanoparticles were investigated. The results showed that the optimized encapsulation process were as followed: the pH of chitosan solution of 4.5, the mass ratio of clove essential oil to chitosan 0.81.0, mass ratio of chitosan to sodium tripolyphosphate 51. The encapsulation efficiency of CEO in chitosan nanoparticles was 40.2%, and the average parti-cle size was 175 nm. Encapsulation of clove essential oil by nanocapsule technology can effectively improve the stability of clove essential oil in food processing and expand its application in food industry.