SummaryIn this paper, a non‐intrusive stochastic model reduction scheme is developed for polynomial chaos representation using proper orthogonal decomposition. The main idea is to extract the optimal orthogonal basis via inexpensive calculations on a coarse mesh and then use them for the fine‐scale analysis. To validate the developed reduced‐order model, the method is implemented to: (1) the stochastic steady‐state heat diffusion in a square slab; (2) the incompressible, two‐dimensional laminar boundary‐layer over a flat plate with uncertainties in free‐stream velocity and physical properties; and (3) the highly nonlinear Ackley function with uncertain coefficients. For the heat diffusion problem, the thermal conductivity of the slab is assumed to be a stochastic field with known exponential covariance function and approximated via the Karhunen–Loève expansion. In all three test cases, the input random parameters are assumed to be uniformly distributed, and a polynomial chaos expansion is found using the regression method. The Sobol's quasi‐random sequence is used to generate the sample points. The numerical results of the three test cases show that the non‐intrusive model reduction scheme is able to produce satisfactory results for the statistical quantities of interest. It is found that the developed non‐intrusive model reduction scheme is computationally more efficient than the classical polynomial chaos expansion for uncertainty quantification of stochastic problems. The performance of the developed scheme becomes more apparent for the problems with larger stochastic dimensions and those requiring higher polynomial order for the stochastic discretization. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.