Abstract In order to study the mechanism of arabinoxylan (AX) delaying the aging of steamed bread, the effects of AX on gelatinization, texture and starch crystallinity of steamed bread were analyzed. The results were as follows: as the storage time of steamed bread extended, the hardness and chewiness of steamed bread decreased successively in the control group, water extract AX group and enzyme extract AX group. The gelatinization of flour was decreased by both water and WEAX and EEAX, and a significant effect were observed in EEAX group. In the storage process of steamed bread, AX could inhibit the crystallinity rate of amylopectin in the freeze-dried powder of steamed bread, and the overall change range of ΔH was lower than that of control. The x-diffraction results showed that adding AX could reduce the crystallinity of steamed bread. Hence, it delays the retrogradation process and thus delay the aging of steamed bread. These results suggest that Arabinoxylan can be used as a novel additive in CSB industry, not only for the nutritional value, but also the anti-staling effect.