A method for simultaneous determination of 17 kinds of phthalate esters in capsanthin was developed by QuEChERS(quick, easy, cheap, effective, ruggedand safe) pretreatment method coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry(GC-MS). Capsanthin samples were extracted with acetonitrile, then sodium chloride and anhydrous magnesium sulfatewas added for salting out. And the extracting liquids were cleansed by florisil, then the supernatants were analyzed by GC-MS. The limits of detection(LOD) and limits of quantitation(LOQ) ranged from 0.2 to 0.5μg/g and 0.6 to 1.5μg/g, respectively. DMP, DEP, DAP, DIBP, DBP, BMPP, DPP, DHXP and DCHP in the range of 0.2-10μg/g, DMEP, DEEP, BBP, DBEP, DEHP, DPhP, DNOP and DNP in the range of 0.5-20μg/g and all had good linearity and the linear correlation coefficients (R 2) were more than 0.995. The average recoveries of 17 kinds of PAEs of the three levels were between 82.8% and 118.1%, and the relative standard deviations(RSDs) were between 0.12% and 7.3%. It is a simple,rapid,accurate and reliable method for rapid detection of PAEs in large quantities of natural plant extract samples.