Objective To establish a method for determination of patulin in rice bran by ultra performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). Methods The patulin from rice bran samples were extracted with ethyl acetate, purified by a solid phase extraction cartridge, eluted with the mobile phase of 0.1% formic acid solution and acetonitrile, separated on the Luna®Omega Polar C₁₈ column (100 mm×2.1 mm, 3 μm), then analyzed in positive and negative ion mode of electrospray ionization source under multiple reaction monitoring mode, quantified by matrix matching curve external standard. Results In the range of 25.0-250.0 μg/L, the peak area of patulin was linearly correlated with the content, and the correlation coefficient (r²) was 0.9993. The limit of detection was 3.0 μg/kg, limit of quantitation was 10.0 μg/kg. Meanwhile, the average recoveries of patulin in rice bran were 86.7%-96.5% with the maximum relative standard deviations of 6.2% at the spiked concentration of 25.0, 50.0, 250.0 μg/kg. Conclusion This study establishes an efficient detection method for patulin in rice bran. This method has high precision and accuracy, and is simple to operate and has high analytical efficiency at the same time. The research results provide technical support for formulating the determination standard of patulin in rice bran and related quality control specifications.