The invention discloses a preparation method of L-pyroglutamic acid. The method comprises the following steps: (1) adding glutamic acid or hydrolyzed recovery material into a reaction kettle and then heating, controlling the temperature to be 145-150 DEG C, carrying out intermittent mixing, and enabling the mixture to be completely dissolved so as to obtain feed liquid; adding purified water into the feed liquid, crystallizing for a plurality of times and centrifuging, merging crystallized products to obtain solid A, and merging mother liquor to obtain liquid 1; (2) heating the solid A up to 35-45 DEG C in a solvent, enabling the solid A to be completely dissolved and then sending the dissolved product to a bleaching tank, heating up to 65-75 DEG C, then adding activated carbon, absorbing under the condition of heat preservation, and filtering to obtain a decolored solution; carrying out cooling crystallization on the decolored solution and then centrifuging to obtain a wet product; recycling crystallization mother liquor for a plurality of times, concentrating and recrystallizing to obtain solid B and liquid 2; (3) carrying out vacuum drying on the wet product at the temperature of 80-85 DEG C; after drying is finished, cooling, and detecting to obtain the L-pyroglutamic acid. The method is simple in production technology, mild in reaction conditions, high in product yield and purity, free from emission of pollutants and wastes, and convenient for large-scale continuous production.