The invention discloses a high esterification degree ethyl alginate preparation method, which comprises: adding alginic acid to anhydrous ethanol, stirring, adding a dehydrating agent having the same molar water content as the alginic acid, adding a catalyst, carrying out stirring heating to achieve a reflux state, adding the remaining dehydrating agent in a dropwise manner when the reflux temperature is achieved, continuously carrying out a reflux reaction for 6-18 h after the remaining dehydrating agent is uniformly added in the dropwise manner within 2-4 h, completing the reaction, cooling to a room temperature, adjusting the pH to 6.5-7.0 with an alkali liquid, filtering, washing the filter cake by using an ethanol aqueous solution with a mass concentration of higher than 60%, and drying at a temperature of 40 DEG C to obtain the ethyl alginate. According to the present invention, with the ethyl alginate preparation method, the esterification degree of the prepared ethyl alginate is higher than 68% and is significantly higher than the esterification degree of the straight chain alkanol ethyl alginate prepared by using the existing technology.