The invention discloses a molten steel thermal insulating agent and belongs to the field of thermal insulating agents. The molten steel thermal insulating agent comprises the following components of,by mass, 70-100 parts of carbonized rice husk ash, 1-10 parts of carbon source and 1-30 parts of silicon source, and the carbonized rice hull ash comprises the following elements of, by mass, 2%-17% of C, 40%-60% of Si, and the balance H, O, S, Ca, Fe and P. Water of the carbonized rice husk ash is less than 3% of the total mass of the thermal insulating agent. The bulk density of the molten steelthermal insulating agent is 0.18-0.35 g/cm<3>. Compared with carbonized rice hulls of a honeycomb structure, the molten steel thermal insulating agent provided by the invention can make the surface temperature of molten steel be lowered to 0.78 DEG C.min<-1> from 1.56 DEG C.min<-1> maximally. The molten steel thermal insulating agent provided by the invention is low in heat conductivity coefficient, good in thermal insulating effect, excellent in spreadability, free of caking, and low in production cost.