The invention relates to the field of fish foodstuff processing, in particular to instant cold sour fish and a preparation method thereof. The cold sour fish comprises, by weight, 95-105 parts of fillets, 1-2.5 parts of salt, 0.05-0.5 part of citrus cooking wine, 0.02-0.6 part of citrus seasoning vinegar, 0.01-0.4 part of citrus fish steaming extract, 0.5-5 parts of mixed sauce, 2-3 parts of staphylococcus xylosus liquid and 1-2 parts of mixed culture liquid of lactobacillus plantarum and pediococcus acidilactici, wherein the salt, the citrus cooking wine, the citrus seasoning vinegar and the citrus fish steaming extract serve as curing materials. The cold sour fish is manufactured through the steps of vacuum rolling, malaxating and curing, cold air drying, freezing, settling and slitting, curing and fermentation, vacuum package and cold sterilization. According to the instant cold sour fish and the preparation method thereof, the unique citrus fish extract, the citrus cooking wine and the citrus seasoning vinegar are adopted, the citrus added value is increased, technologies such as small-patch inoculation, segmented inoculated fermentation cultures, fermentation while ventilation and vacuum package are adopted, so that the producing time of the produced cold sour fish is shortened, flavor substances of the product are abundant, and the industrialized production of tradition foodstuff is achieved.