In the present study， the inhibitory effect of yam extract on heterocyclic amines (HAs) formation of roasted Eleutheronema tetradactylum at a high temperature was investigated. Furthermore， precursors (creatine， creatinine， glucose and free amino acids) of HAs， lipid and protein oxidation， flavor changes are evaluated to determine the inhibitory mechanism of yam extracts on heterocyclic amines formation. These results showed that the addition of yam extracts caused a signification HAs reduction of 59.08% and 47.99% of the Norharman and Harman content， respectively， led IQ， 8-MeIQX from (0.29±0.00) ng/g and (0.75±0.01) ng/g below the detected limitation， compared to the control group. Moreover， the addition of yam extracts had significant effect on the HAs precursors and the flavor of grilled horsefish， there's a certain amount of increase of all the contents of HAs precursors， including creatine， creatinine， glucose， glycine， indicating that the addition of yam extract may hinder the conversion of precursors to HAs. The contents of octyal， 2-butanone， isobutanal， 3-methylbutanal， 2-methylbutanal， heptal， hexal， nonaldehyde and 2，3-dimethylpyrazine and other aldehydes decreased， and the addition of yam extracts significantly reduced the oxidation of fat and protein in the process of roasted Eleutheronema tetradactylum. This research provides a new method to minimize the amount of HAs for the reasonable processing of roasted Eleutheronema tetradactylum， which is helpful to food manufacturers for the production of healthier fish products and may be applicable to various meat systems.