In order to investigate the effect of ginger essential oil on the quality of chilled pork， ginger essential oil (GEO) was microencapsulated by the coacervation method with hydrolyzed soybean protein (HSP) and gum arabic (GA) as wall materials. The properties of ginger essential oil microcapsules(GEO-MPs) were characterized by particle size， scanning electron microscopy(SEM)， Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The antioxidant capacity of GEO-MPs was analyzed， and the effect of ginger essential oil microcapsules on pork quality was evaluated. The results showed that the optimum conditions of coacervation method were as follows: Mass ratio of HSP to GA was 5∶1， reaction pH value was 3.9. The microencapsulation rate of GEO-MPs prepared by the optimized process was 76.51%， and the particle size was 51.38 μm. The freeze-dried ginger essential oil microcapsules showed irregular flake structure， and maintained high thermal stability and antioxidant properties. The freeze-dried GEO-MPs showed irregular flaked structure and maintained high thermal stability and antioxidant properties. GEO-MPs were applied to meat preservation. Compared with the blank control， GEO-MPs effectively inhibited the increase of pH value， total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N) and the total bacterial count (TBC) of pork， better maintained the quality of pork， and extended the shelf life of pork. These results provided guidance for the development and application of plant essential oil preservatives.