[Objectives]  Bradysia odoriphaga Yang et Zhang is an important pest of Chinese chives. Large scale rearing of this pest is useful for developing methods to control it. Our study addressed the high material and labor costs, and relatively small number of animals produced, by the present rearing technique. [Methods]  We experimentally reared B. odoriphaga larvae on potatoes, peanuts and beans and compared the survival rate, fecundity, emergence rhythm and sex ratio of B. odoriphaga reared on this diet to those reared on Chinese chives and artificial diets. [Results]  There was no significant difference between the survival rate and fecundity of B. odoriphaga larvae reared on the new diet and those reared on Chinese chives and artificial diets. The developmental period from egg to adult of larvae reared on the new diet was 20-23 days and the sex ratio was 0.8︰1-1.2︰1. Although the new diet became easily infected with fungi, molecular identification revealed that the main fungal species were Actinomucor elegans, Backusella circina, Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus ochraceus, all of which are saprophytic and did not affect the survival and breeding of B. odoriphaga. [Conclusion]  Our technique saved time, labor and materials, and is especially suitable for the maintenance of laboratory population and mass rearing.