The invention relates to a rapid drying method for a cottonwood thick plate, and the method comprises the following steps of: at a preprocessing stage of a cottonwood, sawing the cottonwood to be plates with certain length and thickness according to operating requirements, stacking the plates and placing the plates into preprocessing equipment, then carrying out superheated steam preprocessing, and drying the preprocessed plates according to strengthening benchmark. In the rapid drying method, at the preprocessing stage of the cottonwood, constant-pressure superheated steam with temperatures of 110 DEG C-160 DEG C is used as a processing medium, therefore, not only can smooth and zero-defect of plate surfaces of the processed cottonwood be achieved, but also growth stress of the cottonwood can be released, a water passage inside a wood is opened, initial water ratio of the plates can be substantially reduced. A green wood is preprocessed, water ratio descending ratio is 40%-80%, descending mean value of the water ratio is above 60%,so that a drying stage time in a later period of the cottonwood can be greatly shortened. Compare with the conventional drying method, drying cycle is shortened above one half, energy sources are saved, drying cost is reduced, drying quality is favorable, and the rapid drying method is particularly applicable to cottonwood plates with thickness more than 5.0cm.