The invention discloses a method of preparing expanded burley tobacco shreds used for low-tar Virginia-type cigarettes, which belongs to the technical field of cigarettes. The preparation method comprises the following steps: (1) re-moisturizing tobacco scraps until the water content is in the range from 16% to 19% and the temperature is in the range from 60 DEG C to 80 DEG C; (2) preserving tobacco leaves for 6 hours plus or minus 1 hour; (3) wetting tobacco leaves; (4) shredding at a cut width of 1.2 mm plus or minus 0.1 mm; (5) preserving tobacco shreds for 3 hours plus or minus 0.5 hours; (6) expanding and/or supplementing and controlling the water content in the range from 12% to 14%; and (7) preserving tobacco shreds for 2 hours plus or minus 0.5 hours. The spice formulation is as follows: 0.002% of malic acid, 0.5% of inverted sugar, 0.0015% of solanone and 0.1% of Virginia tobacco extract. The produced expanded burley tobacco shreds are compatible to Virginia tobacco shreds and the two different kinds of tobacco shreds have synergistic effect, thereby saving tobacco raw materials and developing new cigarette products.