The present application provides a packet sending method and a network device. The packet sending method includes: receiving, by a network device, a first data packet; and if a MAC entry matching a destination MAC address of the first data packet is not found in a media access control MAC address table of the network device, sending, by the network device, the first data packet according to a forwarding behavior in a MAC default entry of the MAC address table. When the MAC entry matching the destination MAC address of the first data packet is not found, the network device does not need to flood the first data packet on all interfaces, but directly sends the first data packet according to the MAC default entry in the own MAC address table, thereby reducing a need for MAC address capacity in the network device, and not increasing unnecessary network traffic.