<p>Volcanic eruptions potentially threaten local and global environments, making it crucial to reconstruct their eruption history for risk assessments and forecasts. However, accurately dating of young (e.g., Holocene) volcanoes remains challenging. For example, K-Ar and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating are potentially problematic due to the long half-lives of radioisotopes, while radiocarbon dating requires organic materials. The study used optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating on quartz to accurately constrain the ages of lava-baked sediments from the Tengchong volcanic field, southeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau. The results show two types of quartz OSL characteristics in the initial OSL signals. The first type, dominated by the fast component, yields reliable OSL ages. In contrast, the second type, dominated by the medium component, shows a negative correlation between equivalent dose (<i>D</i>_<i>e</i>) and recuperation, and a decreasing trend in <i>D</i>_<i>e</i> over illumination time, providing the underestimated ages due to the influence of the unstable medium component. These underestimated OSL ages are corrected using the <i>D</i>_<i>e</i>-recuperation plot. Combining with previous chronological studies, we conclude that Tengchong volcanoes have erupted at least seven times during the Holocene, occurring at 11.6–11.1, ⩽11.4–10.3, 5.9–5.7, 5.0–4.8, 3.5–2.5, 2.0 thousand years ago, and 1609 AD. Despite the current stability of the Tengchong volcanoes, frequent tectonic activities, eruptive history, and the presence of active magma chambers suggest the potential for future volcanic eruptions.</p>