The effects of the maltodextrin weight fraction ( \({W}_{MD}=0, 0.4, 0.8\) ), which is defined as the mass ratio of maltodextrin to total dry solids, on the thermal properties and state diagrams of chicken and pork meat powders were investigated. The samples were defatted, freeze-dried, conditioned on both freezable (30–90% wet basis) and nonfreezable water domains (< 20% wet basis) and studied via thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and modulated DSC (MDSC). The TGA results revealed that increasing \({W}_{MD}\) increased the onset decomposition temperature ( \({T}_{d onset}\) ) from 180 to 195 °C in chicken powder and 185–190 °C in pork powder while reducing mass loss, indicating enhanced thermal stability. For samples containing freezable water, DSC revealed systematic increases in the parameters of the maximally freeze-concentrated phase, with a glass transition temperature ( \({T}_{g}^{\prime}\) ) ranging from − 24.3 to − 13 °C, a melting temperature ( \({T}_{m}^{\prime}\) ) ranging from − 14.6 to − 7.0 °C and a solid mass fraction ( \({W}_{s}^{\prime}\) ) ranging from 0.753 to 0.871 g solid/g sample as \({W}_{MD}\) increased. For anhydrous meat powders, the glass transition temperature ( \({T}_{g}\) ) increased from 33.4 to 45.6 °C with increasing \({W}_{MD}\) , as determined by the MDSC. The state diagrams constructed via the Gordon–Taylor and Chen equations (R2 > 0.723, SSE < 44.8) demonstrated upward shifts in all the transitions with increasing \({W}_{MD}\) . Overall, maltodextrin significantly enhances thermal stability, reduces freezable water content, and increases \({T}_{g}^{\prime}\) , \({T}_{m}^{\prime}\) and \({T}_{g}\) , supporting its use as a functional stabilizer in dehydrated and frozen meat products. From a thermophysical perspective, higher transition temperatures indicate improved storage stability for powders with \({W}_{MD}\ge 0.4\) .
