Purpose: To develop a peptide-rich beverage from skim milk powder and waxy maize. Methods: The bitterness flavor of dry waxy maize was removed and then pretreated sequentially with α-amylase and gluco-amylase before being mixed with reconstructed milk and the starting cultures used were a mixture of Streptococcus thermophilus TA40 and Lactobacillus helveticus LH100 (1:1, m/m). Results: The optimal pretreatment conditions were established for waxy maize. The optimal fermentation conditions were determined as 4% (m/m) of whey protein added into reconstituted milk with a skim milk powder to water ratio of 1:0.8:13 (m/m), 4 g/L inoculum size, and fermentation at 37 ℃ for 8 h. The peptide content of the resulting beverage was measured to reach 4.6658 mg/mL. Sensory evaluation and physiological analysis showed that the pH, acidity and viscosity were 3.94, 132.7 oT and 5.276 Pa?s, respectively, and the beverage had a mixed flavor of waxy maize and yogurt but exhibited no obvious whey syneresis.