During the winter insects face numerous challenges including low temperatures, limited food, and lack of available water and oxygen. These challenges are met, at least in part, by molecular adaptations that reduce metabolic rate and alter cellular structures to prevent tissue damage. Accumulating evidence suggests that microRNAs, small noncoding RNAs that postranscriptionally regulate gene expression, have a significant role mediating the molecular response to winter stresses in insects. This study investigates the possible contribution of microRNAs toward cold tolerance in the flesh fly, Sarcophaga bullata, an established model for studying rapid cold hardening and cold shock. Quantitative PCR was used to measure changes in the abundance of candidate miRNAs (miR-277, miR-13, miR-124, miR-31, miR-1, miR-33, miR-92, miR-190, miR-275, miR-33) after red-eye pharate adults were chilled at 0 °C for 2 h and allowed to recover at 25 °C for 2 h. None of these miRNAs were significantly different immediately after cold shock compared to control flies kept at 25 °C. After 2 h of recovery both miR-13b-3p was upregulated by 1.5-fold compared to the cold shock and the control groups (P = 0.04), but other miRNAs evaluated in this study remained unchanged. Though these miRNAs are differentially regulated in Colorado potato beetles, Leptinotarsa decemlineata, in response to cold stress (Morin et al. 2017 Insect Mol Biol; 26:574) they do not seem to have a critical role in cold tolerance in flesh flies. Additional studies are necessary to determine whether miRNAs do not have a role in cold stress in flesh flies or if the suite of miRNAs that respond to cold is unique for each insect species.