Ferulic acid (FA) is a plant phenolic acid having several pharmacological effects including antihyperglycemic activity. Thus, the objective of this study was to investigate the effect of FA on glucose and lipid metabolism in the high‐fat diet (HFD)‐induced obese mice. The ICR mice were fed an HFD (45 kcal% fat) for 16 weeks. At the 9th week of induction, the obese mice were orally administered with daily FA doses of 25 and 50 mg/kg for the next eight weeks. The results showed that FA significantly reduced the elevated blood glucose and serum leptin levels, lowered the insulin resistance, and increased the serum adiponectin level. Moreover, serum lipid level, and liver cholesterol and triglyceride accumulations were also reduced. The histological examination showed a clear evidence of a decrease in the lipid droplets in liver tissues and smaller size of fat cells in the adipose tissue in the obese mice treated with FA. Interestingly, FA reduced the expression of hepatic lipogenic genes such as sterol regulatory element‐binding protein 1c (SREBP1c), fatty acid synthase (FAS), and acetyl‐CoA carboxylase (ACC). It could also up‐regulate hepatic carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1a (CPT1a) gene and peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor alpha (PPARα) proteins. The FA treatment was also found to suppress the protein expressions of hepatic gluconeogenic enzymes, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPCK) and glucose‐6‐phosphatase (G6Pase). In conclusion, our findings demonstrated that FA improved the glucose and lipid homeostasis in HFD‐induced obese mice probably via modulating the expression of lipogenic and gluconeogenic genes in liver tissues. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.