To explore the impact of recovery threshold settings on flash drought identification and the spatiotemporal characteristics of flash droughts, using ERA5-Land soil moisture data from 1979 to 2022, the graded recovery thresholds were set at the 20th percentile, the 30th percentile, and the 40th percentile to identify flash drought events in the Yangtze River Basin. The results indicated that areas with a higher frequency and intensity of flash droughts in the Yangtze River Basin were located in the western part of the Sichuan Basin and the southeastern part of the Yangtze River Basin, while the average duration of flash drought events in areas with a lower frequency of flash droughts tended to be longer. The indicators of flash drought characteristics in the Yangtze River Basin showed an increasing trend from 1979 to 2022, with the duration and severity of flash droughts reaching their maximum values in 2022. The frequency of flash droughts in the Yangtze River Basin was most sensitive to the recovery threshold. The average duration of flash droughts was affected by the recovery threshold, gradually varying from the upper reaches to the middle and lower reaches, while the average intensity was the least affected. As the recovery threshold increased, the frequency and average duration of flash droughts increased, while the average intensity decreased. Lower recovery thresholds were more suitable for identifying short-duration flash droughts, whereas higher recovery thresholds were suitable for identifying flash droughts of seasonal scales.