(Pb 0.87 Ba 0.1 La 0.02 )(Zr 0.68 Sn 0.24 Ti 0.08 )O 3 ( PBLZST ) antiferroelectric ( AFE ) ceramics have been prepared by hot‐press sintering method and conventional solid‐state reaction process, and the dependence of microstructure and energy storage properties of the ceramics on sintering approaches has been studied. The results reveal that not only the microstructure, but also the electrical properties of the PBLZST AFE ceramics are significantly improved by using the hot‐press sintering method. Samples resulting from the hot‐press sintering process have high breakdown strength of 180 kV/cm which results from the increase of density. Coupled with large polarization, the hot‐pressed AFE ceramics are shown to have a high recoverable energy density of 3.2 J/cm 3 . The recoverable energy density of the hot‐pressed PBLZST AFE ceramics is 100% greater than the conventional sintered specimens with recoverable energy density of 1.6 J/cm 3 .