BACKGROUND Over the past 14 years, the invasive vinegar fly, spotted‐wing drosophila (Drosophila suzukii), has become one of the most damaging fruit pests in the United States. With regional economic losses estimated as high as $500 million for moderate infestations, D. suzukii control represents an often‐untenable cost to growers. Management relies heavily on chemical control, which may be applied up to nine times in one season. The widespread use of chemical controls has led to concerns about insecticide resistance, and resistant field populations have already been documented in California and Michigan. RESULTS We cultured sub‐populations of three different Minnesota field populations of D. suzukii in the laboratory and exposed them to increasing concentrations of two commonly‐used insecticides, zeta‐cypermethrin (pyrethroid) and spinetoram (spinosyn). Over the exposure period, the sub‐populations experienced an 8‐ to 45‐fold increase in insecticide concentration. We saw significant increases in the median lethal concentration (LC50) values of one sub‐population exposed to zeta‐cypermethrin and one exposed to spinetoram. Across the spinetoram exposures, we also observed significant reductions in the top mortality values for three different sub‐populations. CONCLUSION Our results suggest that field populations of D. suzukii can develop resistance to zeta‐cypermethrin and spinetoram in short periods of time under laboratory selection but that resistance to spinosyns occurs more readily than to pyrethroids. These results support other studies that have documented spinosyn resistance in field populations and in laboratory selections. Resistance evolution to spinosyns is a particularly important issue, as they represent one of few organic insecticide options for D. suzukii. © 2022 The Authors. Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry. We found evidence for resistance to zeta‐cypermethrin in one sub‐population and to spinetoram in three sub‐populations, indicating that resistance can develop quickly and is more likely for spinetoram than zeta‐cypermethrin.