Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have recently been identified as versatile sacrificing templates to construct functional nanomaterials for heterogeneous catalysis. Herein, we report a thermal transformation strategy to directly fabricate metal Pd nanoclusters inlaid within a ZrO 2 @nitrogen-doped porous carbon (Pd/ZrO 2 @CN) composite using Pd@NH 2 -UiO-66(Zr) as a precursor that was pre-synthesized by a one-pot hydrothermal method. The developed Pd/ZrO 2 @CN as a robust catalyst delivered remarkable stability and activity to the catalytic hydrogenation of 2,3,5-trimethylbenzoquinone (TMBQ) to 2,3,5-trimethylhydroquinone (TMHQ), a key reaction involved in vitamin E production. The hydrogenation was carried out at 110°C with 1.0 MPa H 2 , and it resulted in 98% TMHQ yield as the sole product over five consecutive cycles, outperforming the analogue Pd/ZrO 2 @C without nitrogen doping templated from Pd@UiO-66(Zr). The excellent catalytic properties of Pd/ZrO 2 @CN likely originated from the highly stable ultrafine Pd nanoclusters inlaid within ZrO 2 @CN matrix on account of the strong interaction between N and Pd, as well as on the Lewis acidity of ZrO 2 , which was beneficial to the hydrogenation.