Improving health literacy may help people understand medical information, and effectively use health care information, thus improving self-care ability. However, there was seldom discussion on health literacy among patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) in Taiwan. The purpose of this study was to develop and test the reliability and validity of a health literacy scale for CKD. A cross-sectional design was used. A total of 200 patients were recruited from a CKD center with a convenience sampling technique at a medical center in Southern Taiwan. Instruments involved Short-Form Health Literacy Questionnaire (HL-SF12) and Kidney Health Literacy Scale (KDHLS). KDHLS measures two dimensions of kidney function protection and health eating for kidney disease. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, item analysis, reliability test, exploratory factor analysis, and criterion validity test. KDHLS consisted of 20 items with a total score of 80 points. The content validity index evaluated by three experts was .97. Cronbach’s alpha of KDHLS equaled to .91. The average score of KDHLS was 62.28 points (SD = 11.53). The average score for each item ranged 2.17 to 3.74 points. HL-SF12 was applied to test the criterion validity of KDHLS. Exploratory factor analysis revealed that the total variance accounted for 52.94%. The criterion validity was evaluated using Pearson’s correlation, r = .50 (p = .01). KDHLS measures the health literacy of kidney function protection and health eating for kidney disease in CKD patients.