In this paper, a new method based on the Chebyshev wavelet expansion together with operational matrices of fractional integration and derivative of wavelet functions is proposed to solve time-fractional fifth-order Sawada–Kotera (SK) equation. Two-dimensional Chebyshev wavelet method is applied to compute the numerical solution of nonlinear time-fractional Sawada–Kotera equation. The approximate solutions of nonlinear time fractional Sawada–Kotera equation thus obtained by Chebyshev wavelet method are compared with the exact solutions as well as homotopy analysis method (HAM). The present scheme is very simple, effective and convenient for obtaining numerical solution of fractional Sawada–Kotera equation.