diff --git a/homeassistant/components/mqtt/client.py b/homeassistant/components/mqtt/client.py
index 60f3fd6f856..67d5bb2d49d 100644
--- a/homeassistant/components/mqtt/client.py
+++ b/homeassistant/components/mqtt/client.py
@@ -111,6 +111,8 @@ RECONNECT_INTERVAL_SECONDS = 10
 MAX_SUBSCRIBES_PER_CALL = 500
 MAX_UNSUBSCRIBES_PER_CALL = 500
 
+MAX_PACKETS_TO_READ = 500
+
 type SocketType = socket.socket | ssl.SSLSocket | mqtt.WebsocketWrapper | Any
 
 type SubscribePayloadType = str | bytes  # Only bytes if encoding is None
@@ -567,7 +569,7 @@ class MQTT:
     @callback
     def _async_reader_callback(self, client: mqtt.Client) -> None:
         """Handle reading data from the socket."""
-        if (status := client.loop_read()) != 0:
+        if (status := client.loop_read(MAX_PACKETS_TO_READ)) != 0:
             self._async_on_disconnect(status)
 
     @callback
@@ -629,6 +631,9 @@ class MQTT:
             self._increase_socket_buffer_size(sock)
             self.loop.add_reader(sock, partial(self._async_reader_callback, client))
         self._async_start_misc_loop()
+        # Try to consume the buffer right away so it doesn't fill up
+        # since add_reader will wait for the next loop iteration
+        self._async_reader_callback(client)
 
     @callback
     def _async_on_socket_close(
diff --git a/tests/components/mqtt/test_init.py b/tests/components/mqtt/test_init.py
index 9421cddc6a2..0a27c48834a 100644
--- a/tests/components/mqtt/test_init.py
+++ b/tests/components/mqtt/test_init.py
@@ -4678,7 +4678,7 @@ async def test_loop_write_failure(
     # Final for the disconnect callback
     await hass.async_block_till_done()
 
-    assert "Disconnected from MQTT server mock-broker:1883 (7)" in caplog.text
+    assert "Disconnected from MQTT server mock-broker:1883" in caplog.text
 
 
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(