diff --git a/esphome/components/esphome/ota/ota_esphome.cpp b/esphome/components/esphome/ota/ota_esphome.cpp
index 13d67842aa..b39fe94adf 100644
--- a/esphome/components/esphome/ota/ota_esphome.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/esphome/ota/ota_esphome.cpp
@@ -185,6 +185,16 @@ void ESPHomeOTAComponent::handle_handshake_() {
     }
 
     case OTAState::FEATURE_ACK: {
+      // No password: switch to blocking before writing so the feature ACK
+      // byte is flushed to the wire before entering the blocking data phase.
+      // lwIP may not transmit data written in non-blocking mode when the
+      // socket immediately switches to blocking and blocks in recv().
+#ifdef USE_OTA_PASSWORD
+      if (this->password_.empty())
+#endif
+      {
+        this->client_->setblocking(true);
+      }
       // Acknowledge header - 1 byte
       if (!this->try_write_(1, LOG_STR("ack feature"))) {
         return;
@@ -283,11 +293,6 @@ void ESPHomeOTAComponent::handle_data_() {
   this->client_->setsockopt(SOL_SOCKET, SO_SNDTIMEO, &tv, sizeof(tv));
   this->client_->setblocking(true);
 
-  // Yield to flush any pending non-blocking writes (e.g. the feature ACK byte)
-  // before entering the blocking data transfer. lwIP may not transmit data
-  // written in non-blocking mode until the task yields.
-  delay(0);
-
   // Acknowledge auth OK - 1 byte
   this->write_byte_(ota::OTA_RESPONSE_AUTH_OK);