diff --git a/esphome/components/api/api_pb2_dump.cpp b/esphome/components/api/api_pb2_dump.cpp
index 3317fe9882f..f74aa72741e 100644
--- a/esphome/components/api/api_pb2_dump.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/api/api_pb2_dump.cpp
@@ -135,11 +135,13 @@ static void dump_progmem_bytes_field(DumpBuffer &out, const char *field_name, co
   dump_bytes_field(out, field_name, data_buf, len, indent);
 }
 
-// Helper for string fields in flash: copies the shown characters out with progmem_memcpy first
+// Helper for string fields in flash: copies straight into the dump buffer, which bounds the length
 static void dump_progmem_string_field(DumpBuffer &out, const char *field_name, const ProgmemStringRef &value,
                                       int indent = 2) {
-  char buf[DUMP_BYTES_MAX];
-  dump_field(out, field_name, StringRef(buf, value.write_to(buf, sizeof(buf))), indent);
+  append_field_prefix(out, field_name, indent);
+  out.append("'");
+  out.set_pos(out.pos() + value.write_to(out.data() + out.pos(), DumpBuffer::CAPACITY - out.pos()));
+  out.append("'\n");
 }
 #pragma GCC diagnostic pop
 
diff --git a/script/api_protobuf/api_protobuf.py b/script/api_protobuf/api_protobuf.py
index aaa1663dbba..c0eb46c2777 100755
--- a/script/api_protobuf/api_protobuf.py
+++ b/script/api_protobuf/api_protobuf.py
@@ -3391,11 +3391,13 @@ static void dump_progmem_bytes_field(DumpBuffer &out, const char *field_name, co
   dump_bytes_field(out, field_name, data_buf, len, indent);
 }
 
-// Helper for string fields in flash: copies the shown characters out with progmem_memcpy first
+// Helper for string fields in flash: copies straight into the dump buffer, which bounds the length
 static void dump_progmem_string_field(DumpBuffer &out, const char *field_name, const ProgmemStringRef &value,
                                       int indent = 2) {
-  char buf[DUMP_BYTES_MAX];
-  dump_field(out, field_name, StringRef(buf, value.write_to(buf, sizeof(buf))), indent);
+  append_field_prefix(out, field_name, indent);
+  out.append("'");
+  out.set_pos(out.pos() + value.write_to(out.data() + out.pos(), DumpBuffer::CAPACITY - out.pos()));
+  out.append("'\\n");
 }
 #pragma GCC diagnostic pop
 
diff --git a/tests/component_tests/api/test_action_metadata.py b/tests/component_tests/api/test_action_metadata.py
index 8e7dea4b19a..8bfdb7a7a7d 100644
--- a/tests/component_tests/api/test_action_metadata.py
+++ b/tests/component_tests/api/test_action_metadata.py
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ from esphome.config_validation import Invalid
 from esphome.core import CORE
 from esphome.cpp_generator import safe_exp
 from esphome.helpers import fnv1_hash
+from tests.component_tests.helpers import get_define_value
 
 CONFIG = "tests/component_tests/api/test_action_metadata.yaml"
 CONFIG_ESP8266 = "tests/component_tests/api/test_action_metadata_esp8266.yaml"
@@ -58,6 +59,7 @@ def test_esp8266_encodes_action_strings_from_flash(
     main_cpp = generate_main(CONFIG_ESP8266)
 
     assert "api_action0_strings[] PROGMEM" in main_cpp
+    assert get_define_value("API_USER_ACTION_STRINGS_SCRATCH_SIZE") is None
 
 
 def test_shorthand_variables_emit_no_metadata(