diff --git a/esphome/components/network/network_component.cpp b/esphome/components/network/network_component.cpp
index 9f23360875c..1a4dd7c39b2 100644
--- a/esphome/components/network/network_component.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/network/network_component.cpp
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ namespace network {
 static const char *const TAG = "network";
 
 void NetworkComponent::setup() {
-  // Initialize ESP-IDF network interfaces and ensure the default event loop exists.
+  // Initialize ESP-IDF network interfaces and ensure the default event loop exists
 #ifdef USE_ESP32
   esp_err_t err;
   err = esp_netif_init();
@@ -24,7 +24,9 @@ void NetworkComponent::setup() {
     return;
   }
   err = esp_event_loop_create_default();
-  if (err != ESP_OK) {
+  // ESP_ERR_INVALID_STATE is returned if the default loop already exists,
+  // which is fine since we just want to make sure it exists
+  if (err != ESP_OK && err != ESP_ERR_INVALID_STATE) {
     ESP_LOGE(TAG, "esp_event_loop_create_default failed: (%d) %s", err, esp_err_to_name(err));
     this->mark_failed();
     return;
diff --git a/esphome/components/network/network_component.h b/esphome/components/network/network_component.h
index 9530668a06e..5de0ac6c89c 100644
--- a/esphome/components/network/network_component.h
+++ b/esphome/components/network/network_component.h
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #pragma once
 #include "esphome/core/defines.h"
 #ifdef USE_NETWORK
+#include "esphome/core/component.h"
 
 #ifdef USE_ESP32
 #include "esp_netif.h"