diff --git a/esphome/components/http_request/http_request.h b/esphome/components/http_request/http_request.h
index 228aa681ac7..f3c99c6de4c 100644
--- a/esphome/components/http_request/http_request.h
+++ b/esphome/components/http_request/http_request.h
@@ -165,9 +165,9 @@ class HttpRequestComponent;
 class HttpContainer : public Parented<HttpRequestComponent> {
  public:
   virtual ~HttpContainer() = default;
-  size_t content_length;
-  int status_code;
-  uint32_t duration_ms;
+  size_t content_length{0};
+  int status_code{-1};  ///< -1 indicates no response received yet
+  uint32_t duration_ms{0};
 
   /**
    * @brief Read data from the HTTP response body.
@@ -241,7 +241,7 @@ class HttpContainer : public Parented<HttpRequestComponent> {
 /// @param total_size Total bytes to read
 /// @param chunk_size Maximum bytes per read call
 /// @param timeout_ms Read timeout in milliseconds
-/// @return HttpReadResult with status and error_code on failure; use container->get_bytes_read() for bytes read
+/// @return HttpReadResult with status and error_code on failure; use container->get_bytes_read() for total bytes read
 inline HttpReadResult http_read_fully(HttpContainer *container, uint8_t *buffer, size_t total_size, size_t chunk_size,
                                       uint32_t timeout_ms) {
   size_t read_index = 0;