diff --git a/esphome/components/sen5x/automation.h b/esphome/components/sen5x/automation.h
deleted file mode 100644
index 21d938c4fe..0000000000
--- a/esphome/components/sen5x/automation.h
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,19 +0,0 @@
-#pragma once
-
-#include "esphome/core/component.h"
-#include "esphome/core/automation.h"
-#include "sen5x.h"
-
-namespace esphome::sen5x {
-
-template<typename... Ts> class StartFanAction final : public Action<Ts...> {
- public:
-  explicit StartFanAction(SEN5XComponent *sen5x) : sen5x_(sen5x) {}
-
-  void play(const Ts &...x) override { this->sen5x_->start_fan_cleaning(); }
-
- protected:
-  SEN5XComponent *sen5x_;
-};
-
-}  // namespace esphome::sen5x
diff --git a/esphome/components/sen5x/sensor.py b/esphome/components/sen5x/sensor.py
index e7f61d8b2d..7bfce0f26a 100644
--- a/esphome/components/sen5x/sensor.py
+++ b/esphome/components/sen5x/sensor.py
@@ -60,9 +60,6 @@ CONF_ACCELERATION_MODE = "acceleration_mode"
 CONF_AUTO_CLEANING_INTERVAL = "auto_cleaning_interval"
 
 
-# Actions
-StartFanAction = sen5x_ns.class_("StartFanAction", automation.Action)
-
 ACCELERATION_MODES = {
     "low": RhtAccelerationMode.LOW_ACCELERATION,
     "medium": RhtAccelerationMode.MEDIUM_ACCELERATION,
@@ -280,9 +277,8 @@ SEN5X_ACTION_SCHEMA = maybe_simple_id(
 )
 
 
-automation.register_simple_action(
+automation.register_apply_action(
     "sen5x.start_fan_autoclean",
-    StartFanAction,
     SEN5X_ACTION_SCHEMA,
-    synchronous=True,
+    automation.ApplyCall("start_fan_cleaning()"),
 )
diff --git a/tests/components/sen5x/common-actions.yaml b/tests/components/sen5x/common-actions.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a629487801
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/components/sen5x/common-actions.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+button:
+  - platform: template
+    name: SEN5x Clean the fan
+    on_press:
+      - sen5x.start_fan_autoclean: sen54
diff --git a/tests/components/sen5x/test-actions.esp8266-ard.yaml b/tests/components/sen5x/test-actions.esp8266-ard.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6b6ff01067
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/components/sen5x/test-actions.esp8266-ard.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+packages:
+  i2c: !include ../../test_build_components/common/i2c/esp8266-ard.yaml
+  sen5x: !include common.yaml
+  actions: !include common-actions.yaml