diff --git a/esphome/espidf/install_tool_archives.py b/esphome/espidf/install_tool_archives.py
index 2c5b4df5e7..fdebffd09f 100644
--- a/esphome/espidf/install_tool_archives.py
+++ b/esphome/espidf/install_tool_archives.py
@@ -75,6 +75,8 @@ def install_one(tool: object, name: str, version: str) -> bool | None:
             )
             return None
         return False
+    # Per-tool completion keeps the multi-minute unpack phase visibly alive
+    print(f"extracted {name}@{version}", flush=True)
     return True
 
 
diff --git a/tests/unit_tests/test_espidf_framework.py b/tests/unit_tests/test_espidf_framework.py
index 2285a166df..b95c07f903 100644
--- a/tests/unit_tests/test_espidf_framework.py
+++ b/tests/unit_tests/test_espidf_framework.py
@@ -2213,6 +2213,8 @@ def test_install_tool_archives_inprocess_dedupes_and_skips(
         "Extracting 2 ESP-IDF tool archive(s) with 2 worker(s): "
         "cmake@3.30.2, ninja@1.12.1" in captured.out
     )
+    assert "extracted cmake@3.30.2" in captured.out
+    assert "extracted ninja@1.12.1" in captured.out
     assert "leaving broken broken-tool to the installer" in captured.err
     tools = tmp_path / "tp" / "tools"
     assert (tools / "cmake" / "3.30.2" / ".installed").is_file()