diff --git a/esphome/yaml_util.py b/esphome/yaml_util.py
index 520379e51d..59d851c02e 100644
--- a/esphome/yaml_util.py
+++ b/esphome/yaml_util.py
@@ -599,9 +599,14 @@ def _load_yaml_internal(fname: Path) -> Any:
         listener(fname)
     try:
         with fname.open(encoding="utf-8") as f_handle:
-            return parse_yaml(fname, f_handle)
+            res = parse_yaml(fname, f_handle)
     except (UnicodeDecodeError, OSError) as err:
         raise EsphomeError(f"Error reading file {fname}: {err}") from err
+    # Top-level !include returns a deferred IncludeFile; resolve it so
+    # callers always receive the final content.
+    if isinstance(res, IncludeFile):
+        res = res.load()
+    return res
 
 
 def parse_yaml(file_name: Path, file_handle: TextIOWrapper, yaml_loader=None) -> Any:
diff --git a/tests/unit_tests/test_yaml_util.py b/tests/unit_tests/test_yaml_util.py
index 2c01019abd..bfd60de44d 100644
--- a/tests/unit_tests/test_yaml_util.py
+++ b/tests/unit_tests/test_yaml_util.py
@@ -640,6 +640,18 @@ def test_include_in_list_context() -> None:
     assert config["values"] == ["alpha", "beta", "gamma"]
 
 
+def test_top_level_include_resolved_by_load_yaml(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
+    """load_yaml resolves a top-level !include so callers always get a dict."""
+    child = tmp_path / "child.yaml"
+    child.write_text("key: value\n")
+    main = tmp_path / "main.yaml"
+    main.write_text("!include child.yaml\n")
+
+    result = yaml_util.load_yaml(main)
+    assert isinstance(result, dict)
+    assert result["key"] == "value"
+
+
 def test_include_plain_filename_loads_after_deferred_refactor() -> None:
     """!include with a plain filename (no $ expressions) still loads correctly.