diff --git a/esphome/components/http_request/http_request_idf.cpp b/esphome/components/http_request/http_request_idf.cpp
index 583c9b5e19..c1de226fef 100644
--- a/esphome/components/http_request/http_request_idf.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/http_request/http_request_idf.cpp
@@ -264,10 +264,14 @@ int HttpContainerIDF::read(uint8_t *buf, size_t max_len) {
 }
 
 void HttpContainerIDF::end() {
+  if (this->client_ == nullptr) {
+    return;  // Already cleaned up
+  }
   watchdog::WatchdogManager wdm(this->parent_->get_watchdog_timeout());
 
   esp_http_client_close(this->client_);
   esp_http_client_cleanup(this->client_);
+  this->client_ = nullptr;
 }
 
 void HttpContainerIDF::feed_wdt() {