diff --git a/esphome/components/ethernet/ethernet_component.cpp b/esphome/components/ethernet/ethernet_component.cpp
index d6b0d40cd9..e0788e1149 100644
--- a/esphome/components/ethernet/ethernet_component.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/ethernet/ethernet_component.cpp
@@ -21,22 +21,6 @@
 
 namespace esphome::ethernet {
 
-#if ESP_IDF_VERSION < ESP_IDF_VERSION_VAL(5, 4, 2)
-// work around IDF compile issue on P4 https://github.com/espressif/esp-idf/pull/15637
-#ifdef USE_ESP32_VARIANT_ESP32P4
-#undef ETH_ESP32_EMAC_DEFAULT_CONFIG
-#define ETH_ESP32_EMAC_DEFAULT_CONFIG() \
-  { \
-    .smi_gpio = {.mdc_num = 31, .mdio_num = 52}, .interface = EMAC_DATA_INTERFACE_RMII, \
-    .clock_config = {.rmii = {.clock_mode = EMAC_CLK_EXT_IN, .clock_gpio = (emac_rmii_clock_gpio_t) 50}}, \
-    .dma_burst_len = ETH_DMA_BURST_LEN_32, .intr_priority = 0, \
-    .emac_dataif_gpio = \
-        {.rmii = {.tx_en_num = 49, .txd0_num = 34, .txd1_num = 35, .crs_dv_num = 28, .rxd0_num = 29, .rxd1_num = 30}}, \
-    .clock_config_out_in = {.rmii = {.clock_mode = EMAC_CLK_EXT_IN, .clock_gpio = (emac_rmii_clock_gpio_t) -1}}, \
-  }
-#endif
-#endif
-
 static const char *const TAG = "ethernet";
 
 // PHY register size for hex logging
@@ -162,7 +146,7 @@ void EthernetComponent::setup() {
   phy_config.phy_addr = this->phy_addr_;
   phy_config.reset_gpio_num = this->power_pin_;
 
-  eth_esp32_emac_config_t esp32_emac_config = ETH_ESP32_EMAC_DEFAULT_CONFIG();
+  eth_esp32_emac_config_t esp32_emac_config = eth_esp32_emac_default_config();
 #if ESP_IDF_VERSION >= ESP_IDF_VERSION_VAL(5, 3, 0)
   esp32_emac_config.smi_gpio.mdc_num = this->mdc_pin_;
   esp32_emac_config.smi_gpio.mdio_num = this->mdio_pin_;
diff --git a/esphome/components/ethernet/ethernet_component.h b/esphome/components/ethernet/ethernet_component.h
index d9f05be9de..c464e20b84 100644
--- a/esphome/components/ethernet/ethernet_component.h
+++ b/esphome/components/ethernet/ethernet_component.h
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@
 #include "esp_mac.h"
 #include "esp_idf_version.h"
 
+extern "C" eth_esp32_emac_config_t eth_esp32_emac_default_config(void);
+
 namespace esphome::ethernet {
 
 #ifdef USE_ETHERNET_IP_STATE_LISTENERS
diff --git a/esphome/components/ethernet/ethernet_helpers.c b/esphome/components/ethernet/ethernet_helpers.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..96faccad24
--- /dev/null
+++ b/esphome/components/ethernet/ethernet_helpers.c
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+#include "esp_eth_mac_esp.h"
+
+// ETH_ESP32_EMAC_DEFAULT_CONFIG() uses out-of-order designated initializers
+// which are valid in C but not in C++. This wrapper allows C++ code to get
+// the default config without replicating the macro's contents.
+eth_esp32_emac_config_t eth_esp32_emac_default_config(void) {
+  return (eth_esp32_emac_config_t) ETH_ESP32_EMAC_DEFAULT_CONFIG();
+}
diff --git a/tests/components/ethernet/test.esp32-p4-idf.yaml b/tests/components/ethernet/test.esp32-p4-idf.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e52329d7ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/components/ethernet/test.esp32-p4-idf.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+<<: !include common-ip101.yaml