diff --git a/esphome/components/esp8266_pwm/esp8266_pwm.h b/esphome/components/esp8266_pwm/esp8266_pwm.h
index 87b76a392a..7b36c410a2 100644
--- a/esphome/components/esp8266_pwm/esp8266_pwm.h
+++ b/esphome/components/esp8266_pwm/esp8266_pwm.h
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
 
 #include "esphome/core/component.h"
 #include "esphome/core/hal.h"
-#include "esphome/core/automation.h"
 #include "esphome/components/output/float_output.h"
 
 namespace esphome::esp8266_pwm {
@@ -37,19 +36,6 @@ class ESP8266PWM final : public output::FloatOutput, public Component {
   float last_output_{0.0};
 };
 
-template<typename... Ts> class SetFrequencyAction final : public Action<Ts...> {
- public:
-  SetFrequencyAction(ESP8266PWM *parent) : parent_(parent) {}
-  TEMPLATABLE_VALUE(float, frequency);
-
-  void play(const Ts &...x) {
-    float freq = this->frequency_.value(x...);
-    this->parent_->update_frequency(freq);
-  }
-
-  ESP8266PWM *parent_;
-};
-
 }  // namespace esphome::esp8266_pwm
 
 #endif
diff --git a/esphome/components/esp8266_pwm/output.py b/esphome/components/esp8266_pwm/output.py
index be6e63b154..62ec1fe003 100644
--- a/esphome/components/esp8266_pwm/output.py
+++ b/esphome/components/esp8266_pwm/output.py
@@ -4,8 +4,6 @@ from esphome.components import output
 from esphome.components.esp8266.const import require_waveform
 import esphome.config_validation as cv
 from esphome.const import CONF_FREQUENCY, CONF_ID, CONF_NUMBER, CONF_PIN
-from esphome.core import ID
-from esphome.cpp_generator import MockObj, TemplateArgsType
 from esphome.types import ConfigType
 
 DEPENDENCIES = ["esp8266"]
@@ -19,7 +17,6 @@ def valid_pwm_pin(value: ConfigType) -> ConfigType:
 
 esp8266_pwm_ns = cg.esphome_ns.namespace("esp8266_pwm")
 ESP8266PWM = esp8266_pwm_ns.class_("ESP8266PWM", output.FloatOutput, cg.Component)
-SetFrequencyAction = esp8266_pwm_ns.class_("SetFrequencyAction", automation.Action)
 validate_frequency = cv.All(cv.frequency, cv.float_range(min=1.0e-6))
 
 # Schema default that also matches the C++ initializer in esp8266_pwm.h; codegen
@@ -57,25 +54,13 @@ async def to_code(config: ConfigType) -> None:
         cg.add(var.set_frequency(frequency))
 
 
-@automation.register_action(
+automation.register_apply_action(
     "output.esp8266_pwm.set_frequency",
-    SetFrequencyAction,
     cv.Schema(
         {
             cv.Required(CONF_ID): cv.use_id(ESP8266PWM),
             cv.Required(CONF_FREQUENCY): cv.templatable(validate_frequency),
         }
     ),
-    synchronous=True,
+    automation.ApplyField(CONF_FREQUENCY, "update_frequency", cg.float_),
 )
-async def esp8266_set_frequency_to_code(
-    config: ConfigType,
-    action_id: ID,
-    template_arg: cg.TemplateArguments,
-    args: TemplateArgsType,
-) -> MockObj:
-    paren = await cg.get_variable(config[CONF_ID])
-    var = cg.new_Pvariable(action_id, template_arg, paren)
-    template_ = await cg.templatable(config[CONF_FREQUENCY], args, cg.float_)
-    cg.add(var.set_frequency(template_))
-    return var
diff --git a/tests/components/esp8266_pwm/common.yaml b/tests/components/esp8266_pwm/common.yaml
index 52b290f91b..7144e89e36 100644
--- a/tests/components/esp8266_pwm/common.yaml
+++ b/tests/components/esp8266_pwm/common.yaml
@@ -1,3 +1,13 @@
+esphome:
+  on_boot:
+    then:
+      - output.esp8266_pwm.set_frequency:
+          id: out
+          frequency: 100Hz
+      - output.esp8266_pwm.set_frequency:
+          id: out2
+          frequency: !lambda return 200.0f;
+
 output:
   - platform: esp8266_pwm
     id: out