diff --git a/include/haproxy/task-t.h b/include/haproxy/task-t.h
index 34d9a4565..c46cdcc65 100644
--- a/include/haproxy/task-t.h
+++ b/include/haproxy/task-t.h
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@
 #define TASK_SELF_WAKING  0x0010  /* task/tasklet found waking itself */
 #define TASK_KILLED       0x0020  /* task/tasklet killed, may now be freed */
 #define TASK_IN_LIST      0x0040  /* tasklet is in a tasklet list */
+#define TASK_HEAVY        0x0080  /* this task/tasklet is extremely heavy */
 
 #define TASK_WOKEN_INIT   0x0100  /* woken up for initialisation purposes */
 #define TASK_WOKEN_TIMER  0x0200  /* woken up because of expired timer */
diff --git a/src/task.c b/src/task.c
index a9a6cc1a1..1cb8352f9 100644
--- a/src/task.c
+++ b/src/task.c
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ void __tasklet_wakeup_on(struct tasklet *tl, int thr)
 {
 	if (likely(thr < 0)) {
 		/* this tasklet runs on the caller thread */
-		if (tl->state & TASK_SELF_WAKING) {
+		if (tl->state & (TASK_SELF_WAKING|TASK_HEAVY)) {
 			LIST_ADDQ(&sched->tasklets[TL_BULK], &tl->list);
 			sched->tl_class_mask |= 1 << TL_BULK;
 		}
@@ -437,6 +437,7 @@ unsigned int run_tasks_from_lists(unsigned int budgets[])
 	unsigned int done = 0;
 	unsigned int queue;
 	unsigned short state;
+	char heavy_calls = 0;
 	void *ctx;
 
 	for (queue = 0; queue < TL_CLASSES;) {
@@ -483,7 +484,20 @@ unsigned int run_tasks_from_lists(unsigned int budgets[])
 
 		budgets[queue]--;
 		t = (struct task *)LIST_ELEM(tl_queues[queue].n, struct tasklet *, list);
-		state = t->state & (TASK_SHARED_WQ|TASK_SELF_WAKING|TASK_KILLED);
+		state = t->state & (TASK_SHARED_WQ|TASK_SELF_WAKING|TASK_HEAVY|TASK_KILLED);
+
+		if (state & TASK_HEAVY) {
+			/* This is a heavy task. We'll call no more than one
+			 * per function call. If we called one already, we'll
+			 * return and announce the max possible weight so that
+			 * the caller doesn't come back too soon.
+			 */
+			if (heavy_calls) {
+				done = INT_MAX;  // 11ms instead of 3 without this
+				break; // too many heavy tasks processed already
+			}
+			heavy_calls = 1;
+		}
 
 		ti->flags &= ~TI_FL_STUCK; // this thread is still running
 		activity[tid].ctxsw++;