diff --git a/pkg/kv/bulk/sst_batcher.go b/pkg/kv/bulk/sst_batcher.go
index b304c7803fe1..5a5716e79bc8 100644
--- a/pkg/kv/bulk/sst_batcher.go
+++ b/pkg/kv/bulk/sst_batcher.go
@@ -37,6 +37,13 @@ var (
 		"size below which a 'bulk' write will be performed as a normal write instead",
 		400*1<<10, // 400 Kib
 	)
+
+	ingestDelay = settings.RegisterDurationSetting(
+		"bulkio.ingest.flush_delay",
+		"amount of time to wait before sending a file to the KV/Storage layer to ingest",
+		0,
+		settings.NonNegativeDuration,
+	)
 )
 
 type sz int64
@@ -277,6 +284,17 @@ func (b *SSTBatcher) doFlush(ctx context.Context, reason int, nextKey roachpb.Ke
 	}
 	b.flushCounts.total++
 
+	if delay := ingestDelay.Get(&b.settings.SV); delay != 0 {
+		if delay > time.Second || log.V(1) {
+			log.Infof(ctx, "delaying %s before flushing ingestion buffer...", delay)
+		}
+		select {
+		case <-ctx.Done():
+			return ctx.Err()
+		case <-time.After(delay):
+		}
+	}
+
 	hour := hlc.Timestamp{WallTime: timeutil.Now().Add(time.Hour).UnixNano()}
 
 	start := roachpb.Key(append([]byte(nil), b.batchStartKey...))