diff --git a/src/es_archiver/lib/indices/create_index_stream.ts b/src/es_archiver/lib/indices/create_index_stream.ts
index 5629f95c7c9c6..fa4c95dc73166 100644
--- a/src/es_archiver/lib/indices/create_index_stream.ts
+++ b/src/es_archiver/lib/indices/create_index_stream.ts
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@
 import { Transform, Readable } from 'stream';
 import { inspect } from 'util';
 
-import { get, once } from 'lodash';
 import { Client } from 'elasticsearch';
 import { ToolingLog } from '@kbn/dev-utils';
 
@@ -54,7 +53,7 @@ export function createCreateIndexStream({
   // If we're trying to import Kibana index docs, we need to ensure that
   // previous indices are removed so we're starting w/ a clean slate for
   // migrations. This only needs to be done once per archive load operation.
-  const deleteKibanaIndicesOnce = once(deleteKibanaIndices);
+  let kibanaIndexAlreadyDeleted = false;
 
   async function handleDoc(stream: Readable, record: DocRecord) {
     if (skipDocsFromIndices.has(record.value.index)) {
@@ -70,8 +69,9 @@ export function createCreateIndexStream({
 
     async function attemptToCreate(attemptNumber = 1) {
       try {
-        if (isKibana) {
-          await deleteKibanaIndicesOnce({ client, stats, log });
+        if (isKibana && !kibanaIndexAlreadyDeleted) {
+          await deleteKibanaIndices({ client, stats, log });
+          kibanaIndexAlreadyDeleted = true;
         }
 
         await client.indices.create({
@@ -90,6 +90,7 @@ export function createCreateIndexStream({
           err?.body?.error?.reason?.includes('index exists with the same name as the alias') &&
           attemptNumber < 3
         ) {
+          kibanaIndexAlreadyDeleted = false;
           const aliasStr = inspect(aliases);
           log.info(
             `failed to create aliases [${aliasStr}] because ES indicated an index/alias already exists, trying again`
@@ -98,10 +99,7 @@ export function createCreateIndexStream({
           return;
         }
 
-        if (
-          get(err, 'body.error.type') !== 'resource_already_exists_exception' ||
-          attemptNumber >= 3
-        ) {
+        if (err?.body?.error?.type !== 'resource_already_exists_exception' || attemptNumber >= 3) {
           throw err;
         }