diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/PeerRecoveryTargetService.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/PeerRecoveryTargetService.java
index 52e444182812..7a03d2fd5d94 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/PeerRecoveryTargetService.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/PeerRecoveryTargetService.java
@@ -191,7 +191,12 @@ private void doRecovery(final long recoveryId, final StartRecoveryRequest preExi
                     logger.trace("{} preparing shard for peer recovery", recoveryTarget.shardId());
                     indexShard.prepareForIndexRecovery();
                     final long startingSeqNo = indexShard.recoverLocallyUpToGlobalCheckpoint();
-                    assert startingSeqNo == UNASSIGNED_SEQ_NO || recoveryTarget.state().getStage() == RecoveryState.Stage.TRANSLOG :
+                    final RecoveryState state = recoveryTarget.state();
+                    assert startingSeqNo == UNASSIGNED_SEQ_NO ||
+                        (state.getIndexType() == RecoveryState.IndexType.REGULAR && state.getStage() ==  RecoveryState.Stage.TRANSLOG) ||
+                        // Searchable snapshots skip the TRANSLOG recovery state stage
+                        (state.getIndexType() == RecoveryState.IndexType.SEARCHABLE_SNAPSHOT &&
+                            (state.getStage() ==  RecoveryState.Stage.FINALIZE || state.getStage() ==  RecoveryState.Stage.DONE) ) :
                         "unexpected recovery stage [" + recoveryTarget.state().getStage() + "] starting seqno [ " + startingSeqNo + "]";
                     startRequest = getStartRecoveryRequest(logger, clusterService.localNode(), recoveryTarget, startingSeqNo);
                     requestToSend = startRequest;
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoveryState.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoveryState.java
index 705350baced3..532ab886d571 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoveryState.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoveryState.java
@@ -101,6 +101,11 @@ public static Stage fromId(byte id) {
         }
     }
 
+    public enum IndexType {
+        REGULAR,
+        SEARCHABLE_SNAPSHOT;
+    }
+
     private Stage stage;
 
     private final Index index;
@@ -177,6 +182,9 @@ public synchronized Stage getStage() {
         return this.stage;
     }
 
+    public IndexType getIndexType() {
+        return IndexType.REGULAR;
+    }
 
     protected void validateAndSetStage(Stage expected, Stage next) {
         if (stage != expected) {
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/searchable-snapshots/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/searchablesnapshots/SearchableSnapshotsRelocationIntegTests.java b/x-pack/plugin/searchable-snapshots/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/searchablesnapshots/SearchableSnapshotsRelocationIntegTests.java
index 1759ffa7ff35..bb16fbdab688 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/searchable-snapshots/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/searchablesnapshots/SearchableSnapshotsRelocationIntegTests.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/searchable-snapshots/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/searchablesnapshots/SearchableSnapshotsRelocationIntegTests.java
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ public void testRelocationWaitsForPreWarm() throws Exception {
             assertEquals(secondDataNode, shardRecoveryState.getTargetNode().getName());
         });
 
-        assertBusy(() -> assertSame(RecoveryState.Stage.TRANSLOG, getActiveRelocations(restoredIndex).get(0).getStage()));
+        assertBusy(() -> assertSame(RecoveryState.Stage.FINALIZE, getActiveRelocations(restoredIndex).get(0).getStage()));
         final Index restoredIdx = clusterAdmin().prepareState().get().getState().metadata().index(restoredIndex).getIndex();
         final IndicesService indicesService = internalCluster().getInstance(IndicesService.class, secondDataNode);
         assertEquals(1, indicesService.indexService(restoredIdx).getShard(0).outstandingCleanFilesConditions());
@@ -123,9 +123,7 @@ private static List<RecoveryState> getActiveRelocations(String restoredIndex) {
             .shardRecoveryStates()
             .get(restoredIndex)
             .stream()
-            // filter for relocations that are not in stage FINALIZE (they could end up in this stage without progress for good if the
-            // target node does not have enough cache space available to hold the primary completely
-            .filter(recoveryState -> recoveryState.getSourceNode() != null && recoveryState.getStage() != RecoveryState.Stage.FINALIZE)
+            .filter(recoveryState -> recoveryState.getSourceNode() != null)
             .collect(Collectors.toList());
     }
 }
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/searchable-snapshots/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/SearchableSnapshotRecoveryState.java b/x-pack/plugin/searchable-snapshots/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/SearchableSnapshotRecoveryState.java
index 80d134292b17..3e52c6c34096 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/searchable-snapshots/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/SearchableSnapshotRecoveryState.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/searchable-snapshots/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/SearchableSnapshotRecoveryState.java
@@ -34,7 +34,32 @@ public synchronized RecoveryState setStage(Stage stage) {
             return this;
         }
 
-        return super.setStage(stage);
+        switch (stage) {
+            case TRANSLOG:
+                super.setStage(Stage.TRANSLOG);
+                // Move directly to PRE_WARMING stage
+                validateAndSetStage(Stage.TRANSLOG, Stage.FINALIZE);
+                getTranslog().stop();
+                break;
+            case FINALIZE:
+                // skip
+                break;
+            default:
+                super.setStage(stage);
+        }
+
+        return this;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public IndexType getIndexType() {
+        return IndexType.SEARCHABLE_SNAPSHOT;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public synchronized void validateCurrentStage(Stage expected) {
+        // We skip the TRANSLOG phase for searchable snapshots
+        super.validateCurrentStage(expected == Stage.TRANSLOG ? Stage.FINALIZE : expected);
     }
 
     public synchronized void setPreWarmComplete() {