diff --git a/data/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/data/DeleteFilter.java b/data/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/data/DeleteFilter.java
index a7979fd2ed3e..2be976b3f91f 100644
--- a/data/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/data/DeleteFilter.java
+++ b/data/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/data/DeleteFilter.java
@@ -58,11 +58,11 @@
 
 public abstract class DeleteFilter<T> {
   private static final Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(DeleteFilter.class);
-  private static final long DEFAULT_SET_FILTER_THRESHOLD = 100_000L;
+  private static final long DEFAULT_STREAM_FILTER_THRESHOLD = 100_000L;
   private static final Schema POS_DELETE_SCHEMA =
       new Schema(MetadataColumns.DELETE_FILE_PATH, MetadataColumns.DELETE_FILE_POS);
 
-  private final long setFilterThreshold;
+  private final long streamFilterThreshold;
   private final String filePath;
   private final List<DeleteFile> posDeletes;
   private final List<DeleteFile> eqDeletes;
@@ -82,7 +82,12 @@ protected DeleteFilter(
       Schema tableSchema,
       Schema requestedSchema,
       DeleteCounter counter) {
-    this.setFilterThreshold = DEFAULT_SET_FILTER_THRESHOLD;
+    // For testing purposes only, we may set the stream filter threshold via a system property
+    String testingThreshold = System.getProperty("iceberg.stream-delete-filter-threshold");
+    this.streamFilterThreshold =
+        (testingThreshold != null)
+            ? Long.parseLong(testingThreshold)
+            : DEFAULT_STREAM_FILTER_THRESHOLD;
     this.filePath = filePath;
     this.counter = counter;
 
@@ -246,7 +251,7 @@ private CloseableIterable<T> applyPosDeletes(CloseableIterable<T> records) {
     List<CloseableIterable<Record>> deletes = Lists.transform(posDeletes, this::openPosDeletes);
 
     // if there are fewer deletes than a reasonable number to keep in memory, use a set
-    if (posDeletes.stream().mapToLong(DeleteFile::recordCount).sum() < setFilterThreshold) {
+    if (posDeletes.stream().mapToLong(DeleteFile::recordCount).sum() < streamFilterThreshold) {
       PositionDeleteIndex positionIndex = Deletes.toPositionIndex(filePath, deletes);
       Predicate<T> isDeleted = record -> positionIndex.isDeleted(pos(record));
       return createDeleteIterable(records, isDeleted);
diff --git a/spark/v3.3/spark/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/spark/source/TestSparkReaderDeletes.java b/spark/v3.3/spark/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/spark/source/TestSparkReaderDeletes.java
index 4924f07bf198..4335c94b5492 100644
--- a/spark/v3.3/spark/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/spark/source/TestSparkReaderDeletes.java
+++ b/spark/v3.3/spark/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/spark/source/TestSparkReaderDeletes.java
@@ -83,18 +83,22 @@ public class TestSparkReaderDeletes extends DeleteReadTests {
   private final String format;
   private final boolean vectorized;
 
-  public TestSparkReaderDeletes(String format, boolean vectorized) {
+  public TestSparkReaderDeletes(String format, boolean vectorized, boolean useStreamDeleteFilter) {
     this.format = format;
     this.vectorized = vectorized;
+    System.clearProperty("iceberg.stream-delete-filter-threshold");
+    if (useStreamDeleteFilter) {
+      System.setProperty("iceberg.stream-delete-filter-threshold", "2");
+    }
   }
 
-  @Parameterized.Parameters(name = "format = {0}, vectorized = {1}")
+  @Parameterized.Parameters(name = "format = {0}, vectorized = {1}, useStreamDeleteFilter = {2}")
   public static Object[][] parameters() {
     return new Object[][] {
-      new Object[] {"parquet", false},
-      new Object[] {"parquet", true},
-      new Object[] {"orc", false},
-      new Object[] {"avro", false}
+      new Object[] {"parquet", false, true},
+      new Object[] {"parquet", true, false},
+      new Object[] {"orc", false, true},
+      new Object[] {"avro", false, false}
     };
   }
 
@@ -132,6 +136,7 @@ public static void stopMetastoreAndSpark() throws Exception {
     metastore = null;
     spark.stop();
     spark = null;
+    System.clearProperty("iceberg.stream-delete-filter-threshold");
   }
 
   @Override