diff --git a/Directory.Build.props b/Directory.Build.props
index feef18c9263..86d123d0c29 100644
--- a/Directory.Build.props
+++ b/Directory.Build.props
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
     <LangVersion>preview</LangVersion>
     <PackageLicenseExpression>MIT</PackageLicenseExpression>
     <SharedDir>$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)/src/Shared/</SharedDir>
+    <ComponentsDir>$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)/src/Components/</ComponentsDir>
     <TestsSharedDir>$([MSBuild]::NormalizeDirectory($(MSBuildThisFileDirectory), 'tests', 'Shared'))</TestsSharedDir>
     <TestsSharedRepoTestingDir>$([MSBuild]::NormalizeDirectory($(TestsSharedDir), 'RepoTesting'))</TestsSharedRepoTestingDir>
     <VendoringDir>$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)/src/Vendoring/</VendoringDir>
diff --git a/playground/Elasticsearch/Elasticsearch.AppHost/Program.cs b/playground/Elasticsearch/Elasticsearch.AppHost/Program.cs
index 82f1391e383..53d1e4eac7a 100644
--- a/playground/Elasticsearch/Elasticsearch.AppHost/Program.cs
+++ b/playground/Elasticsearch/Elasticsearch.AppHost/Program.cs
@@ -7,7 +7,8 @@
     .WithDataVolume();
 
 builder.AddProject<Projects.Elasticsearch_ApiService>("elasticsearch-apiservice")
-    .WithReference(elasticsearch);
+    .WithReference(elasticsearch)
+    .WaitFor(elasticsearch);
 
 #if !SKIP_DASHBOARD_REFERENCE
 // This project is only added in playground projects to support development/debugging
diff --git a/spelling.dic b/spelling.dic
index 5c6a474ea4b..a19ed0d1398 100644
--- a/spelling.dic
+++ b/spelling.dic
@@ -63,3 +63,4 @@ uris
 urls
 kubernetes
 Pgweb
+elasticsearch
diff --git a/src/Aspire.Hosting.Elasticsearch/Aspire.Hosting.Elasticsearch.csproj b/src/Aspire.Hosting.Elasticsearch/Aspire.Hosting.Elasticsearch.csproj
index 4f18a0ec493..bc35cd8223e 100644
--- a/src/Aspire.Hosting.Elasticsearch/Aspire.Hosting.Elasticsearch.csproj
+++ b/src/Aspire.Hosting.Elasticsearch/Aspire.Hosting.Elasticsearch.csproj
@@ -15,10 +15,12 @@
   
   <ItemGroup>
     <Compile Include="$(SharedDir)VolumeNameGenerator.cs" Link="Utils\VolumeNameGenerator.cs" />
+    <Compile Include="$(ComponentsDir)Aspire.Elastic.Clients.Elasticsearch\ElasticsearchHealthCheck.cs" Link="ElasticsearchHealthCheck.cs"></Compile>
   </ItemGroup>
 
   <ItemGroup>
     <InternalsVisibleTo Include="Aspire.Hosting.Elasticsearch.Tests" />
+    <PackageReference Include="Elastic.Clients.Elasticsearch" />
   </ItemGroup>
   
   <ItemGroup>
diff --git a/src/Aspire.Hosting.Elasticsearch/ElasticsearchBuilderExtensions.cs b/src/Aspire.Hosting.Elasticsearch/ElasticsearchBuilderExtensions.cs
index c746ffdeaf2..0bd9f42d281 100644
--- a/src/Aspire.Hosting.Elasticsearch/ElasticsearchBuilderExtensions.cs
+++ b/src/Aspire.Hosting.Elasticsearch/ElasticsearchBuilderExtensions.cs
@@ -1,9 +1,13 @@
 // Licensed to the .NET Foundation under one or more agreements.
 // The .NET Foundation licenses this file to you under the MIT license.
 
+using Aspire.Elastic.Clients.Elasticsearch;
 using Aspire.Hosting.ApplicationModel;
 using Aspire.Hosting.Elasticsearch;
 using Aspire.Hosting.Utils;
+using Elastic.Clients.Elasticsearch;
+using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
+using Microsoft.Extensions.Diagnostics.HealthChecks;
 
 namespace Aspire.Hosting;
 
@@ -19,7 +23,7 @@ public static class ElasticsearchBuilderExtensions
     /// Adds an Elasticsearch container resource to the application model.
     /// </summary>
     /// <remarks>
-    /// The default image is "elasticsearch" and the tag is "8.14.0".
+    /// The default image is "elasticsearch" and the tag is "8.15.1".
     /// </remarks>
     /// <param name="builder">The <see cref="IDistributedApplicationBuilder"/>.</param>
     /// <param name="name">The name of the resource. This name will be used as the connection string name when referenced in a dependency.</param>
@@ -51,6 +55,30 @@ public static IResourceBuilder<ElasticsearchResource> AddElasticsearch(
 
         var elasticsearch = new ElasticsearchResource(name, passwordParameter);
 
+        string? connectionString = null;
+        ElasticsearchClient? elasticsearchClient = null;
+
+        builder.Eventing.Subscribe<ConnectionStringAvailableEvent>(elasticsearch, async (@event, ct) =>
+        {
+            connectionString = await elasticsearch.ConnectionStringExpression.GetValueAsync(ct).ConfigureAwait(false);
+            if (connectionString is null)
+            {
+                throw new DistributedApplicationException($"ConnectionStringAvailableEvent was published for the '{elasticsearch.Name}' resource but the connection string was null.");
+            }
+            elasticsearchClient = new ElasticsearchClient(new Uri(connectionString));
+        });
+
+        var healthCheckKey = $"{name}_check";
+        // todo: Use health check from AspNetCore.Diagnostics.HealthChecks once following PR released:
+        // https://github.com/Xabaril/AspNetCore.Diagnostics.HealthChecks/pull/2244
+        builder.Services.AddHealthChecks()
+          .Add(new HealthCheckRegistration(
+              healthCheckKey,
+              sp => new ElasticsearchHealthCheck(elasticsearchClient!),
+              failureStatus: default,
+              tags: default,
+              timeout: default));
+
         return builder.AddResource(elasticsearch)
              .WithImage(ElasticsearchContainerImageTags.Image, ElasticsearchContainerImageTags.Tag)
              .WithImageRegistry(ElasticsearchContainerImageTags.Registry)
@@ -61,7 +89,8 @@ public static IResourceBuilder<ElasticsearchResource> AddElasticsearch(
              .WithEnvironment(context =>
              {
                  context.EnvironmentVariables["ELASTIC_PASSWORD"] = elasticsearch.PasswordParameter;
-             });
+             })
+             .WithHealthCheck(healthCheckKey);
     }
 
     /// <summary>
diff --git a/tests/Aspire.Hosting.Elasticsearch.Tests/ElasticsearchFunctionalTests.cs b/tests/Aspire.Hosting.Elasticsearch.Tests/ElasticsearchFunctionalTests.cs
index 4a84bb9ecb9..56c2ab8900a 100644
--- a/tests/Aspire.Hosting.Elasticsearch.Tests/ElasticsearchFunctionalTests.cs
+++ b/tests/Aspire.Hosting.Elasticsearch.Tests/ElasticsearchFunctionalTests.cs
@@ -2,9 +2,11 @@
 // The .NET Foundation licenses this file to you under the MIT license.
 
 using Aspire.Components.Common.Tests;
+using Aspire.Hosting.ApplicationModel;
 using Aspire.Hosting.Utils;
 using Elastic.Clients.Elasticsearch;
 using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
+using Microsoft.Extensions.Diagnostics.HealthChecks;
 using Microsoft.Extensions.Hosting;
 using Polly;
 using Xunit;
@@ -199,6 +201,46 @@ await pipeline.ExecuteAsync(
         }
     }
 
+    [Fact]
+    [RequiresDocker]
+    public async Task VerifyWaitForOnElasticsearchBlocksDependentResources()
+    {
+        var cts = new CancellationTokenSource(TimeSpan.FromMinutes(10));
+        using var builder = TestDistributedApplicationBuilder.CreateWithTestContainerRegistry(testOutputHelper);
+
+        var healthCheckTcs = new TaskCompletionSource<HealthCheckResult>();
+        builder.Services.AddHealthChecks().AddAsyncCheck("blocking_check", () =>
+        {
+            return healthCheckTcs.Task;
+        });
+
+        var resource = builder.AddElasticsearch("resource")
+                              .WithHealthCheck("blocking_check");
+
+        var dependentResource = builder.AddElasticsearch("dependentresource")
+                                       .WaitFor(resource);
+
+        using var app = builder.Build();
+
+        var pendingStart = app.StartAsync(cts.Token);
+
+        var rns = app.Services.GetRequiredService<ResourceNotificationService>();
+
+        await rns.WaitForResourceAsync(resource.Resource.Name, KnownResourceStates.Running, cts.Token);
+
+        await rns.WaitForResourceAsync(dependentResource.Resource.Name, KnownResourceStates.Waiting, cts.Token);
+
+        healthCheckTcs.SetResult(HealthCheckResult.Healthy());
+
+        await rns.WaitForResourceAsync(resource.Resource.Name, (re => re.Snapshot.HealthStatus == Microsoft.Extensions.Diagnostics.HealthChecks.HealthStatus.Healthy), cts.Token);
+
+        await rns.WaitForResourceAsync(dependentResource.Resource.Name, KnownResourceStates.Running, cts.Token);
+
+        await pendingStart;
+
+        await app.StopAsync();
+    }
+
     private static async Task CreateTestData(ElasticsearchClient elasticsearchClient, ITestOutputHelper testOutputHelper, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
     {
         var indexResponse = await elasticsearchClient.IndexAsync<Person>(s_person, IndexName, s_person.Id, cancellationToken);
diff --git a/tests/helix/send-to-helix-basictests.targets b/tests/helix/send-to-helix-basictests.targets
index ebbc6a5c1d7..986eec363bb 100644
--- a/tests/helix/send-to-helix-basictests.targets
+++ b/tests/helix/send-to-helix-basictests.targets
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@
       <!-- runsettings timeout in ms, default to 15 mins -->
       <_DefaultWorkItems TimeoutMs="900000" />
 
-      <_DefaultWorkItems Condition="'%(FileName)' == 'Aspire.Hosting.Elasticsearch.Tests'" TimeoutMs="1200000" />
+      <_DefaultWorkItems Condition="'%(FileName)' == 'Aspire.Hosting.Elasticsearch.Tests'" TimeoutMs="3600000" />
       <_DefaultWorkItems Condition="'%(FileName)' == 'Aspire.Hosting.Oracle.Tests'" TimeoutMs="1200000" />
       <_DefaultWorkItems Condition="'%(FileName)' == 'Aspire.Pomelo.EntityFrameworkCore.MySql.Tests'" TimeoutMs="1200000" />