diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkRequestBuilder.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkRequestBuilder.java
index 24d6fad554935..2e2938b63334e 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkRequestBuilder.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkRequestBuilder.java
@@ -27,7 +27,10 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.xcontent.XContentType;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.ArrayDeque;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Collection;
+import java.util.Deque;
 import java.util.List;
 
 /**
@@ -44,13 +47,14 @@ public class BulkRequestBuilder extends ActionRequestLazyBuilder<BulkRequest, Bu
      */
     private final List<DocWriteRequest<?>> requests = new ArrayList<>();
     private final List<FramedData> framedData = new ArrayList<>();
-    private final List<ActionRequestLazyBuilder<? extends DocWriteRequest<?>, ? extends DocWriteResponse>> requestBuilders =
-        new ArrayList<>();
+    private final Deque<ActionRequestLazyBuilder<? extends DocWriteRequest<?>, ? extends DocWriteResponse>> requestBuilders =
+        new ArrayDeque<>();
     private ActiveShardCount waitForActiveShards;
     private TimeValue timeout;
     private String globalPipeline;
     private String globalRouting;
     private WriteRequest.RefreshPolicy refreshPolicy;
+    private boolean requestPreviouslyCalled = false;
 
     public BulkRequestBuilder(ElasticsearchClient client, @Nullable String globalIndex) {
         super(client, BulkAction.INSTANCE);
@@ -199,11 +203,19 @@ public BulkRequestBuilder setRefreshPolicy(String refreshPolicy) {
 
     @Override
     public BulkRequest request() {
+        assert requestPreviouslyCalled == false : "Cannot call request() multiple times on the same BulkRequestBuilder object";
+        if (requestPreviouslyCalled) {
+            throw new IllegalStateException("Cannot call request() multiple times on the same BulkRequestBuilder object");
+        }
+        requestPreviouslyCalled = true;
         validate();
         BulkRequest request = new BulkRequest(globalIndex);
-        for (ActionRequestLazyBuilder<? extends DocWriteRequest<?>, ? extends DocWriteResponse> requestBuilder : requestBuilders) {
-            DocWriteRequest<?> childRequest = requestBuilder.request();
-            request.add(childRequest);
+        /*
+         * In the following loop we intentionally remove the builders from requestBuilders so that they can be garbage collected. This is
+         * so that we don't require double the memory of all of the inner requests, which could be really bad for a lage bulk request.
+         */
+        for (var builder = requestBuilders.pollFirst(); builder != null; builder = requestBuilders.pollFirst()) {
+            request.add(builder.request());
         }
         for (DocWriteRequest<?> childRequest : requests) {
             request.add(childRequest);
@@ -234,17 +246,17 @@ public BulkRequest request() {
     }
 
     private void validate() {
-        if (countNonEmptyLists(requestBuilders, requests, framedData) > 1) {
+        if (countNonEmptyCollections(requestBuilders, requests, framedData) > 1) {
             throw new IllegalStateException(
                 "Must use only request builders, requests, or byte arrays within a single bulk request. Cannot mix and match"
             );
         }
     }
 
-    private int countNonEmptyLists(List<?>... lists) {
+    private int countNonEmptyCollections(Collection<?>... collections) {
         int sum = 0;
-        for (List<?> list : lists) {
-            if (list.isEmpty() == false) {
+        for (Collection<?> collection : collections) {
+            if (collection.isEmpty() == false) {
                 sum++;
             }
         }
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkRequestBuilderTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkRequestBuilderTests.java
index 27b1104163d67..9cfe033f2788c 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkRequestBuilderTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkRequestBuilderTests.java
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.action.index.IndexRequestBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.ESTestCase;
 
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.equalTo;
+
 public class BulkRequestBuilderTests extends ESTestCase {
 
     public void testValidation() {
@@ -20,4 +22,18 @@ public void testValidation() {
         bulkRequestBuilder.add(new IndexRequest());
         expectThrows(IllegalStateException.class, bulkRequestBuilder::request);
     }
+
+    public void testRequestTwice() {
+        BulkRequestBuilder bulkRequestBuilder = new BulkRequestBuilder(null, null);
+        bulkRequestBuilder.add(new IndexRequestBuilder(null, randomAlphaOfLength(10)));
+        bulkRequestBuilder.add(new IndexRequestBuilder(null, randomAlphaOfLength(10)));
+        bulkRequestBuilder.add(new IndexRequestBuilder(null, randomAlphaOfLength(10)));
+        assertThat(bulkRequestBuilder.numberOfActions(), equalTo(3));
+        BulkRequest bulkRequest = bulkRequestBuilder.request();
+        assertNotNull(bulkRequest);
+        assertThat(bulkRequest.numberOfActions(), equalTo(3));
+        // Make sure that the bulk request builder is no longer holding onto the child request builders:
+        assertThat(bulkRequestBuilder.numberOfActions(), equalTo(0));
+        expectThrows(AssertionError.class, bulkRequestBuilder::request);
+    }
 }