diff --git a/packages/eui/changelogs/upcoming/9253.md b/packages/eui/changelogs/upcoming/9253.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..28ab4384a3c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/eui/changelogs/upcoming/9253.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+- Updated `EuiSearchBarOnChangeArgs` to restore proper type narrowing when checking for `error` (regression from #9142), decoupling `searchFormat="text"` behavior in `EuiInMemoryTable` from `EuiSearchBar`
+- Export new `EuiInMemoryTableSearchBarProps` type 
diff --git a/packages/eui/src/components/basic_table/in_memory_table.tsx b/packages/eui/src/components/basic_table/in_memory_table.tsx
index 584a6162f471..95414ce07e37 100644
--- a/packages/eui/src/components/basic_table/in_memory_table.tsx
+++ b/packages/eui/src/components/basic_table/in_memory_table.tsx
@@ -41,19 +41,25 @@ import {
   EuiComponentDefaults,
 } from '../provider/component_defaults';
 
-interface onChangeArgument {
+export interface EuiInMemoryTableSearchBarOnChangeArgs {
   query: Query | null;
   queryText: string;
   error: Error | null;
 }
 
+// allows `query: null` in the onChange callback when using `searchFormat="text"`
+export interface EuiInMemoryTableSearchBarProps
+  extends Omit<EuiSearchBarProps, 'onChange'> {
+  onChange?: (args: EuiInMemoryTableSearchBarOnChangeArgs) => void | boolean;
+}
+
 function isEuiSearchBarProps<T extends object>(
   x: EuiInMemoryTableProps<T>['search']
-): x is EuiSearchBarProps {
+): x is EuiInMemoryTableSearchBarProps {
   return typeof x !== 'boolean';
 }
 
-export type Search = boolean | EuiSearchBarProps;
+export type Search = boolean | EuiInMemoryTableSearchBarProps;
 
 interface PaginationOptions extends EuiTablePaginationProps {
   pageSizeOptions?: number[];
@@ -520,7 +526,11 @@ export class EuiInMemoryTable<T extends object = object> extends Component<
     });
   };
 
-  onQueryChange = ({ query, queryText, error }: onChangeArgument) => {
+  onQueryChange = ({
+    query,
+    queryText,
+    error,
+  }: EuiInMemoryTableSearchBarOnChangeArgs) => {
     const { search } = this.props;
     if (isEuiSearchBarProps(search)) {
       if (search.onChange) {
diff --git a/packages/eui/src/components/basic_table/index.ts b/packages/eui/src/components/basic_table/index.ts
index 4bf94ae0f56a..7c10db455ad9 100644
--- a/packages/eui/src/components/basic_table/index.ts
+++ b/packages/eui/src/components/basic_table/index.ts
@@ -13,7 +13,12 @@ export type {
   CriteriaWithPagination,
 } from './basic_table';
 export { EuiBasicTable } from './basic_table';
-export type { EuiInMemoryTableProps, Search } from './in_memory_table';
+export type {
+  EuiInMemoryTableProps,
+  EuiInMemoryTableSearchBarOnChangeArgs,
+  EuiInMemoryTableSearchBarProps,
+  Search,
+} from './in_memory_table';
 export { EuiInMemoryTable } from './in_memory_table';
 export type {
   EuiTableDataType,
diff --git a/packages/eui/src/components/search_bar/search_bar.tsx b/packages/eui/src/components/search_bar/search_bar.tsx
index c57ce764fd2c..da798a106ddb 100644
--- a/packages/eui/src/components/search_bar/search_bar.tsx
+++ b/packages/eui/src/components/search_bar/search_bar.tsx
@@ -34,16 +34,6 @@ interface ArgsWithQuery {
   error: null;
 }
 
-/**
- * When `searchFormat` is 'text', `query` is null and the search is performed
- * on the `queryText` directly without EQL parsing
- */
-interface ArgsWithPlainText {
-  query: null;
-  queryText: string;
-  error: null;
-}
-
 interface ArgsWithError {
   query: null;
   queryText: string;
@@ -58,10 +48,7 @@ export interface SchemaType {
   recognizedFields?: string[];
 }
 
-export type EuiSearchBarOnChangeArgs =
-  | ArgsWithQuery
-  | ArgsWithPlainText
-  | ArgsWithError;
+export type EuiSearchBarOnChangeArgs = ArgsWithQuery | ArgsWithError;
 
 type HintPopOverProps = Partial<
   Pick<