diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/TableMapReduceUtil.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/TableMapReduceUtil.java
index a5d7c59bdda..f76f149a5fe 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/TableMapReduceUtil.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/TableMapReduceUtil.java
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.FileSystem;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.Path;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HBaseConfiguration;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HConstants;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.catalog.MetaReader;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Put;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Scan;
@@ -301,6 +302,17 @@ public class TableMapReduceUtil {
     initTableMapperJob(snapshotName, scan, mapper, outputKeyClass,
         outputValueClass, job, addDependencyJars, false, TableSnapshotInputFormat.class);
 
+    /*
+     * Enable a basic on-heap cache for these jobs. Any BlockCache implementation based on
+     * direct memory will likely cause the map tasks to OOM when opening the region. This
+     * is done here instead of in TableSnapshotRegionRecordReader in case an advanced user
+     * wants to override this behavior in their job.
+     */
+    job.getConfiguration().setFloat(
+      HConstants.HFILE_BLOCK_CACHE_SIZE_KEY, HConstants.HFILE_BLOCK_CACHE_SIZE_DEFAULT);
+    job.getConfiguration().setFloat("hbase.offheapcache.percentage", 0f);
+    job.getConfiguration().setFloat("hbase.bucketcache.size", 0f);
+
     // We would need even more libraries that hbase-server depends on
     TableMapReduceUtil.addDependencyJars(job.getConfiguration(), Counter.class);
   }
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/TableSnapshotInputFormat.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/TableSnapshotInputFormat.java
index f8f226c0e0a..7f584b23149 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/TableSnapshotInputFormat.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/TableSnapshotInputFormat.java
@@ -231,6 +231,8 @@ public class TableSnapshotInputFormat extends InputFormat<ImmutableBytesWritable
       // region is immutable, this should be fine,
       // otherwise we have to set the thread read point
       scan.setIsolationLevel(IsolationLevel.READ_UNCOMMITTED);
+      // disable caching of data blocks
+      scan.setCacheBlocks(false);
 
       scanner = new ClientSideRegionScanner(conf, fs, tmpRootDir, htd, hri, scan, null);
       if (context != null) {
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/TestTableMapReduceUtil.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/TestTableMapReduceUtil.java
index c6a59ac326f..a2ec2ec4cd4 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/TestTableMapReduceUtil.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/TestTableMapReduceUtil.java
@@ -34,6 +34,11 @@ import org.junit.experimental.categories.Category;
 @Category(SmallTests.class)
 public class TestTableMapReduceUtil {
 
+  /*
+   * initTableSnapshotMapperJob is tested in {@link TestTableSnapshotInputFormat} because
+   * the method depends on an online cluster.
+   */
+
   @Test
   public void testInitTableMapperJob1() throws Exception {
     Configuration configuration = new Configuration();
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/TestTableSnapshotInputFormat.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/TestTableSnapshotInputFormat.java
index 66afb852c60..e02d5043e2a 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/TestTableSnapshotInputFormat.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/mapreduce/TestTableSnapshotInputFormat.java
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.fs.FileSystem;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.Path;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.Cell;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.CellScanner;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HBaseConfiguration;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HBaseTestingUtility;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HConstants;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HDFSBlocksDistribution;
@@ -42,6 +43,9 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.HTable;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Result;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Scan;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.io.ImmutableBytesWritable;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.io.hfile.BlockCache;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.io.hfile.CacheConfig;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.io.hfile.LruBlockCache;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.mapreduce.TableSnapshotInputFormat.TableSnapshotRegionSplit;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.master.snapshot.SnapshotManager;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.snapshot.SnapshotTestingUtils;
@@ -55,6 +59,7 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.TaskAttemptContext;
 import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.lib.output.NullOutputFormat;
 import org.junit.After;
 import org.junit.Assert;
+import org.junit.Ignore;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.junit.experimental.categories.Category;
 
@@ -201,6 +206,40 @@ public class TestTableSnapshotInputFormat {
     table.close();
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void testInitTableSnapshotMapperJobConfig() throws Exception {
+    setupCluster();
+    TableName tableName = TableName.valueOf("testInitTableSnapshotMapperJobConfig");
+    String snapshotName = "foo";
+
+    try {
+      createTableAndSnapshot(UTIL, tableName, snapshotName, 1);
+      Job job = new Job(UTIL.getConfiguration());
+      Path tmpTableDir = UTIL.getDataTestDirOnTestFS(snapshotName);
+
+      TableMapReduceUtil.initTableSnapshotMapperJob(snapshotName,
+        new Scan(), TestTableSnapshotMapper.class, ImmutableBytesWritable.class,
+        NullWritable.class, job, false, tmpTableDir);
+
+      // TODO: would be better to examine directly the cache instance that results from this
+      // config. Currently this is not possible because BlockCache initialization is static.
+      Assert.assertEquals(
+        "Snapshot job should be configured for default LruBlockCache.",
+        HConstants.HFILE_BLOCK_CACHE_SIZE_DEFAULT,
+        job.getConfiguration().getFloat(HConstants.HFILE_BLOCK_CACHE_SIZE_KEY, -1), 0.01);
+      Assert.assertEquals(
+        "Snapshot job should not use SlabCache.",
+        0, job.getConfiguration().getFloat("hbase.offheapcache.percentage", -1), 0.01);
+      Assert.assertEquals(
+        "Snapshot job should not use BucketCache.",
+        0, job.getConfiguration().getFloat("hbase.bucketcache.size", -1), 0.01);
+    } finally {
+      UTIL.getHBaseAdmin().deleteSnapshot(snapshotName);
+      UTIL.deleteTable(tableName);
+      tearDownCluster();
+    }
+  }
+
   @Test
   public void testWithMockedMapReduceSingleRegion() throws Exception {
     testWithMockedMapReduce(UTIL, "testWithMockedMapReduceSingleRegion", 1, 1);