diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/memory/IndexingMemoryBufferController.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/memory/IndexingMemoryBufferController.java
index 1ed25ee7743..52f5f62cb25 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/memory/IndexingMemoryBufferController.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/memory/IndexingMemoryBufferController.java
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ package org.elasticsearch.indices.memory;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.component.AbstractComponent;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.Inject;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.unit.ByteSizeUnit;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.unit.ByteSizeValue;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.service.IndexService;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.shard.ShardId;
@@ -38,6 +39,8 @@ public class IndexingMemoryBufferController extends AbstractComponent {
 
     private final ByteSizeValue indexingBuffer;
 
+    private final ByteSizeValue minShardIndexBufferSize;
+
     private final IndicesService indicesService;
 
     private final Listener listener = new Listener();
@@ -53,6 +56,9 @@ public class IndexingMemoryBufferController extends AbstractComponent {
         } else {
             this.indexingBuffer = ByteSizeValue.parseBytesSizeValue(indexingBuffer, null);
         }
+        this.minShardIndexBufferSize = componentSettings.getAsBytesSize("min_shard_index_buffer_size", new ByteSizeValue(4, ByteSizeUnit.MB));
+
+        logger.debug("using index_buffer_size [{}], with min_shard_index_buffer_size [{}]", this.indexingBuffer, this.minShardIndexBufferSize);
 
         indicesService.indicesLifecycle().addListener(listener);
     }
@@ -72,14 +78,17 @@ public class IndexingMemoryBufferController extends AbstractComponent {
             if (shardsCount == 0) {
                 return;
             }
-            ByteSizeValue shardIndexingBuffer = calcShardIndexingBuffer(shardsCount);
-            if (shardIndexingBuffer == null) {
+            ByteSizeValue shardIndexingBufferSize = calcShardIndexingBuffer(shardsCount);
+            if (shardIndexingBufferSize == null) {
                 return;
             }
-            logger.debug("recalculating shard indexing buffer (reason={}), total is [{}] with [{}] shards, each shard set to [{}]", reason, indexingBuffer, shardsCount, shardIndexingBuffer);
+            if (shardIndexingBufferSize.bytes() < minShardIndexBufferSize.bytes()) {
+                shardIndexingBufferSize = minShardIndexBufferSize;
+            }
+            logger.debug("recalculating shard indexing buffer (reason={}), total is [{}] with [{}] shards, each shard set to [{}]", reason, indexingBuffer, shardsCount, shardIndexingBufferSize);
             for (IndexService indexService : indicesService) {
                 for (IndexShard indexShard : indexService) {
-                    ((InternalIndexShard) indexShard).engine().indexingBuffer(shardIndexingBuffer);
+                    ((InternalIndexShard) indexShard).engine().indexingBuffer(shardIndexingBufferSize);
                 }
             }
         }