diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/internal/InternalEngine.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/internal/InternalEngine.java
index f661f5a4ca8..02860063115 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/internal/InternalEngine.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/internal/InternalEngine.java
@@ -339,8 +339,13 @@ public class InternalEngine implements Engine {
         final IndexWriter writer;
         try (InternalLock _ = readLock.acquire()) {
             writer = currentIndexWriter();
-            try (Releasable r = throttle.acquireThrottle()) {
+            if (create.origin() == Operation.Origin.RECOVERY) {
+                // Don't throttle recovery operations
                 innerCreate(create, writer);
+            } else {
+                try (Releasable r = throttle.acquireThrottle()) {
+                    innerCreate(create, writer);
+                }
             }
             dirty = true;
             flushNeeded = true;
@@ -351,7 +356,6 @@ public class InternalEngine implements Engine {
         checkVersionMapRefresh();
     }
 
-
     private void innerCreate(Create create, IndexWriter writer) throws IOException {
         if (engineConfig.isOptimizeAutoGenerateId() && create.autoGeneratedId() && !create.canHaveDuplicates()) {
             // We don't need to lock because this ID cannot be concurrently updated:
@@ -443,8 +447,13 @@ public class InternalEngine implements Engine {
         final IndexWriter writer;
         try (InternalLock _ = readLock.acquire()) {
             writer = currentIndexWriter();
-            try (Releasable r = throttle.acquireThrottle()) {
+            if (index.origin() == Operation.Origin.RECOVERY) {
+                // Don't throttle recovery operations
                 innerIndex(index, writer);
+            } else {
+                try (Releasable r = throttle.acquireThrottle()) {
+                    innerIndex(index, writer);
+                }
             }
             dirty = true;
             flushNeeded = true;