diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/settings/ClusterDynamicSettingsModule.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/settings/ClusterDynamicSettingsModule.java
index 972a42ea8de..6933e629cae 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/settings/ClusterDynamicSettingsModule.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/settings/ClusterDynamicSettingsModule.java
@@ -78,6 +78,7 @@ public class ClusterDynamicSettingsModule extends AbstractModule {
         clusterDynamicSettings.addDynamicSetting(RecoverySettings.INDICES_RECOVERY_CONCURRENT_STREAMS, Validator.POSITIVE_INTEGER);
         clusterDynamicSettings.addDynamicSetting(RecoverySettings.INDICES_RECOVERY_CONCURRENT_SMALL_FILE_STREAMS, Validator.POSITIVE_INTEGER);
         clusterDynamicSettings.addDynamicSetting(RecoverySettings.INDICES_RECOVERY_MAX_BYTES_PER_SEC, Validator.BYTES_SIZE);
+        clusterDynamicSettings.addDynamicSetting(RecoverySettings.INDICES_RECOVERY_RETRY_DELAY, Validator.TIME_NON_NEGATIVE);
         clusterDynamicSettings.addDynamicSetting(RecoverySettings.INDICES_RECOVERY_MAX_SIZE_PER_SEC, Validator.BYTES_SIZE);
         clusterDynamicSettings.addDynamicSetting(ThreadPool.THREADPOOL_GROUP + "*");
         clusterDynamicSettings.addDynamicSetting(ThrottlingAllocationDecider.CLUSTER_ROUTING_ALLOCATION_NODE_INITIAL_PRIMARIES_RECOVERIES, Validator.INTEGER);
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoverySettings.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoverySettings.java
index 6d59e9733b6..6f964c873f1 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoverySettings.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoverySettings.java
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ 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.common.unit.TimeValue;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.EsExecutors;
 import org.elasticsearch.node.settings.NodeSettingsService;
 import org.elasticsearch.threadpool.ThreadPool;
@@ -45,6 +46,7 @@ public class RecoverySettings extends AbstractComponent {
     public static final String INDICES_RECOVERY_CONCURRENT_STREAMS = "indices.recovery.concurrent_streams";
     public static final String INDICES_RECOVERY_CONCURRENT_SMALL_FILE_STREAMS = "indices.recovery.concurrent_small_file_streams";
     public static final String INDICES_RECOVERY_MAX_BYTES_PER_SEC = "indices.recovery.max_bytes_per_sec";
+    public static final String INDICES_RECOVERY_RETRY_DELAY = "indices.recovery.retry_delay";
 
     public static final long SMALL_FILE_CUTOFF_BYTES = ByteSizeValue.parseBytesSizeValue("5mb").bytes();
 
@@ -67,6 +69,7 @@ public class RecoverySettings extends AbstractComponent {
 
     private volatile ByteSizeValue maxBytesPerSec;
     private volatile SimpleRateLimiter rateLimiter;
+    private volatile TimeValue retryDelay;
 
     @Inject
     public RecoverySettings(Settings settings, NodeSettingsService nodeSettingsService) {
@@ -76,6 +79,7 @@ public class RecoverySettings extends AbstractComponent {
         this.translogOps = componentSettings.getAsInt("translog_ops", settings.getAsInt("index.shard.recovery.translog_ops", 1000));
         this.translogSize = componentSettings.getAsBytesSize("translog_size", settings.getAsBytesSize("index.shard.recovery.translog_size", new ByteSizeValue(512, ByteSizeUnit.KB)));
         this.compress = componentSettings.getAsBoolean("compress", true);
+        this.retryDelay = componentSettings.getAsTime("retry_delay", TimeValue.timeValueMillis(500));
 
         this.concurrentStreams = componentSettings.getAsInt("concurrent_streams", settings.getAsInt("index.shard.recovery.concurrent_streams", 3));
         this.concurrentStreamPool = EsExecutors.newScaling(0, concurrentStreams, 60, TimeUnit.SECONDS, EsExecutors.daemonThreadFactory(settings, "[recovery_stream]"));
@@ -131,6 +135,8 @@ public class RecoverySettings extends AbstractComponent {
         return rateLimiter;
     }
 
+    public TimeValue retryDelay() { return retryDelay; }
+
     class ApplySettings implements NodeSettingsService.Listener {
         @Override
         public void onRefreshSettings(Settings settings) {
@@ -184,6 +190,11 @@ public class RecoverySettings extends AbstractComponent {
                 RecoverySettings.this.concurrentSmallFileStreams = concurrentSmallFileStreams;
                 RecoverySettings.this.concurrentSmallFileStreamPool.setMaximumPoolSize(concurrentSmallFileStreams);
             }
+            final TimeValue retryDelay = settings.getAsTime(INDICES_RECOVERY_RETRY_DELAY, RecoverySettings.this.retryDelay);
+            if (retryDelay.equals(RecoverySettings.this.retryDelay) == false) {
+                logger.info("updating [] from [{}] to [{}]",INDICES_RECOVERY_RETRY_DELAY,  RecoverySettings.this.retryDelay, retryDelay);
+                RecoverySettings.this.retryDelay = retryDelay;
+            }
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoveryTarget.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoveryTarget.java
index 99cb2e7dd6e..e886523632f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoveryTarget.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoveryTarget.java
@@ -218,12 +218,12 @@ public class RecoveryTarget extends AbstractComponent {
 
             if (cause instanceof IndexShardNotStartedException || cause instanceof IndexMissingException || cause instanceof IndexShardMissingException) {
                 // if the target is not ready yet, retry
-                retryRecovery(recoveryStatus.recoveryId(), TimeValue.timeValueMillis(500));
+                retryRecovery(recoveryStatus.recoveryId(), recoverySettings.retryDelay());
                 return;
             }
 
             if (cause instanceof DelayRecoveryException) {
-                retryRecovery(recoveryStatus.recoveryId(), TimeValue.timeValueMillis(500));
+                retryRecovery(recoveryStatus.recoveryId(), recoverySettings.retryDelay());
                 return;
             }
 
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/InternalTestCluster.java b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/InternalTestCluster.java
index 67f318cc006..183d887f3f8 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/InternalTestCluster.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/InternalTestCluster.java
@@ -303,10 +303,12 @@ public final class InternalTestCluster extends TestCluster {
             builder.put(RecoverySettings.INDICES_RECOVERY_CONCURRENT_STREAMS, RandomInts.randomIntBetween(random, 10, 15));
             builder.put(RecoverySettings.INDICES_RECOVERY_CONCURRENT_SMALL_FILE_STREAMS, RandomInts.randomIntBetween(random, 10, 15));
             builder.put(ThrottlingAllocationDecider.CLUSTER_ROUTING_ALLOCATION_NODE_CONCURRENT_RECOVERIES, RandomInts.randomIntBetween(random, 5, 10));
+            builder.put(RecoverySettings.INDICES_RECOVERY_RETRY_DELAY, TimeValue.timeValueMillis(RandomInts.randomIntBetween(random, 10, 25))); // more shared - we need to retry more often
         } else if (random.nextBoolean()) {
             builder.put(RecoverySettings.INDICES_RECOVERY_CONCURRENT_STREAMS, RandomInts.randomIntBetween(random, 3, 6));
             builder.put(RecoverySettings.INDICES_RECOVERY_CONCURRENT_SMALL_FILE_STREAMS, RandomInts.randomIntBetween(random, 3, 6));
             builder.put(ThrottlingAllocationDecider.CLUSTER_ROUTING_ALLOCATION_NODE_CONCURRENT_RECOVERIES, RandomInts.randomIntBetween(random, 2, 5));
+            builder.put(RecoverySettings.INDICES_RECOVERY_RETRY_DELAY, TimeValue.timeValueMillis(RandomInts.randomIntBetween(random, 20, 100)));
         }
         defaultSettings = builder.build();
         executor = EsExecutors.newCached(0, TimeUnit.SECONDS, EsExecutors.daemonThreadFactory("test_" + clusterName));