diff --git a/core/future-util.hh b/core/future-util.hh
index c094b2d916..2958360ada 100644
--- a/core/future-util.hh
+++ b/core/future-util.hh
@@ -70,13 +70,28 @@ future<> do_until(StopCondition&& stop_cond, AsyncAction&& action) {
 template<typename AsyncAction>
 static inline
 future<> keep_doing(AsyncAction&& action) {
-    try {
-        return action().then([action = std::forward<AsyncAction>(action)] () mutable {
-            return keep_doing(std::forward<AsyncAction>(action));
-        });
-    } catch (...) {
-        return make_exception_future(std::current_exception());
+    while (task_quota) {
+        auto f = action();
+
+        if (!f.available()) {
+            return f.then([action = std::forward<AsyncAction>(action)] () mutable {
+                return keep_doing(std::forward<AsyncAction>(action));
+            });
+        }
+
+        if (f.failed()) {
+            return std::move(f);
+        }
+
+        --task_quota;
     }
+
+    promise<> p;
+    auto f = p.get_future();
+    schedule(make_task([action = std::forward<AsyncAction>(action), p = std::move(p)] () mutable {
+        keep_doing(std::forward<AsyncAction>(action)).forward_to(std::move(p));
+    }));
+    return f;
 }
 
 template<typename Iterator, typename AsyncAction>
diff --git a/core/reactor.cc b/core/reactor.cc
index 203eee726e..c4e73ef066 100644
--- a/core/reactor.cc
+++ b/core/reactor.cc
@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@ void reactor::configure(boost::program_options::variables_map vm) {
         ? network_stack_registry::create(sstring(vm["network-stack"].as<std::string>()), vm)
         : network_stack_registry::create(vm);
     _handle_sigint = !vm.count("no-handle-interrupt");
+    _task_quota = vm["task-quota"].as<int>();
 }
 
 future<> reactor_backend_epoll::get_epoll_future(pollable_fd_state& pfd,
@@ -420,8 +421,9 @@ int reactor::run() {
     });
     complete_timers();
     while (true) {
-        unsigned loop = 0;
-        while (!_pending_tasks.empty() && loop++ < 200) {
+        task_quota = _task_quota;
+        while (!_pending_tasks.empty() && task_quota) {
+            --task_quota;
             auto tsk = std::move(_pending_tasks.front());
             _pending_tasks.pop_front();
             tsk->run();
@@ -731,6 +733,7 @@ reactor::get_options_description() {
                 sprint("select network stack (valid values: %s)",
                         format_separated(net_stack_names.begin(), net_stack_names.end(), ", ")).c_str())
         ("no-handle-interrupt", "ignore SIGINT (for gdb)")
+        ("task-quota", bpo::value<int>()->default_value(200), "Max number of tasks executed between polls and in loops")
         ;
     opts.add(network_stack_registry::options_description());
     return opts;
@@ -823,6 +826,7 @@ void smp::join_all()
 }
 
 __thread size_t future_avail_count = 0;
+__thread size_t task_quota = 0;
 
 thread_local reactor engine;
 
diff --git a/core/reactor.hh b/core/reactor.hh
index 3c2e5013bb..86fe2ae4df 100644
--- a/core/reactor.hh
+++ b/core/reactor.hh
@@ -551,6 +551,7 @@ private:
     semaphore _io_context_available;
     circular_buffer<std::unique_ptr<task>> _pending_tasks;
     thread_pool _thread_pool;
+    size_t _task_quota;
 private:
     void abort_on_error(int ret);
     void complete_timers();
@@ -642,6 +643,7 @@ public:
 };
 
 extern thread_local reactor engine;
+extern __thread size_t task_quota;
 
 class smp {
 	static std::vector<posix_thread> _threads;