diff --git a/zio-kafka/src/main/scala/zio/kafka/consumer/internal/Runloop.scala b/zio-kafka/src/main/scala/zio/kafka/consumer/internal/Runloop.scala
index b4ceddbb2..f34914e7a 100644
--- a/zio-kafka/src/main/scala/zio/kafka/consumer/internal/Runloop.scala
+++ b/zio-kafka/src/main/scala/zio/kafka/consumer/internal/Runloop.scala
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ private[consumer] final class Runloop private (
   sameThreadRuntime: Runtime[Any],
   consumer: ConsumerAccess,
   commandQueue: Queue[RunloopCommand],
+  pollDataQueue: Queue[PollData],
   partitionsHub: Hub[Take[Throwable, PartitionAssignment]],
   diagnostics: Diagnostics,
   maxStreamPullInterval: Duration,
@@ -103,54 +104,53 @@ private[consumer] final class Runloop private (
       )
   }
 
+  private def processPollDataQueue =
+    ZStream
+      .fromQueueWithShutdown(pollDataQueue)
+      .mapZIO(offerRecordsToStreams)
+      .runDrain
+
   /**
    * Offer records retrieved from poll() call to the streams.
    *
    * @return
    *   Remaining pending requests
    */
-  private def offerRecordsToStreams(
-    partitionStreams: Chunk[PartitionStreamControl],
-    pendingRequests: Chunk[RunloopCommand.Request],
-    ignoreRecordsForTps: Set[TopicPartition],
-    polledRecords: ConsumerRecords[Array[Byte], Array[Byte]]
-  ): UIO[Runloop.FulfillResult] = {
+  private def offerRecordsToStreams(pollData: PollData): UIO[Unit] = {
     type Record = CommittableRecord[Array[Byte], Array[Byte]]
 
+    import pollData._
+
     // The most efficient way to get the records from [[ConsumerRecords]] per
     // topic-partition, is by first getting the set of topic-partitions, and
     // then requesting the records per topic-partition.
-    val tps           = polledRecords.partitions().asScala.toSet -- ignoreRecordsForTps
-    val fulfillResult = Runloop.FulfillResult(pendingRequests = pendingRequests.filter(req => !tps.contains(req.tp)))
+    val tps = polledRecords.partitions().asScala.toSet -- ignoreRecordsForTps
     val streams =
       if (tps.isEmpty) Chunk.empty else partitionStreams.filter(streamControl => tps.contains(streamControl.tp))
 
-    if (streams.isEmpty) ZIO.succeed(fulfillResult)
-    else {
-      for {
-        consumerGroupMetadata <- getConsumerGroupMetadataIfAny
-        _ <- ZIO.foreachParDiscard(streams) { streamControl =>
-               val tp      = streamControl.tp
-               val records = polledRecords.records(tp)
-               if (records.isEmpty) {
-                 streamControl.offerRecords(Chunk.empty)
-               } else {
-                 val builder  = ChunkBuilder.make[Record](records.size())
-                 val iterator = records.iterator()
-                 while (iterator.hasNext) {
-                   val consumerRecord = iterator.next()
-                   builder +=
-                     CommittableRecord[Array[Byte], Array[Byte]](
-                       record = consumerRecord,
-                       commitHandle = committer.commit,
-                       consumerGroupMetadata = consumerGroupMetadata
-                     )
-                 }
-                 streamControl.offerRecords(builder.result())
-               }
-             }
-      } yield fulfillResult
-    }
+    ZIO
+      .foreachParDiscard(streams) { streamControl =>
+        val tp      = streamControl.tp
+        val records = polledRecords.records(tp)
+        if (records.isEmpty) {
+          streamControl.offerRecords(Chunk.empty)
+        } else {
+          val builder  = ChunkBuilder.make[Record](records.size())
+          val iterator = records.iterator()
+          while (iterator.hasNext) {
+            val consumerRecord = iterator.next()
+            builder +=
+              CommittableRecord[Array[Byte], Array[Byte]](
+                record = consumerRecord,
+                commitHandle = committer.commit,
+                consumerGroupMetadata = consumerGroupMetadata
+              )
+          }
+          streamControl.offerRecords(builder.result())
+        }
+      }
+      .when(streams.nonEmpty)
+      .unit
   }
 
   private val getConsumerGroupMetadataIfAny: UIO[Option[ConsumerGroupMetadata]] =
@@ -323,18 +323,27 @@ private[consumer] final class Runloop private (
                           }
           } yield pollresult
         }
-      fulfillResult <- offerRecordsToStreams(
-                         pollResult.assignedStreams,
-                         pollResult.pendingRequests,
-                         pollResult.ignoreRecordsForTps,
-                         pollResult.records
-                       )
+      consumerGroupMetadata <- getConsumerGroupMetadataIfAny
+      _ <- pollDataQueue.offer(
+             PollData(
+               pollResult.assignedStreams,
+               pollResult.pendingRequests,
+               pollResult.ignoreRecordsForTps,
+               pollResult.records,
+               consumerGroupMetadata
+             )
+           )
       _ <- committer.cleanupPendingCommits
       _ <- checkStreamPullInterval(pollResult.assignedStreams)
-    } yield state.copy(
-      pendingRequests = fulfillResult.pendingRequests,
-      assignedStreams = pollResult.assignedStreams
-    )
+    } yield {
+      val tps                    = pollResult.records.partitions().asScala.toSet -- pollResult.ignoreRecordsForTps
+      val updatedPendingRequests = pollResult.pendingRequests.filter(req => !tps.contains(req.tp))
+
+      state.copy(
+        pendingRequests = updatedPendingRequests,
+        assignedStreams = pollResult.assignedStreams
+      )
+    }
   }
 
   /**
@@ -583,6 +592,7 @@ object Runloop {
     for {
       _                  <- ZIO.addFinalizer(diagnostics.emit(Finalization.RunloopFinalized))
       commandQueue       <- ZIO.acquireRelease(Queue.unbounded[RunloopCommand])(_.shutdown)
+      pollDataQueue      <- ZIO.acquireRelease(Queue.bounded[PollData](2))(_.shutdown)
       lastRebalanceEvent <- Ref.Synchronized.make[RebalanceEvent](RebalanceEvent.None)
       initialState = State.initial
       currentStateRef   <- Ref.make(initialState)
@@ -611,6 +621,7 @@ object Runloop {
                   sameThreadRuntime = sameThreadRuntime,
                   consumer = consumer,
                   commandQueue = commandQueue,
+                  pollDataQueue = pollDataQueue,
                   partitionsHub = partitionsHub,
                   diagnostics = diagnostics,
                   maxStreamPullInterval = maxStreamPullInterval,
@@ -625,6 +636,7 @@ object Runloop {
 
       // Run the entire loop on a dedicated thread to avoid executor shifts
       executor <- RunloopExecutor.newInstance
+      _        <- runloop.processPollDataQueue.forkScoped
       fiber    <- ZIO.onExecutor(executor)(runloop.run(initialState)).forkScoped
       waitForRunloopStop = fiber.join.orDie
 
@@ -652,4 +664,12 @@ object Runloop {
     )
   }
 
+  private case class PollData(
+    partitionStreams: Chunk[PartitionStreamControl],
+    pendingRequests: Chunk[RunloopCommand.Request],
+    ignoreRecordsForTps: Set[TopicPartition],
+    polledRecords: ConsumerRecords[Array[Byte], Array[Byte]],
+    consumerGroupMetadata: Option[ConsumerGroupMetadata]
+  )
+
 }