diff --git a/p2p/discover/lookup.go b/p2p/discover/lookup.go
index f988e06838..79b4d86144 100644
--- a/p2p/discover/lookup.go
+++ b/p2p/discover/lookup.go
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ package discover
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/p2p/enode"
 )
@@ -106,6 +107,12 @@ func (it *lookup) startQueries() bool {
 		it.tab.mutex.Lock()
 		closest := it.tab.closest(it.result.target, bucketSize, false)
 		it.tab.mutex.Unlock()
+		// Avoid finishing the lookup too quickly if table is empty. It'd be better to wait
+		// for the table to fill in this case, but there is no good mechanism for that
+		// yet.
+		if len(closest.entries) == 0 {
+			time.Sleep(1 * time.Second)
+		}
 		it.queries = 1
 		it.replyCh <- closest.entries
 		return true