diff --git a/test/core/end2end/cq_verifier.c b/test/core/end2end/cq_verifier.c
index 621ddf1dcd6..9369dfd7ec6 100644
--- a/test/core/end2end/cq_verifier.c
+++ b/test/core/end2end/cq_verifier.c
@@ -371,7 +371,7 @@ void cq_verify(cq_verifier *v) {
 }
 
 void cq_verify_empty(cq_verifier *v) {
-  gpr_timespec deadline = GRPC_TIMEOUT_SECONDS_TO_DEADLINE(3);
+  gpr_timespec deadline = gpr_time_add(gpr_now(), gpr_time_from_seconds(1));
   grpc_event *ev;
 
   GPR_ASSERT(v->expect.next == &v->expect && "expectation queue must be empty");