diff --git a/src/core/lib/iomgr/tcp_posix.cc b/src/core/lib/iomgr/tcp_posix.cc
index 7fd0e91346d..aa2704ce263 100644
--- a/src/core/lib/iomgr/tcp_posix.cc
+++ b/src/core/lib/iomgr/tcp_posix.cc
@@ -500,7 +500,7 @@ static void tcp_read_allocation_done(void* tcpp, grpc_error* error) {
 
 static void tcp_continue_read(grpc_tcp* tcp) {
   size_t target_read_size = get_target_read_size(tcp);
-  if (tcp->incoming_buffer->length < target_read_size &&
+  if (tcp->incoming_buffer->length < target_read_size / 2 &&
       tcp->incoming_buffer->count < MAX_READ_IOVEC) {
     if (grpc_tcp_trace.enabled()) {
       gpr_log(GPR_INFO, "TCP:%p alloc_slices", tcp);