diff --git a/esphome/codegen.py b/esphome/codegen.py
index b552490129..6b000b53a1 100644
--- a/esphome/codegen.py
+++ b/esphome/codegen.py
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ from esphome.cpp_types import (  # noqa
     std_ns,
     std_shared_ptr,
     std_string,
+    std_string_ref,
     std_vector,
     uint8,
     uint16,
diff --git a/esphome/components/http_request/__init__.py b/esphome/components/http_request/__init__.py
index 37487ec9a7..ade7024bed 100644
--- a/esphome/components/http_request/__init__.py
+++ b/esphome/components/http_request/__init__.py
@@ -257,7 +257,7 @@ async def http_request_action_to_code(config, action_id, template_arg, args):
             trigger,
             [
                 (cg.std_shared_ptr.template(HttpContainer), "response"),
-                (cg.std_string, "body"),
+                (cg.std_string_ref, "body"),
             ],
             conf,
         )
diff --git a/esphome/components/http_request/http_request.h b/esphome/components/http_request/http_request.h
index 6281adddb6..82b7392648 100644
--- a/esphome/components/http_request/http_request.h
+++ b/esphome/components/http_request/http_request.h
@@ -43,10 +43,10 @@ class HttpContainer : public Parented<HttpRequestComponent> {
   bool secure_{false};
 };
 
-class HttpRequestResponseTrigger : public Trigger<std::shared_ptr<HttpContainer>, std::string> {
+class HttpRequestResponseTrigger : public Trigger<std::shared_ptr<HttpContainer>, std::string &> {
  public:
-  void process(std::shared_ptr<HttpContainer> container, std::string response_body) {
-    this->trigger(std::move(container), std::move(response_body));
+  void process(std::shared_ptr<HttpContainer> container, std::string &response_body) {
+    this->trigger(std::move(container), response_body);
   }
 };
 
@@ -153,8 +153,17 @@ template<typename... Ts> class HttpRequestSendAction : public Action<Ts...> {
       }
     }
 
-    for (auto *trigger : this->response_triggers_) {
-      trigger->process(container, response_body);
+    if (this->response_triggers_.size() == 1) {
+      // if there is only one trigger, no need to copy the response body
+      this->response_triggers_[0]->process(container, response_body);
+    } else {
+      for (auto *trigger : this->response_triggers_) {
+        // with multiple triggers, pass a copy of the response body to each
+        // one so that modifications made in one trigger are not visible to
+        // the others
+        auto response_body_copy = std::string(response_body);
+        trigger->process(container, response_body_copy);
+      }
     }
     container->end();
   }
diff --git a/esphome/cpp_types.py b/esphome/cpp_types.py
index bd79d3b2f9..dab993f87f 100644
--- a/esphome/cpp_types.py
+++ b/esphome/cpp_types.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ int_ = global_ns.namespace("int")
 std_ns = global_ns.namespace("std")
 std_shared_ptr = std_ns.class_("shared_ptr")
 std_string = std_ns.class_("string")
+std_string_ref = std_ns.namespace("string &")
 std_vector = std_ns.class_("vector")
 uint8 = global_ns.namespace("uint8_t")
 uint16 = global_ns.namespace("uint16_t")