diff --git a/esphome/components/http_request/__init__.py b/esphome/components/http_request/__init__.py
index 78064fb4b4..fcf341825d 100644
--- a/esphome/components/http_request/__init__.py
+++ b/esphome/components/http_request/__init__.py
@@ -276,7 +276,7 @@ async def http_request_action_to_code(config, action_id, template_arg, args):
             trigger,
             [
                 (cg.std_shared_ptr.template(HttpContainer), "response"),
-                (cg.std_string_ref, "body"),
+                (cg.std_shared_ptr.template(cg.std_string), "body"),
             ],
             conf,
         )
diff --git a/esphome/components/http_request/http_request.h b/esphome/components/http_request/http_request.h
index b2ce718ec4..4e1ad59f90 100644
--- a/esphome/components/http_request/http_request.h
+++ b/esphome/components/http_request/http_request.h
@@ -100,10 +100,10 @@ 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::shared_ptr<std::string>> {
  public:
-  void process(std::shared_ptr<HttpContainer> container, std::string &response_body) {
-    this->trigger(std::move(container), response_body);
+  void process(std::shared_ptr<HttpContainer> container, std::shared_ptr<std::string> response_body) {
+    this->trigger(std::move(container), std::move(response_body));
   }
 };
 
@@ -196,7 +196,7 @@ template<typename... Ts> class HttpRequestSendAction : public Action<Ts...> {
     size_t content_length = container->content_length;
     size_t max_length = std::min(content_length, this->max_response_buffer_size_);
 
-    std::string response_body;
+    std::shared_ptr<std::string> response_body;
     if (this->capture_response_.value(x...)) {
       ExternalRAMAllocator<uint8_t> allocator(ExternalRAMAllocator<uint8_t>::ALLOW_FAILURE);
       uint8_t *buf = allocator.allocate(max_length);
@@ -208,23 +208,23 @@ template<typename... Ts> class HttpRequestSendAction : public Action<Ts...> {
           yield();
           read_index += read;
         }
-        response_body.reserve(read_index);
-        response_body.assign((char *) buf, read_index);
+        response_body = std::make_shared<std::string>((char *) buf, read_index);
         allocator.deallocate(buf, max_length);
       }
     }
 
-    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);
+    size_t index = 0u;
+    auto num_triggers = this->response_triggers_.size();
+    for (auto *trigger : this->response_triggers_) {
+      // pass a copy of the response body to each trigger so that modifications
+      // made in one trigger are not visible to the others. Re-use the original
+      // response body for the last trigger.
+      std::shared_ptr<std::string> response_body_copy{response_body};
+      if (response_body && index != num_triggers - 1) {
+        response_body_copy = std::make_shared<std::string>(*response_body);
       }
+      trigger->process(container, response_body_copy);
+      index++;
     }
     container->end();
   }
diff --git a/tests/components/http_request/common.yaml b/tests/components/http_request/common.yaml
index 8408f27a05..980d16a45d 100644
--- a/tests/components/http_request/common.yaml
+++ b/tests/components/http_request/common.yaml
@@ -21,6 +21,24 @@ esphome:
                   args:
                     - response->status_code
                     - (long) response->duration_ms
+
+              # regression test for http://github.com/esphome/issues/issues/5987s
+              - wait_until:
+                  not:
+                    wifi.connected:
+
+              - repeat:
+                  count: 3
+                  then:
+                    - logger.log: "got response :-)"
+
+              - while:
+                  condition:
+                    not:
+                      wifi.connected:
+                  then:
+                    - logger.log: "still offline"
+
       - http_request.post:
           url: https://esphome.io
           headers: