diff --git a/include/sys/zfs_context.h b/include/sys/zfs_context.h
index 2ac41e007..1027e7215 100644
--- a/include/sys/zfs_context.h
+++ b/include/sys/zfs_context.h
@@ -368,6 +368,7 @@ typedef void (task_func_t)(void *);
 #define	TASKQ_DYNAMIC		0x0004	/* Use dynamic thread scheduling */
 #define	TASKQ_THREADS_CPU_PCT	0x0008	/* Scale # threads by # cpus */
 #define	TASKQ_DC_BATCH		0x0010	/* Mark threads as batch */
+#define	TASKQ_NORECLAIM		0x0020	/* Disable direct memory reclaim */
 
 #define	TQ_SLEEP	KM_SLEEP	/* Can block for memory */
 #define	TQ_NOSLEEP	KM_NOSLEEP	/* cannot block for memory; may fail */
diff --git a/module/zfs/spa.c b/module/zfs/spa.c
index 3599e61c9..57d25c3d1 100644
--- a/module/zfs/spa.c
+++ b/module/zfs/spa.c
@@ -614,9 +614,8 @@ spa_get_errlists(spa_t *spa, avl_tree_t *last, avl_tree_t *scrub)
 
 static taskq_t *
 spa_taskq_create(spa_t *spa, const char *name, enum zti_modes mode,
-    uint_t value)
+    uint_t value, uint_t flags)
 {
-	uint_t flags = TASKQ_PREPOPULATE;
 	boolean_t batch = B_FALSE;
 
 	switch (mode) {
@@ -666,13 +665,17 @@ spa_create_zio_taskqs(spa_t *spa)
 			const zio_taskq_info_t *ztip = &zio_taskqs[t][q];
 			enum zti_modes mode = ztip->zti_mode;
 			uint_t value = ztip->zti_value;
+			uint_t flags = TASKQ_PREPOPULATE;
 			char name[32];
 
+			if (t == ZIO_TYPE_WRITE)
+				flags |= TASKQ_NORECLAIM;
+
 			(void) snprintf(name, sizeof (name),
 			    "%s_%s", zio_type_name[t], zio_taskq_types[q]);
 
 			spa->spa_zio_taskq[t][q] =
-			    spa_taskq_create(spa, name, mode, value);
+			    spa_taskq_create(spa, name, mode, value, flags);
 		}
 	}
 }