diff --git a/lib/libzpool/taskq.c b/lib/libzpool/taskq.c
index b1e71e998..a2e457ef9 100644
--- a/lib/libzpool/taskq.c
+++ b/lib/libzpool/taskq.c
@@ -319,7 +319,9 @@ taskq_destroy(taskq_t *tq)
 	tq->tq_minalloc = 0;
 	while (tq->tq_nalloc != 0) {
 		ASSERT(tq->tq_freelist != NULL);
-		task_free(tq, task_alloc(tq, KM_SLEEP));
+		taskq_ent_t *tqent_nexttq = tq->tq_freelist->tqent_next;
+		task_free(tq, tq->tq_freelist);
+		tq->tq_freelist = tqent_nexttq;
 	}
 
 	mutex_exit(&tq->tq_lock);