diff --git a/homeassistant/components/stt/__init__.py b/homeassistant/components/stt/__init__.py
index c3d39d4337e..676d8b8aa76 100644
--- a/homeassistant/components/stt/__init__.py
+++ b/homeassistant/components/stt/__init__.py
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
 from abc import abstractmethod
-import asyncio
 from collections.abc import AsyncIterable
 from dataclasses import asdict
 import logging
@@ -127,8 +126,14 @@ async def async_setup(hass: HomeAssistant, config: ConfigType) -> bool:
     component.register_shutdown()
     platform_setups = async_setup_legacy(hass, config)
 
-    if platform_setups:
-        await asyncio.wait([asyncio.create_task(setup) for setup in platform_setups])
+    for setup in platform_setups:
+        # Tasks are created as tracked tasks to ensure startup
+        # waits for them to finish, but we explicitly do not
+        # want to wait for them to finish here because we want
+        # any config entries that use stt as a base platform
+        # to be able to start with out having to wait for the
+        # legacy platforms to finish setting up.
+        hass.async_create_task(setup, eager_start=True)
 
     hass.http.register_view(SpeechToTextView(hass.data[DATA_PROVIDERS]))
     return True