diff --git a/esphome/__main__.py b/esphome/__main__.py
index 3ad69d27cd..9b6043ef50 100644
--- a/esphome/__main__.py
+++ b/esphome/__main__.py
@@ -254,8 +254,7 @@ def upload_using_esptool(config, port):
         if os.environ.get("ESPHOME_USE_SUBPROCESS") is None:
             import esptool
 
-            # pylint: disable=protected-access
-            return run_external_command(esptool._main, *cmd)
+            return run_external_command(esptool.main, *cmd)  # pylint: disable=no-member
 
         return run_external_process(*cmd)
 
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 2de77c8d4f..a92cae7047 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ tzlocal==4.2    # from time
 tzdata>=2021.1  # from time
 pyserial==3.5
 platformio==6.1.5  # When updating platformio, also update Dockerfile
-esptool==3.3.1
+esptool==4.4
 click==8.1.3
 esphome-dashboard==20221109.0
 aioesphomeapi==12.2.1