diff --git a/esphome/components/light/light_json_schema.cpp b/esphome/components/light/light_json_schema.cpp
index 306103244c..8ecda4918e 100644
--- a/esphome/components/light/light_json_schema.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/light/light_json_schema.cpp
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ void LightJSONSchema::dump_json(LightState &state, JsonObject root) {
   if (values.get_color_mode() & ColorCapability::BRIGHTNESS)
     root["brightness"] = uint8_t(values.get_brightness() * 255);
 
-  JsonObject color = root.createNestedObject("color");
+  JsonObject color = root["color"].to<JsonObject>();
   if (values.get_color_mode() & ColorCapability::RGB) {
     color["r"] = uint8_t(values.get_color_brightness() * values.get_red() * 255);
     color["g"] = uint8_t(values.get_color_brightness() * values.get_green() * 255);
diff --git a/esphome/components/mqtt/mqtt_component.cpp b/esphome/components/mqtt/mqtt_component.cpp
index eee5644c9d..a98892aa24 100644
--- a/esphome/components/mqtt/mqtt_component.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/mqtt/mqtt_component.cpp
@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ bool MQTTComponent::send_discovery_() {
         }
         std::string node_area = App.get_area();
 
-        JsonObject device_info = root.createNestedObject(MQTT_DEVICE);
+        JsonObject device_info = root[MQTT_DEVICE].to<JsonObject>();
         const auto mac = get_mac_address();
         device_info[MQTT_DEVICE_IDENTIFIERS] = mac;
         device_info[MQTT_DEVICE_NAME] = node_friendly_name;