diff --git a/esphome/components/api/api_connection.cpp b/esphome/components/api/api_connection.cpp
index c8e6480e1e..9557c9943b 100644
--- a/esphome/components/api/api_connection.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/api/api_connection.cpp
@@ -308,8 +308,7 @@ uint16_t APIConnection::encode_message_to_buffer(ProtoMessage &msg, uint8_t mess
   }
 
   // Encode directly into buffer
-  ProtoWriteBuffer buffer{&shared_buf};
-  msg.encode(buffer);
+  msg.encode({&shared_buf});
 
   // Calculate actual encoded size (not including header that was already added)
   size_t actual_payload_size = shared_buf.size() - size_before_encode;