diff --git a/esphome/components/captive_portal/captive_portal.cpp b/esphome/components/captive_portal/captive_portal.cpp
index d0515166b6..5ba70bcc50 100644
--- a/esphome/components/captive_portal/captive_portal.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/captive_portal/captive_portal.cpp
@@ -54,8 +54,13 @@ void CaptivePortal::handle_wifisave(AsyncWebServerRequest *request) {
            "  SSID='%s'\n"
            "  Password=" LOG_SECRET("'%s'"),
            ssid.c_str(), psk.c_str());
+#ifdef USE_ESP8266
+  // ESP8266 is single-threaded, call directly
+  wifi::global_wifi_component->save_wifi_sta(ssid, psk);
+#else
   // Defer save to main loop thread to avoid NVS operations from HTTP thread
   this->defer([ssid, psk]() { wifi::global_wifi_component->save_wifi_sta(ssid, psk); });
+#endif
   request->redirect(ESPHOME_F("/?save"));
 }