diff --git a/esphome/components/api/api_frame_helper.cpp b/esphome/components/api/api_frame_helper.cpp
index f0a6d92d8b..c9a5b2885e 100644
--- a/esphome/components/api/api_frame_helper.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/api/api_frame_helper.cpp
@@ -111,9 +111,11 @@ void APIFrameHelper::buffer_data_from_iov_(const struct iovec *iov, int iovcnt,
 
   uint16_t buffer_size = total_write_len - offset;
   auto &buffer = this->tx_buf_[this->tx_buf_tail_];
-  buffer = std::make_unique<SendBuffer>();
-  buffer->size = buffer_size;
-  buffer->data = std::make_unique<uint8_t[]>(buffer_size);
+  buffer = std::make_unique<SendBuffer>(SendBuffer{
+      .data = std::make_unique<uint8_t[]>(buffer_size),
+      .size = buffer_size,
+      .offset = 0,
+  });
 
   uint16_t to_skip = offset;
   uint16_t write_pos = 0;