diff --git a/esphome/components/mpr121/mpr121.cpp b/esphome/components/mpr121/mpr121.cpp
index 60d8235b03..5a8a8e7205 100644
--- a/esphome/components/mpr121/mpr121.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/mpr121/mpr121.cpp
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ namespace mpr121 {
 static const char *const TAG = "mpr121";
 
 void MPR121Component::setup() {
+  this->disable_loop();
   // soft reset device
   this->write_byte(MPR121_SOFTRESET, 0x63);
   this->set_timeout(100, [this]() {
@@ -51,7 +52,7 @@ void MPR121Component::setup() {
     this->write_byte(MPR121_ECR, 0x80 | (this->max_touch_channel_ + 1));
 
     this->flush_gpio_();
-    this->setup_complete_ = true;
+    this->enable_loop();
   });
 }
 
@@ -80,9 +81,6 @@ void MPR121Component::dump_config() {
   }
 }
 void MPR121Component::loop() {
-  if (!this->setup_complete_)
-    return;
-
   uint16_t val = 0;
   this->read_byte_16(MPR121_TOUCHSTATUS_L, &val);
 
diff --git a/esphome/components/mpr121/mpr121.h b/esphome/components/mpr121/mpr121.h
index 8f942f3e98..6dd2c38309 100644
--- a/esphome/components/mpr121/mpr121.h
+++ b/esphome/components/mpr121/mpr121.h
@@ -80,7 +80,6 @@ class MPR121Component : public Component, public i2c::I2CDevice {
   void pin_mode(uint8_t ionum, gpio::Flags flags);
 
  protected:
-  bool setup_complete_{false};
   std::vector<MPR121Channel *> channels_{};
   uint8_t debounce_{0};
   uint8_t touch_threshold_{};