diff --git a/esphome/components/web_server_idf/web_server_idf.cpp b/esphome/components/web_server_idf/web_server_idf.cpp
index f5a66f6bd9..c910ed06c5 100644
--- a/esphome/components/web_server_idf/web_server_idf.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/web_server_idf/web_server_idf.cpp
@@ -87,6 +87,29 @@ int nonblocking_send(httpd_handle_t hd, int sockfd, const char *buf, size_t buf_
 }
 }  // namespace
 
+void AsyncWebServer::safe_close_with_shutdown(httpd_handle_t hd, int sockfd) {
+  // CRITICAL: Shut down receive BEFORE closing to prevent lwIP race conditions
+  //
+  // The race condition occurs because close() initiates lwIP teardown while
+  // the TCP/IP thread can still receive packets, causing assertions when
+  // recv_tcp() sees partially-torn-down state.
+  //
+  // By shutting down receive first, we tell lwIP to stop accepting new data BEFORE
+  // the teardown begins, eliminating the race window. We only shutdown RD (not RDWR)
+  // to allow the FIN packet to be sent cleanly during close().
+  //
+  // Note: This function may be called with an already-closed socket if the network
+  // stack closed it. In that case, shutdown() will fail but close() is safe to call.
+  //
+  // See: https://github.com/esphome/esphome-webserver/issues/163
+
+  // Attempt shutdown - ignore errors as socket may already be closed
+  shutdown(sockfd, SHUT_RD);
+
+  // Always close - safe even if socket is already closed by network stack
+  close(sockfd);
+}
+
 void AsyncWebServer::end() {
   if (this->server_) {
     httpd_stop(this->server_);
@@ -115,6 +138,8 @@ void AsyncWebServer::begin() {
   config.uri_match_fn = [](const char * /*unused*/, const char * /*unused*/, size_t /*unused*/) { return true; };
   // Enable LRU purging if requested (e.g., by captive portal to handle probe bursts)
   config.lru_purge_enable = this->lru_purge_enable_;
+  // Use custom close function that shuts down before closing to prevent lwIP race conditions
+  config.close_fn = AsyncWebServer::safe_close_with_shutdown;
   if (httpd_start(&this->server_, &config) == ESP_OK) {
     const httpd_uri_t handler_get = {
         .uri = "",
@@ -505,17 +530,11 @@ AsyncEventSourceResponse::AsyncEventSourceResponse(const AsyncWebServerRequest *
 void AsyncEventSourceResponse::destroy(void *ptr) {
   auto *rsp = static_cast<AsyncEventSourceResponse *>(ptr);
   int fd = rsp->fd_.exchange(0);  // Atomically get and clear fd
-
-  if (fd > 0) {
-    ESP_LOGD(TAG, "Event source connection closed (fd: %d)", fd);
-    // Immediately shut down the socket to prevent lwIP from delivering more data
-    // This prevents "recv_tcp: recv for wrong pcb!" assertions when the TCP stack
-    // tries to deliver queued data after the session is marked as dead
-    // See: https://github.com/esphome/esphome/issues/11936
-    shutdown(fd, SHUT_RDWR);
-    // Note: We don't close() the socket - httpd owns it and will close it
-  }
-  // Session will be cleaned up in the main loop to avoid race conditions
+  ESP_LOGD(TAG, "Event source connection closed (fd: %d)", fd);
+  // Mark as dead - will be cleaned up in the main loop
+  // Note: We don't delete or remove from set here to avoid race conditions
+  // httpd will call our custom close_fn (safe_close_with_shutdown) which handles
+  // shutdown() before close() to prevent lwIP race conditions
 }
 
 // helper for allowing only unique entries in the queue
diff --git a/esphome/components/web_server_idf/web_server_idf.h b/esphome/components/web_server_idf/web_server_idf.h
index b9f690b462..a139e9e4df 100644
--- a/esphome/components/web_server_idf/web_server_idf.h
+++ b/esphome/components/web_server_idf/web_server_idf.h
@@ -209,6 +209,7 @@ class AsyncWebServer {
   static esp_err_t request_handler(httpd_req_t *r);
   static esp_err_t request_post_handler(httpd_req_t *r);
   esp_err_t request_handler_(AsyncWebServerRequest *request) const;
+  static void safe_close_with_shutdown(httpd_handle_t hd, int sockfd);
 #ifdef USE_WEBSERVER_OTA
   esp_err_t handle_multipart_upload_(httpd_req_t *r, const char *content_type);
 #endif