diff --git a/esphome/components/esp32_ble_client/ble_client_base.cpp b/esphome/components/esp32_ble_client/ble_client_base.cpp
index e23be2e0c1..509feb5aa8 100644
--- a/esphome/components/esp32_ble_client/ble_client_base.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/esp32_ble_client/ble_client_base.cpp
@@ -285,11 +285,22 @@ bool BLEClientBase::gattc_event_handler(esp_gattc_cb_event_t event, esp_gatt_if_
       this->log_gattc_event_("OPEN");
       // conn_id was already set in ESP_GATTC_CONNECT_EVT
       this->service_count_ = 0;
+
+      // ESP-IDF's BLE stack may send ESP_GATTC_OPEN_EVT after esp_ble_gattc_open() returns an
+      // error, if the error occurred at the BTA/GATT layer. This can result in the event
+      // arriving after we've already transitioned to IDLE state.
+      if (this->state_ == espbt::ClientState::IDLE) {
+        ESP_LOGD(TAG, "[%d] [%s] ESP_GATTC_OPEN_EVT in IDLE state (status=%d), ignoring", this->connection_index_,
+                 this->address_str_.c_str(), param->open.status);
+        break;
+      }
+
       if (this->state_ != espbt::ClientState::CONNECTING) {
         // This should not happen but lets log it in case it does
         // because it means we have a bad assumption about how the
         // ESP BT stack works.
-        this->log_error_("ESP_GATTC_OPEN_EVT wrong state status", param->open.status);
+        ESP_LOGE(TAG, "[%d] [%s] Got ESP_GATTC_OPEN_EVT in %s state (status=%d)", this->connection_index_,
+                 this->address_str_.c_str(), espbt::client_state_to_string(this->state_), param->open.status);
       }
       if (param->open.status != ESP_GATT_OK && param->open.status != ESP_GATT_ALREADY_OPEN) {
         this->log_gattc_warning_("Connection open", param->open.status);