diff --git a/esphome/components/spi/spi.cpp b/esphome/components/spi/spi.cpp
index f9435b0424..b13826c443 100644
--- a/esphome/components/spi/spi.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/spi/spi.cpp
@@ -7,6 +7,10 @@ namespace spi {
 
 const char *const TAG = "spi";
 
+SPIDelegate *const SPIDelegate::NULL_DELEGATE =  // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-avoid-non-const-global-variables)
+    new SPIDelegateDummy();
+// https://bugs.llvm.org/show_bug.cgi?id=48040
+
 bool SPIDelegate::is_ready() { return true; }
 
 GPIOPin *const NullPin::NULL_PIN = new NullPin();  // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-avoid-non-const-global-variables)
@@ -75,6 +79,8 @@ void SPIComponent::dump_config() {
   }
 }
 
+void SPIDelegateDummy::begin_transaction() { ESP_LOGE(TAG, "SPIDevice not initialised - did you call spi_setup()?"); }
+
 uint8_t SPIDelegateBitBash::transfer(uint8_t data) { return this->transfer_(data, 8); }
 
 void SPIDelegateBitBash::write(uint16_t data, size_t num_bits) { this->transfer_(data, num_bits); }
diff --git a/esphome/components/spi/spi.h b/esphome/components/spi/spi.h
index 4cd8d3383c..f581dc3f56 100644
--- a/esphome/components/spi/spi.h
+++ b/esphome/components/spi/spi.h
@@ -163,6 +163,8 @@ class Utility {
   }
 };
 
+class SPIDelegateDummy;
+
 // represents a device attached to an SPI bus, with a defined clock rate, mode and bit order. On Arduino this is
 // a thin wrapper over SPIClass.
 class SPIDelegate {
@@ -248,6 +250,21 @@ class SPIDelegate {
   uint32_t data_rate_{1000000};
   SPIMode mode_{MODE0};
   GPIOPin *cs_pin_{NullPin::NULL_PIN};
+  static SPIDelegate *const NULL_DELEGATE;  // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-avoid-non-const-global-variables)
+};
+
+/**
+ * A dummy SPIDelegate that complains if it's used.
+ */
+
+class SPIDelegateDummy : public SPIDelegate {
+ public:
+  SPIDelegateDummy() = default;
+
+  uint8_t transfer(uint8_t data) override { return 0; }
+  void end_transaction() override{};
+
+  void begin_transaction() override;
 };
 
 /**
@@ -365,7 +382,7 @@ class SPIClient {
 
   virtual void spi_teardown() {
     this->parent_->unregister_device(this);
-    this->delegate_ = nullptr;
+    this->delegate_ = SPIDelegate::NULL_DELEGATE;
   }
 
   bool spi_is_ready() { return this->delegate_->is_ready(); }
@@ -376,7 +393,7 @@ class SPIClient {
   uint32_t data_rate_{1000000};
   SPIComponent *parent_{nullptr};
   GPIOPin *cs_{nullptr};
-  SPIDelegate *delegate_{nullptr};
+  SPIDelegate *delegate_{SPIDelegate::NULL_DELEGATE};
 };
 
 /**