diff --git a/esphome/components/udp/udp_component.cpp b/esphome/components/udp/udp_component.cpp
index daa6c52f98..4474efeb77 100644
--- a/esphome/components/udp/udp_component.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/udp/udp_component.cpp
@@ -65,11 +65,14 @@ void UDPComponent::setup() {
     server.sin_port = htons(this->listen_port_);
 
     if (this->listen_address_.has_value()) {
+      // Only 16 bytes needed for IPv4, but use standard size for consistency
+      char addr_buf[network::IP_ADDRESS_BUFFER_SIZE];
+      this->listen_address_.value().str_to(addr_buf);
       struct ip_mreq imreq = {};
       imreq.imr_interface.s_addr = ESPHOME_INADDR_ANY;
-      inet_aton(this->listen_address_.value().str().c_str(), &imreq.imr_multiaddr);
+      inet_aton(addr_buf, &imreq.imr_multiaddr);
       server.sin_addr.s_addr = imreq.imr_multiaddr.s_addr;
-      ESP_LOGD(TAG, "Join multicast %s", this->listen_address_.value().str().c_str());
+      ESP_LOGD(TAG, "Join multicast %s", addr_buf);
       err = this->listen_socket_->setsockopt(IPPROTO_IP, IP_ADD_MEMBERSHIP, &imreq, sizeof(imreq));
       if (err < 0) {
         ESP_LOGE(TAG, "Failed to set IP_ADD_MEMBERSHIP. Error %d", errno);