diff --git a/esphome/components/api/api_server.cpp b/esphome/components/api/api_server.cpp
index 97c8ffcc75..046053872a 100644
--- a/esphome/components/api/api_server.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/api/api_server.cpp
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ void APIServer::schedule_reboot_timeout_() {
 
 void APIServer::loop() {
   // Accept new clients only if the socket exists and has incoming connections
-  if (this->socket_->ready()) {
+  if (this->socket_ && this->socket_->ready()) {
     while (true) {
       struct sockaddr_storage source_addr;
       socklen_t addr_len = sizeof(source_addr);