diff --git a/esphome/components/display/__init__.py b/esphome/components/display/__init__.py
index ccbeedcd2f..b480b84f6c 100644
--- a/esphome/components/display/__init__.py
+++ b/esphome/components/display/__init__.py
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ from esphome.const import (
     CONF_UPDATE_INTERVAL,
     SCHEDULER_DONT_RUN,
 )
-from esphome.core import CoroPriority, coroutine_with_priority
+from esphome.core import CORE, CoroPriority, coroutine_with_priority
 
 IS_PLATFORM_COMPONENT = True
 
@@ -222,3 +222,8 @@ async def display_is_displaying_page_to_code(config, condition_id, template_arg,
 async def to_code(config):
     cg.add_global(display_ns.using)
     cg.add_define("USE_DISPLAY")
+    if CORE.is_esp32:
+        # Re-enable ESP-IDF's LCD driver (excluded by default to save compile time)
+        from esphome.components.esp32 import include_idf_component
+
+        include_idf_component("esp_lcd")
diff --git a/esphome/components/esp32/__init__.py b/esphome/components/esp32/__init__.py
index 006bd45bce..dbe6173528 100644
--- a/esphome/components/esp32/__init__.py
+++ b/esphome/components/esp32/__init__.py
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ NEVER_USED_IDF_COMPONENTS = (
     "esp_http_client",  # HTTP client - only needed by http_request component
     "esp_https_ota",  # ESP-IDF HTTPS OTA - ESPHome has its own OTA implementation
     "esp_https_server",  # HTTPS server - ESPHome has its own web server
-    "esp_lcd",  # LCD controller drivers - ESPHome has its own display components
+    "esp_lcd",  # LCD controller drivers - only needed by display component
     "esp_local_ctrl",  # Local control over HTTPS/BLE - ESPHome has native API
     "espcoredump",  # Core dump support - ESPHome has its own debug component
     "fatfs",  # FAT filesystem - ESPHome doesn't use filesystem storage