diff --git a/cmd/helm/root.go b/cmd/helm/root.go
index 394f241d5..505ba431c 100644
--- a/cmd/helm/root.go
+++ b/cmd/helm/root.go
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ Environment variables:
 | $HELM_KUBEASUSER                   | set the Username to impersonate for the operation.                                |
 | $HELM_KUBECONTEXT                  | set the name of the kubeconfig context.                                           |
 | $HELM_KUBETOKEN                    | set the Bearer KubeToken used for authentication.                                 |
+| $HELM_DEFAULT_BURST_LIMIT          | set the default burst limit in the case the server contains many CRDs             |
 
 Helm stores cache, configuration, and data based on the following configuration order:
 
diff --git a/pkg/cli/environment.go b/pkg/cli/environment.go
index d5b208015..827cd2f7d 100644
--- a/pkg/cli/environment.go
+++ b/pkg/cli/environment.go
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/spf13/pflag"
 	"k8s.io/cli-runtime/pkg/genericclioptions"
+	"k8s.io/client-go/rest"
 
 	"helm.sh/helm/v3/pkg/helmpath"
 )
@@ -37,6 +38,9 @@ import (
 // defaultMaxHistory sets the maximum number of releases to 0: unlimited
 const defaultMaxHistory = 10
 
+// defaultBurstLimit sets the default client-side throttling limit
+const defaultBurstLimit = 250
+
 // EnvSettings describes all of the environment settings.
 type EnvSettings struct {
 	namespace string
@@ -68,22 +72,25 @@ type EnvSettings struct {
 	PluginsDirectory string
 	// MaxHistory is the max release history maintained.
 	MaxHistory int
+	// DefaultBurstLimit is the default client-side throttling limit.
+	DefaultBurstLimit int
 }
 
 func New() *EnvSettings {
 	env := &EnvSettings{
-		namespace:        os.Getenv("HELM_NAMESPACE"),
-		MaxHistory:       envIntOr("HELM_MAX_HISTORY", defaultMaxHistory),
-		KubeContext:      os.Getenv("HELM_KUBECONTEXT"),
-		KubeToken:        os.Getenv("HELM_KUBETOKEN"),
-		KubeAsUser:       os.Getenv("HELM_KUBEASUSER"),
-		KubeAsGroups:     envCSV("HELM_KUBEASGROUPS"),
-		KubeAPIServer:    os.Getenv("HELM_KUBEAPISERVER"),
-		KubeCaFile:       os.Getenv("HELM_KUBECAFILE"),
-		PluginsDirectory: envOr("HELM_PLUGINS", helmpath.DataPath("plugins")),
-		RegistryConfig:   envOr("HELM_REGISTRY_CONFIG", helmpath.ConfigPath("registry/config.json")),
-		RepositoryConfig: envOr("HELM_REPOSITORY_CONFIG", helmpath.ConfigPath("repositories.yaml")),
-		RepositoryCache:  envOr("HELM_REPOSITORY_CACHE", helmpath.CachePath("repository")),
+		namespace:         os.Getenv("HELM_NAMESPACE"),
+		MaxHistory:        envIntOr("HELM_MAX_HISTORY", defaultMaxHistory),
+		KubeContext:       os.Getenv("HELM_KUBECONTEXT"),
+		KubeToken:         os.Getenv("HELM_KUBETOKEN"),
+		KubeAsUser:        os.Getenv("HELM_KUBEASUSER"),
+		KubeAsGroups:      envCSV("HELM_KUBEASGROUPS"),
+		KubeAPIServer:     os.Getenv("HELM_KUBEAPISERVER"),
+		KubeCaFile:        os.Getenv("HELM_KUBECAFILE"),
+		PluginsDirectory:  envOr("HELM_PLUGINS", helmpath.DataPath("plugins")),
+		RegistryConfig:    envOr("HELM_REGISTRY_CONFIG", helmpath.ConfigPath("registry/config.json")),
+		RepositoryConfig:  envOr("HELM_REPOSITORY_CONFIG", helmpath.ConfigPath("repositories.yaml")),
+		RepositoryCache:   envOr("HELM_REPOSITORY_CACHE", helmpath.CachePath("repository")),
+		DefaultBurstLimit: envIntOr("HELM_DEFAULT_BURST_LIMIT", defaultBurstLimit),
 	}
 	env.Debug, _ = strconv.ParseBool(os.Getenv("HELM_DEBUG"))
 
@@ -97,6 +104,10 @@ func New() *EnvSettings {
 		KubeConfig:       &env.KubeConfig,
 		Impersonate:      &env.KubeAsUser,
 		ImpersonateGroup: &env.KubeAsGroups,
+		WrapConfigFn: func(config *rest.Config) *rest.Config {
+			config.Burst = env.DefaultBurstLimit
+			return config
+		},
 	}
 	return env
 }
@@ -115,6 +126,7 @@ func (s *EnvSettings) AddFlags(fs *pflag.FlagSet) {
 	fs.StringVar(&s.RegistryConfig, "registry-config", s.RegistryConfig, "path to the registry config file")
 	fs.StringVar(&s.RepositoryConfig, "repository-config", s.RepositoryConfig, "path to the file containing repository names and URLs")
 	fs.StringVar(&s.RepositoryCache, "repository-cache", s.RepositoryCache, "path to the file containing cached repository indexes")
+	fs.IntVar(&s.DefaultBurstLimit, "default-burst-limit", s.DefaultBurstLimit, "client-side default throttling limit")
 }
 
 func envOr(name, def string) string {
@@ -146,17 +158,18 @@ func envCSV(name string) (ls []string) {
 
 func (s *EnvSettings) EnvVars() map[string]string {
 	envvars := map[string]string{
-		"HELM_BIN":               os.Args[0],
-		"HELM_CACHE_HOME":        helmpath.CachePath(""),
-		"HELM_CONFIG_HOME":       helmpath.ConfigPath(""),
-		"HELM_DATA_HOME":         helmpath.DataPath(""),
-		"HELM_DEBUG":             fmt.Sprint(s.Debug),
-		"HELM_PLUGINS":           s.PluginsDirectory,
-		"HELM_REGISTRY_CONFIG":   s.RegistryConfig,
-		"HELM_REPOSITORY_CACHE":  s.RepositoryCache,
-		"HELM_REPOSITORY_CONFIG": s.RepositoryConfig,
-		"HELM_NAMESPACE":         s.Namespace(),
-		"HELM_MAX_HISTORY":       strconv.Itoa(s.MaxHistory),
+		"HELM_BIN":                 os.Args[0],
+		"HELM_CACHE_HOME":          helmpath.CachePath(""),
+		"HELM_CONFIG_HOME":         helmpath.ConfigPath(""),
+		"HELM_DATA_HOME":           helmpath.DataPath(""),
+		"HELM_DEBUG":               fmt.Sprint(s.Debug),
+		"HELM_PLUGINS":             s.PluginsDirectory,
+		"HELM_REGISTRY_CONFIG":     s.RegistryConfig,
+		"HELM_REPOSITORY_CACHE":    s.RepositoryCache,
+		"HELM_REPOSITORY_CONFIG":   s.RepositoryConfig,
+		"HELM_NAMESPACE":           s.Namespace(),
+		"HELM_MAX_HISTORY":         strconv.Itoa(s.MaxHistory),
+		"HELM_DEFAULT_BURST_LIMIT": strconv.Itoa(s.DefaultBurstLimit),
 
 		// broken, these are populated from helm flags and not kubeconfig.
 		"HELM_KUBECONTEXT":   s.KubeContext,