diff --git a/util/aio-posix.c b/util/aio-posix.c
index e24b955fd9..488d964611 100644
--- a/util/aio-posix.c
+++ b/util/aio-posix.c
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 #include "qemu/rcu_queue.h"
 #include "qemu/sockets.h"
 #include "qemu/cutils.h"
+#include "system/iothread.h"
 #include "trace.h"
 #include "aio-posix.h"
 
@@ -813,5 +814,13 @@ void aio_add_sqe(void (*prep_sqe)(struct io_uring_sqe *sqe, void *opaque),
 {
     AioContext *ctx = qemu_get_current_aio_context();
     ctx->fdmon_ops->add_sqe(ctx, prep_sqe, opaque, cqe_handler);
+
+    /*
+     * Wake the main loop if it is sleeping in ppoll().  When a vCPU thread
+     * queues SQEs, the actual io_uring_submit() only happens in
+     * gsource_prepare() in the main loop thread.  Without this notify, the
+     * main loop thread's ppoll() can sleep up to 499ms before submitting.
+     */
+    aio_notify(ctx);
 }
 #endif /* CONFIG_LINUX_IO_URING */