diff --git a/.changelog/12953.txt b/.changelog/12953.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..82ed92b50a14
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changelog/12953.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+```release-note:improvement
+consul: Reduce load on Consul leader server by allowing stale results when listing namespaces.
+```
diff --git a/command/agent/consul/namespaces_client.go b/command/agent/consul/namespaces_client.go
index c2d8b082b328..7f7961bd2645 100644
--- a/command/agent/consul/namespaces_client.go
+++ b/command/agent/consul/namespaces_client.go
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ import (
 	"sort"
 	"sync"
 	"time"
+
+	"github.com/hashicorp/consul/api"
 )
 
 const (
@@ -66,8 +68,6 @@ func (ns *NamespacesClient) allowable(now time.Time) bool {
 }
 
 // List returns a list of Consul Namespaces.
-//
-// TODO(shoenig): return empty string instead of "default" when namespaces are not enabled. (Coming in followup PR).
 func (ns *NamespacesClient) List() ([]string, error) {
 	if !ns.allowable(time.Now()) {
 		// TODO(shoenig): lets return the empty string instead, that way we do not
@@ -75,7 +75,10 @@ func (ns *NamespacesClient) List() ([]string, error) {
 		return []string{"default"}, nil
 	}
 
-	namespaces, _, err := ns.namespacesAPI.List(nil)
+	qo := &api.QueryOptions{
+		AllowStale: true,
+	}
+	namespaces, _, err := ns.namespacesAPI.List(qo)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}