diff --git a/kedro-datasets/kedro_datasets/api/__init__.py b/kedro-datasets/kedro_datasets/api/__init__.py
index ccd799b2c..b8dcef6a8 100644
--- a/kedro-datasets/kedro_datasets/api/__init__.py
+++ b/kedro-datasets/kedro_datasets/api/__init__.py
@@ -3,9 +3,8 @@
 It uses the python requests library: https://requests.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
 """
 
-__all__ = ["APIDataSet"]
+import lazy_loader as lazy
 
-from contextlib import suppress
-
-with suppress(ImportError):
-    from .api_dataset import APIDataSet
+__getattr__, __dir__, __all__ = lazy.attach(
+    __name__, submod_attrs={"api_dataset": ["APIDataSet"]}
+)
diff --git a/kedro-datasets/pyproject.toml b/kedro-datasets/pyproject.toml
index d8d1d654c..f478b94b1 100644
--- a/kedro-datasets/pyproject.toml
+++ b/kedro-datasets/pyproject.toml
@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@ description = "Kedro-Datasets is where you can find all of Kedro's data connecto
 requires-python = ">=3.7, <3.11"
 license = {text = "Apache Software License (Apache 2.0)"}
 dependencies = [
-  "kedro>=0.16"
+  "kedro>=0.16",
+  "lazy_loader",
 ]
 dynamic = ["readme", "version"]