diff --git a/zerver/worker/email_mirror.py b/zerver/worker/email_mirror.py
index b2b6cb3496..755241b417 100644
--- a/zerver/worker/email_mirror.py
+++ b/zerver/worker/email_mirror.py
@@ -16,18 +16,21 @@ from zerver.lib.email_mirror import (
 )
 from zerver.lib.email_mirror import process_message as mirror_email
 from zerver.lib.exceptions import RateLimitedError
-from zerver.worker.base import QueueProcessingWorker, assign_queue
+from zerver.worker.base import QueueProcessingWorker, WorkerTimeoutError, assign_queue
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
 @assign_queue("email_mirror")
 class MirrorWorker(QueueProcessingWorker):
+    MAX_CONSUME_SECONDS = 5
+
     @override
     def consume(self, event: Mapping[str, Any]) -> None:
         rcpt_to = event["rcpt_to"]
+        content = base64.b64decode(event["msg_base64"])
         msg = email.message_from_bytes(
-            base64.b64decode(event["msg_base64"]),
+            content,
             policy=email.policy.default,
         )
         assert isinstance(msg, EmailMessage)  # https://github.com/python/typeshed/issues/2417
@@ -45,4 +48,13 @@ class MirrorWorker(QueueProcessingWorker):
                 )
                 return
 
-        mirror_email(msg, rcpt_to=rcpt_to)
+        try:
+            mirror_email(msg, rcpt_to=rcpt_to)
+        except WorkerTimeoutError:  # nocoverage
+            logging.error(
+                "Timed out ingesting message-id %s to %s (%d bytes) -- dropping!",
+                msg["Message-ID"] or "<?>",
+                rcpt_to,
+                len(content),
+            )
+            return