diff --git a/operator/src/test/java/org/keycloak/operator/testsuite/integration/WatchedSecretsTest.java b/operator/src/test/java/org/keycloak/operator/testsuite/integration/WatchedSecretsTest.java
index 866df23473..46d4505471 100644
--- a/operator/src/test/java/org/keycloak/operator/testsuite/integration/WatchedSecretsTest.java
+++ b/operator/src/test/java/org/keycloak/operator/testsuite/integration/WatchedSecretsTest.java
@@ -37,8 +37,12 @@ import java.util.Base64;
 import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.UUID;
+import java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture;
+import java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentSkipListSet;
+import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 import java.util.function.Function;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 
 import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
@@ -168,12 +172,33 @@ public class WatchedSecretsTest extends BaseOperatorTest {
         var toBeRestarted = crsToBeRestarted.stream().collect(Collectors.toMap(Function.identity(), k -> getStatefulSet(k).getStatus().getUpdateRevision()));
         var notToBeRestarted = crsNotToBeRestarted.stream().collect(Collectors.toMap(Function.identity(), k -> getStatefulSet(k).getStatus().getUpdateRevision()));
 
+        CompletableFuture<?> restartsCompleted = null;
+        ConcurrentSkipListSet<String> names = new ConcurrentSkipListSet<>(crsToBeRestarted.stream().map(k -> k.getMetadata().getName()).collect(Collectors.toSet()));
+        if (restartExpected) {
+            restartsCompleted = k8sclient.resources(Keycloak.class).informOnCondition(keycloaks -> {
+                for (Keycloak kc : keycloaks) {
+                    if (!names.contains(kc.getMetadata().getName())) {
+                        continue;
+                    }
+                    try {
+                        assertKeycloakStatusCondition(kc.getStatus(), KeycloakStatusCondition.ROLLING_UPDATE, true, null, null);
+                        names.remove(kc.getMetadata().getName());
+                    } catch (Throwable e) {
+                        // not rolling
+                    }
+                }
+                return names.isEmpty();
+            });
+        }
+
         action.run();
 
-        if (restartExpected) {
-            // this depends on the restart taking long enough to detect after the action is run
-            // we may want to switch to using an informer that runs before the action
-            assertRollingUpdate(crsToBeRestarted, true);
+        if (restartsCompleted != null) {
+            try {
+                restartsCompleted.get(5, TimeUnit.MINUTES);
+            } catch (InterruptedException | ExecutionException | TimeoutException e) {
+                throw new RuntimeException(names + " did not restart before an exception occurred", e);
+            }
         }
 
         Set<Keycloak> allCrs = new HashSet<>(crsToBeRestarted);