diff --git a/diskimage_builder/elements/block-device-efi/block-device-default.yaml b/diskimage_builder/elements/block-device-efi/block-device-default.yaml
index e25c793e..79b04fd2 100644
--- a/diskimage_builder/elements/block-device-efi/block-device-default.yaml
+++ b/diskimage_builder/elements/block-device-efi/block-device-default.yaml
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
     partitions:
       - name: ESP
         type: 'EF00'
-        size: 12MiB
+        size: 550MiB
         mkfs:
           type: vfat
           mount:
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/gpt-esp-partition-size-200568cb6fcc8788.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/gpt-esp-partition-size-200568cb6fcc8788.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e1e1d626
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/gpt-esp-partition-size-200568cb6fcc8788.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+---
+fixes:
+  - |
+    The size of the ESP partition when building EFI based images is increased
+    considerably from 12MiB to 550MiB, in line with modern guidelines.  The
+    existing size was often not enough to update packages.