diff --git a/src/Libraries/Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Hybrid/HybridCacheOptions.cs b/src/Libraries/Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Hybrid/HybridCacheOptions.cs
index d55ac1a4ea1..006b23a0c59 100644
--- a/src/Libraries/Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Hybrid/HybridCacheOptions.cs
+++ b/src/Libraries/Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Hybrid/HybridCacheOptions.cs
@@ -25,6 +25,18 @@ public class HybridCacheOptions
     /// </summary>
     public bool DisableCompression { get; set; }
 
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Gets or sets a value indicating whether values stored in the local cache should be returned by reference
+    /// instead of using serialization round-trips to create defensive copies.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// When enabled, mutable values may be shared between callers and changes made to a cached value are visible
+    /// to subsequent callers. Values are still serialized when required for the distributed cache. Local cache
+    /// size accounting continues to use the serialized payload size and may not reflect the size of the retained
+    /// object graph.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public bool DisableLocalCacheSerialization { get; set; }
+
     /// <summary>
     /// Gets or sets the maximum size of cache items.
     /// </summary>
diff --git a/src/Libraries/Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Hybrid/Internal/DefaultHybridCache.CacheItem.cs b/src/Libraries/Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Hybrid/Internal/DefaultHybridCache.CacheItem.cs
index 4bfcd18ac29..f8749db9a40 100644
--- a/src/Libraries/Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Hybrid/Internal/DefaultHybridCache.CacheItem.cs
+++ b/src/Libraries/Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Hybrid/Internal/DefaultHybridCache.CacheItem.cs
@@ -133,7 +133,9 @@ public T GetReservedValue(ILogger log)
             static void Throw() => throw new ObjectDisposedException("The cache item has been recycled before the value was obtained");
         }
 
-        internal static CacheItem<T> Create(long creationTimestamp, TagSet tags) => ImmutableTypeCache<T>.IsImmutable
-            ? new ImmutableCacheItem<T>(creationTimestamp, tags) : new MutableCacheItem<T>(creationTimestamp, tags);
+        internal static CacheItem<T> Create(long creationTimestamp, TagSet tags, bool disableLocalCacheSerialization)
+            => ImmutableTypeCache<T>.IsImmutable || disableLocalCacheSerialization
+            ? new ImmutableCacheItem<T>(creationTimestamp, tags)
+            : new MutableCacheItem<T>(creationTimestamp, tags);
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/Libraries/Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Hybrid/Internal/DefaultHybridCache.StampedeStateT.cs b/src/Libraries/Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Hybrid/Internal/DefaultHybridCache.StampedeStateT.cs
index 34a68ef30aa..228e32a9c48 100644
--- a/src/Libraries/Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Hybrid/Internal/DefaultHybridCache.StampedeStateT.cs
+++ b/src/Libraries/Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Hybrid/Internal/DefaultHybridCache.StampedeStateT.cs
@@ -31,13 +31,13 @@ internal void SetResultDirect(CacheItem<T> value)
             => _result?.TrySetResult(value);
 
         public StampedeState(DefaultHybridCache cache, in StampedeKey key, TagSet tags, bool canBeCanceled)
-            : base(cache, key, CacheItem<T>.Create(cache.CurrentTimestamp(), tags), canBeCanceled)
+            : base(cache, key, CacheItem<T>.Create(cache.CurrentTimestamp(), tags, cache.Options.DisableLocalCacheSerialization), canBeCanceled)
         {
             _result = new(TaskCreationOptions.RunContinuationsAsynchronously);
         }
 
         public StampedeState(DefaultHybridCache cache, in StampedeKey key, TagSet tags, CancellationToken token)
-            : base(cache, key, CacheItem<T>.Create(cache.CurrentTimestamp(), tags), token)
+            : base(cache, key, CacheItem<T>.Create(cache.CurrentTimestamp(), tags, cache.Options.DisableLocalCacheSerialization), token)
         {
             // no TCS in this case - this is for SetValue only
         }
diff --git a/src/Libraries/Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Hybrid/Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Hybrid.json b/src/Libraries/Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Hybrid/Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Hybrid.json
index 10be31168ba..0290303fc57 100644
--- a/src/Libraries/Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Hybrid/Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Hybrid.json
+++ b/src/Libraries/Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Hybrid/Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Hybrid.json
@@ -41,6 +41,10 @@
           "Member": "bool Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Hybrid.HybridCacheOptions.DisableCompression { get; set; }",
           "Stage": "Stable"
         },
+        {
+          "Member": "bool Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Hybrid.HybridCacheOptions.DisableLocalCacheSerialization { get; set; }",
+          "Stage": "Stable"
+        },
         {
           "Member": "object? Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Hybrid.HybridCacheOptions.DistributedCacheServiceKey { get; set; }",
           "Stage": "Stable"
diff --git a/test/Libraries/Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Hybrid.Tests/BufferReleaseTests.cs b/test/Libraries/Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Hybrid.Tests/BufferReleaseTests.cs
index b0a2d4a839a..453684790b3 100644
--- a/test/Libraries/Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Hybrid.Tests/BufferReleaseTests.cs
+++ b/test/Libraries/Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Hybrid.Tests/BufferReleaseTests.cs
@@ -243,7 +243,7 @@ private static bool Write(IBufferWriter<byte> destination, byte[]? buffer)
     [Fact]
     public void ImmutableCacheItem_Reservation()
     {
-        var obj = Assert.IsType<ImmutableCacheItem<string>>(CacheItem<string>.Create(12345, TagSet.Empty));
+        var obj = Assert.IsType<ImmutableCacheItem<string>>(CacheItem<string>.Create(12345, TagSet.Empty, false));
         Assert.True(obj.DebugIsImmutable);
         obj.SetValue("abc", 3);
         Assert.False(obj.TryReserveBuffer(out _));
@@ -258,7 +258,7 @@ public void MutableCacheItem_Reservation()
     {
         using ServiceProvider services = new ServiceCollection().BuildServiceProvider();
 
-        var obj = Assert.IsType<MutableCacheItem<Customer>>(CacheItem<Customer>.Create(12345, TagSet.Empty));
+        var obj = Assert.IsType<MutableCacheItem<Customer>>(CacheItem<Customer>.Create(12345, TagSet.Empty, false));
 
         Assert.True(new DefaultJsonSerializerFactory(services).TryCreateSerializer<Customer>(out var serializer));
         var target = RecyclableArrayBufferWriter<byte>.Create(int.MaxValue);
diff --git a/test/Libraries/Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Hybrid.Tests/L2Tests.cs b/test/Libraries/Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Hybrid.Tests/L2Tests.cs
index e54ac679ae2..40aaac8b3f3 100644
--- a/test/Libraries/Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Hybrid.Tests/L2Tests.cs
+++ b/test/Libraries/Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Hybrid.Tests/L2Tests.cs
@@ -32,13 +32,13 @@ private class Options<T>(T value) : IOptions<T>
         T IOptions<T>.Value => value;
     }
 
-    private ServiceProvider GetDefaultCache(bool buffers, out DefaultHybridCache cache)
+    private ServiceProvider GetDefaultCache(bool buffers, out DefaultHybridCache cache, bool disableLocalCacheSerialization = false)
     {
         var services = new ServiceCollection();
         var localCacheOptions = new Options<MemoryDistributedCacheOptions>(new());
         var localCache = new MemoryDistributedCache(localCacheOptions);
         services.AddSingleton<IDistributedCache>(buffers ? new BufferLoggingCache(Log, localCache) : new LoggingCache(Log, localCache));
-        services.AddHybridCache();
+        services.AddHybridCache(options => options.DisableLocalCacheSerialization = disableLocalCacheSerialization);
         ServiceProvider provider = services.BuildServiceProvider();
         cache = Assert.IsType<DefaultHybridCache>(provider.GetRequiredService<HybridCache>());
         return provider;
@@ -155,6 +155,54 @@ public async Task AssertL2Operations_Mutable(bool buffers)
         Assert.Equal(12, backend.OpCount); // GET, SET
     }
 
+    [Theory]
+    [InlineData(true)]
+    [InlineData(false)]
+    public async Task DisableLocalCacheSerialization_ReturnsSameMutableInstance(bool buffers)
+    {
+        using var provider = GetDefaultCache(buffers, out var cache, disableLocalCacheSerialization: true);
+        var backend = Assert.IsAssignableFrom<LoggingCache>(cache.BackendCache);
+
+        Foo original = await cache.GetOrCreateAsync(Me(), _ => new ValueTask<Foo>(new Foo { Value = "value" }));
+        Foo fromL1 = await cache.GetOrCreateAsync(Me(), _ => new ValueTask<Foo>(new Foo { Value = "unused" }));
+
+        Assert.Same(original, fromL1);
+
+        cache.LocalCache.Remove(Me());
+        Foo fromL2 = await cache.GetOrCreateAsync(Me(), _ => new ValueTask<Foo>(new Foo { Value = "unused" }));
+        Foo fromL1AfterL2 = await cache.GetOrCreateAsync(Me(), _ => new ValueTask<Foo>(new Foo { Value = "unused" }));
+
+        Assert.NotSame(original, fromL2);
+        Assert.Same(fromL2, fromL1AfterL2);
+        Assert.Equal(4, backend.OpCount); // wildcard timestamp GET, GET, SET, GET
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public async Task DisableLocalCacheSerialization_DoesNotSerializeWhenCacheWritesAreDisabled()
+    {
+        var services = new ServiceCollection();
+        services.AddHybridCache(options => options.DisableLocalCacheSerialization = true);
+        services.AddSingleton<IHybridCacheSerializer<Foo>>(new ThrowingFooSerializer());
+        using ServiceProvider provider = services.BuildServiceProvider();
+        HybridCache cache = provider.GetRequiredService<HybridCache>();
+        var value = new Foo { Value = "value" };
+        var options = new HybridCacheEntryOptions
+        {
+            Flags = HybridCacheEntryFlags.DisableLocalCacheWrite | HybridCacheEntryFlags.DisableDistributedCacheWrite,
+        };
+
+        Foo actual = await cache.GetOrCreateAsync(Me(), _ => new ValueTask<Foo>(value), options);
+
+        Assert.Same(value, actual);
+    }
+
+    private sealed class ThrowingFooSerializer : IHybridCacheSerializer<Foo>
+    {
+        public Foo Deserialize(ReadOnlySequence<byte> source) => throw new NotSupportedException();
+
+        public void Serialize(Foo value, IBufferWriter<byte> target) => throw new NotSupportedException();
+    }
+
     private class BufferLoggingCache : LoggingCache, IBufferDistributedCache
     {
         public BufferLoggingCache(ITestOutputHelper log, IDistributedCache tail)