diff --git a/block/qed-l2-cache.c b/block/qed-l2-cache.c
index 02b81a2e33c2b25c6dab746861103cf8593e2908..e9b2aae44d9a0dca8665a011533612c988491290 100644
--- a/block/qed-l2-cache.c
+++ b/block/qed-l2-cache.c
@@ -161,11 +161,25 @@ void qed_commit_l2_cache_entry(L2TableCache *l2_cache, CachedL2Table *l2_table)
         return;
     }
 
+    /* Evict an unused cache entry so we have space.  If all entries are in use
+     * we can grow the cache temporarily and we try to shrink back down later.
+     */
     if (l2_cache->n_entries >= MAX_L2_CACHE_SIZE) {
-        entry = QTAILQ_FIRST(&l2_cache->entries);
-        QTAILQ_REMOVE(&l2_cache->entries, entry, node);
-        l2_cache->n_entries--;
-        qed_unref_l2_cache_entry(entry);
+        CachedL2Table *next;
+        QTAILQ_FOREACH_SAFE(entry, &l2_cache->entries, node, next) {
+            if (entry->ref > 1) {
+                continue;
+            }
+
+            QTAILQ_REMOVE(&l2_cache->entries, entry, node);
+            l2_cache->n_entries--;
+            qed_unref_l2_cache_entry(entry);
+
+            /* Stop evicting when we've shrunk back to max size */
+            if (l2_cache->n_entries < MAX_L2_CACHE_SIZE) {
+                break;
+            }
+        }
     }
 
     l2_cache->n_entries++;