diff --git a/playground/kafka/KafkaBasic.AppHost/Program.cs b/playground/kafka/KafkaBasic.AppHost/Program.cs
index 481bbde01d..1bb676d4e1 100644
--- a/playground/kafka/KafkaBasic.AppHost/Program.cs
+++ b/playground/kafka/KafkaBasic.AppHost/Program.cs
@@ -7,11 +7,11 @@
     .WithKafkaUI(kafkaUi => kafkaUi.WithHostPort(8080));
 
 builder.AddProject<Projects.Producer>("producer")
-    .WithReference(kafka)
+    .WithReference(kafka).WaitFor(kafka)
     .WithArgs(kafka.Resource.Name);
 
 builder.AddProject<Projects.Consumer>("consumer")
-    .WithReference(kafka)
+    .WithReference(kafka).WaitFor(kafka)
     .WithArgs(kafka.Resource.Name);
 
 builder.AddKafka("kafka2").WithKafkaUI();
diff --git a/playground/waitfor/WaitForSandbox.ApiService/WaitForSandbox.ApiService.csproj b/playground/waitfor/WaitForSandbox.ApiService/WaitForSandbox.ApiService.csproj
index d0104da3df..1ae39c8c4b 100644
--- a/playground/waitfor/WaitForSandbox.ApiService/WaitForSandbox.ApiService.csproj
+++ b/playground/waitfor/WaitForSandbox.ApiService/WaitForSandbox.ApiService.csproj
@@ -12,4 +12,4 @@
     <ProjectReference Include="..\WaitForSandbox.Common\WaitForSandbox.Common.csproj" />
   </ItemGroup>
 
-</Project>
+</Project>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/Aspire.Hosting.Kafka/Aspire.Hosting.Kafka.csproj b/src/Aspire.Hosting.Kafka/Aspire.Hosting.Kafka.csproj
index 3daca34c0b..fb7a53c1aa 100644
--- a/src/Aspire.Hosting.Kafka/Aspire.Hosting.Kafka.csproj
+++ b/src/Aspire.Hosting.Kafka/Aspire.Hosting.Kafka.csproj
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 <Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
 
   <PropertyGroup>
-    <TargetFramework>$(DefaultTargetFramework)</TargetFramework>
-    <IsPackable>true</IsPackable>
-    <PackageTags>aspire integration hosting kafka</PackageTags>
-    <Description>Kafka support for .NET Aspire.</Description>
+  <TargetFramework>$(DefaultTargetFramework)</TargetFramework>
+  <IsPackable>true</IsPackable>
+  <PackageTags>aspire integration hosting kafka</PackageTags>
+  <Description>Kafka support for .NET Aspire.</Description>
   </PropertyGroup>
 
   <PropertyGroup>
@@ -14,6 +14,12 @@
   <ItemGroup>
     <Compile Include="$(SharedDir)VolumeNameGenerator.cs" Link="Utils\VolumeNameGenerator.cs" />
   </ItemGroup>
+  <ItemGroup>
+  </ItemGroup>
+
+  <ItemGroup>
+    <PackageReference Include="AspNetCore.HealthChecks.Kafka" />
+  </ItemGroup>
 
   <ItemGroup>
     <ProjectReference Include="..\Aspire.Hosting\Aspire.Hosting.csproj" />
diff --git a/src/Aspire.Hosting.Kafka/KafkaBuilderExtensions.cs b/src/Aspire.Hosting.Kafka/KafkaBuilderExtensions.cs
index 72abebb608..ff082a9fb9 100644
--- a/src/Aspire.Hosting.Kafka/KafkaBuilderExtensions.cs
+++ b/src/Aspire.Hosting.Kafka/KafkaBuilderExtensions.cs
@@ -3,6 +3,10 @@
 
 using Aspire.Hosting.ApplicationModel;
 using Aspire.Hosting.Utils;
+using Confluent.Kafka;
+using HealthChecks.Kafka;
+using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
+using Microsoft.Extensions.Diagnostics.HealthChecks;
 
 namespace Aspire.Hosting;
 
@@ -29,12 +33,47 @@ public static IResourceBuilder<KafkaServerResource> AddKafka(this IDistributedAp
         ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(name);
 
         var kafka = new KafkaServerResource(name);
+
+        string? connectionString = null;
+
+        builder.Eventing.Subscribe<ConnectionStringAvailableEvent>(kafka, async (@event, ct) =>
+        {
+            connectionString = await kafka.ConnectionStringExpression.GetValueAsync(ct).ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+            if (connectionString == null)
+            {
+                throw new DistributedApplicationException($"ConnectionStringAvailableEvent was published for the '{kafka.Name}' resource but the connection string was null.");
+            }
+        });
+
+        var healthCheckKey = $"{name}_check";
+
+        // NOTE: We cannot use AddKafka here because it registers the health check as a singleton
+        //       which means if you have multiple Kafka resources the factory callback will end
+        //       up using the connection string of the last Kafka resource that was added. The
+        //       client packages also have to work around this issue.
+        //
+        //       SEE: https://github.com/Xabaril/AspNetCore.Diagnostics.HealthChecks/issues/2298
+        var healthCheckRegistration = new HealthCheckRegistration(
+            healthCheckKey,
+            sp =>
+            {
+                var options = new KafkaHealthCheckOptions();
+                options.Configuration = new ProducerConfig();
+                options.Configuration.BootstrapServers = connectionString ?? throw new InvalidOperationException("Connection string is unavailable");
+                return new KafkaHealthCheck(options);
+            },
+            failureStatus: default,
+            tags: default);
+        builder.Services.AddHealthChecks().Add(healthCheckRegistration);
+
         return builder.AddResource(kafka)
             .WithEndpoint(targetPort: KafkaBrokerPort, port: port, name: KafkaServerResource.PrimaryEndpointName)
             .WithEndpoint(targetPort: KafkaInternalBrokerPort, name: KafkaServerResource.InternalEndpointName)
             .WithImage(KafkaContainerImageTags.Image, KafkaContainerImageTags.Tag)
             .WithImageRegistry(KafkaContainerImageTags.Registry)
-            .WithEnvironment(context => ConfigureKafkaContainer(context, kafka));
+            .WithEnvironment(context => ConfigureKafkaContainer(context, kafka))
+            .WithHealthCheck(healthCheckKey);
     }
 
     /// <summary>
diff --git a/tests/Aspire.Hosting.Kafka.Tests/KafkaFunctionalTests.cs b/tests/Aspire.Hosting.Kafka.Tests/KafkaFunctionalTests.cs
index 401e22c619..8ab34f23b2 100644
--- a/tests/Aspire.Hosting.Kafka.Tests/KafkaFunctionalTests.cs
+++ b/tests/Aspire.Hosting.Kafka.Tests/KafkaFunctionalTests.cs
@@ -2,10 +2,12 @@
 // The .NET Foundation licenses this file to you under the MIT license.
 
 using Aspire.Components.Common.Tests;
+using Aspire.Hosting.ApplicationModel;
 using Aspire.Hosting.Tests.Utils;
 using Aspire.Hosting.Utils;
 using Confluent.Kafka;
 using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
+using Microsoft.Extensions.Diagnostics.HealthChecks;
 using Microsoft.Extensions.Hosting;
 using Polly;
 using Xunit;
@@ -15,6 +17,46 @@ namespace Aspire.Hosting.Kafka.Tests;
 
 public class KafkaFunctionalTests(ITestOutputHelper testOutputHelper)
 {
+    [Fact]
+    [RequiresDocker]
+    public async Task VerifyWaitForOnKafkaBlocksDependentResources()
+    {
+        var cts = new CancellationTokenSource(TimeSpan.FromMinutes(3));
+        using var builder = TestDistributedApplicationBuilder.Create(testOutputHelper);
+
+        var healthCheckTcs = new TaskCompletionSource<HealthCheckResult>();
+        builder.Services.AddHealthChecks().AddAsyncCheck("blocking_check", () =>
+        {
+            return healthCheckTcs.Task;
+        });
+
+        var resource = builder.AddKafka("resource")
+                              .WithHealthCheck("blocking_check");
+
+        var dependentResource = builder.AddKafka("dependentresource")
+                                       .WaitFor(resource);
+
+        using var app = builder.Build();
+
+        var pendingStart = app.StartAsync(cts.Token);
+
+        var rns = app.Services.GetRequiredService<ResourceNotificationService>();
+
+        await rns.WaitForResourceAsync(resource.Resource.Name, KnownResourceStates.Running, cts.Token);
+
+        await rns.WaitForResourceAsync(dependentResource.Resource.Name, KnownResourceStates.Waiting, cts.Token);
+
+        healthCheckTcs.SetResult(HealthCheckResult.Healthy());
+
+        await rns.WaitForResourceAsync(resource.Resource.Name, (re => re.Snapshot.HealthStatus == HealthStatus.Healthy), cts.Token);
+
+        await rns.WaitForResourceAsync(dependentResource.Resource.Name, KnownResourceStates.Running, cts.Token);
+
+        await pendingStart;
+
+        await app.StopAsync();
+    }
+
     [Fact]
     [RequiresDocker]
     public async Task VerifyKafkaResource()