diff --git a/tests/rptest/clients/rpk.py b/tests/rptest/clients/rpk.py
index 4013e9958ebc..e248eae95eb9 100644
--- a/tests/rptest/clients/rpk.py
+++ b/tests/rptest/clients/rpk.py
@@ -132,6 +132,10 @@ def create_topic(self, topic, partitions=1, replicas=None, config=None):
         self._check_stdout_success(output)
         return output
 
+    def add_partitions(self, topic, partitions):
+        cmd = ["add-partitions", topic, "-n", str(partitions)]
+        return self._run_topic(cmd)
+
     def _check_stdout_success(self, output):
         """
         Helper for topic operations where rpk does not surface errors
diff --git a/tests/rptest/tests/rpk_topic_test.py b/tests/rptest/tests/rpk_topic_test.py
index ecfcbcb5fbfa..45811e87abab 100644
--- a/tests/rptest/tests/rpk_topic_test.py
+++ b/tests/rptest/tests/rpk_topic_test.py
@@ -46,6 +46,13 @@ def test_create_topic_with_invalid_config(self, config_type):
                               lambda e: "INVALID_CONFIG" in str(e)):
             out = self._rpk.create_topic("topic", config={config_type: "foo"})
 
+    @cluster(num_nodes=1)
+    def test_add_unfeasible_number_of_partitions(self):
+        with expect_exception(RpkException,
+                              lambda e: "INVALID_REQUEST" in str(e)):
+            self._rpk.create_topic("topic")
+            out = self._rpk.add_partitions("topic", 2000000000000)
+
     @cluster(num_nodes=4)
     def test_produce(self):
         topic = 'topic'