diff --git a/hw/s390-virtio-bus.c b/hw/s390-virtio-bus.c
index 4da0b40..1483362 100644
--- a/hw/s390-virtio-bus.c
+++ b/hw/s390-virtio-bus.c
@@ -110,7 +110,8 @@ static int s390_virtio_net_init(VirtIOS390Device *dev)
 {
     VirtIODevice *vdev;
 
-    vdev = virtio_net_init((DeviceState *)dev, &dev->nic, dev->txtimer);
+    vdev = virtio_net_init((DeviceState *)dev, &dev->nic,
+                           dev->txtimer, dev->txburst);
     if (!vdev) {
         return -1;
     }
@@ -328,6 +329,7 @@ static VirtIOS390DeviceInfo s390_virtio_net = {
     .qdev.props = (Property[]) {
         DEFINE_NIC_PROPERTIES(VirtIOS390Device, nic),
         DEFINE_PROP_UINT32("txtimer", VirtIOS390Device, txtimer, 1),
+        DEFINE_PROP_INT32("txburst", VirtIOS390Device, txburst, 256),
         DEFINE_PROP_END_OF_LIST(),
     },
 };
diff --git a/hw/s390-virtio-bus.h b/hw/s390-virtio-bus.h
index 922daf2..808aea0 100644
--- a/hw/s390-virtio-bus.h
+++ b/hw/s390-virtio-bus.h
@@ -45,6 +45,8 @@ typedef struct VirtIOS390Device {
     uint32_t max_virtserial_ports;
     /* Timeout value for virtio-net txtimer, 1 = default, >1 = ns timeout */
     uint32_t txtimer;
+    /* Max tx packets for virtio-net to burst at a time */
+    int32_t txburst;
 } VirtIOS390Device;
 
 typedef struct VirtIOS390Bus {
diff --git a/hw/syborg_virtio.c b/hw/syborg_virtio.c
index c8d731a..7b76972 100644
--- a/hw/syborg_virtio.c
+++ b/hw/syborg_virtio.c
@@ -70,6 +70,8 @@ typedef struct {
     uint32_t host_features;
     /* Timeout value for virtio-net txtimer, 1 = default, >1 = ns timeout */
     uint32_t txtimer;
+    /* Max tx packets for virtio-net to burst at a time */
+    int32_t txburst;
 } SyborgVirtIOProxy;
 
 static uint32_t syborg_virtio_readl(void *opaque, target_phys_addr_t offset)
@@ -286,7 +288,8 @@ static int syborg_virtio_net_init(SysBusDevice *dev)
     VirtIODevice *vdev;
     SyborgVirtIOProxy *proxy = FROM_SYSBUS(SyborgVirtIOProxy, dev);
 
-    vdev = virtio_net_init(&dev->qdev, &proxy->nic, proxy->txtimer);
+    vdev = virtio_net_init(&dev->qdev, &proxy->nic,
+                           proxy->txtimer, proxy->txburst);
     return syborg_virtio_init(proxy, vdev);
 }
 
@@ -298,6 +301,7 @@ static SysBusDeviceInfo syborg_virtio_net_info = {
         DEFINE_NIC_PROPERTIES(SyborgVirtIOProxy, nic),
         DEFINE_VIRTIO_NET_FEATURES(SyborgVirtIOProxy, host_features),
         DEFINE_PROP_UINT32("txtimer", SyborgVirtIOProxy, txtimer, 1),
+        DEFINE_PROP_INT32("txburst", SyborgVirtIOProxy, txburst, 256),
         DEFINE_PROP_END_OF_LIST(),
     }
 };
diff --git a/hw/virtio-net.c b/hw/virtio-net.c
index 9ef29f0..ac4aa8f 100644
--- a/hw/virtio-net.c
+++ b/hw/virtio-net.c
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ typedef struct VirtIONet
     NICState *nic;
     QEMUTimer *tx_timer;
     uint32_t tx_timeout;
+    int32_t tx_burst;
     int tx_timer_active;
     uint32_t has_vnet_hdr;
     uint8_t has_ufo;
@@ -620,7 +621,7 @@ static ssize_t virtio_net_receive(VLANClientState *nc, const uint8_t *buf, size_
     return size;
 }
 
-static void virtio_net_flush_tx(VirtIONet *n, VirtQueue *vq);
+static int32_t virtio_net_flush_tx(VirtIONet *n, VirtQueue *vq);
 
 static void virtio_net_tx_complete(VLANClientState *nc, ssize_t len)
 {
@@ -636,16 +637,18 @@ static void virtio_net_tx_complete(VLANClientState *nc, ssize_t len)
 }
 
 /* TX */
-static void virtio_net_flush_tx(VirtIONet *n, VirtQueue *vq)
+static int32_t virtio_net_flush_tx(VirtIONet *n, VirtQueue *vq)
 {
     VirtQueueElement elem;
+    int32_t num_packets = 0;
 
-    if (!(n->vdev.status & VIRTIO_CONFIG_S_DRIVER_OK))
-        return;
+    if (!(n->vdev.status & VIRTIO_CONFIG_S_DRIVER_OK)) {
+        return num_packets;
+    }
 
     if (n->async_tx.elem.out_num) {
         virtio_queue_set_notification(n->tx_vq, 0);
-        return;
+        return num_packets;
     }
 
     while (virtqueue_pop(vq, &elem)) {
@@ -682,14 +685,19 @@ static void virtio_net_flush_tx(VirtIONet *n, VirtQueue *vq)
             virtio_queue_set_notification(n->tx_vq, 0);
             n->async_tx.elem = elem;
             n->async_tx.len  = len;
-            return;
+            return -EBUSY;
         }
 
         len += ret;
 
         virtqueue_push(vq, &elem, len);
         virtio_notify(&n->vdev, vq);
+
+        if (++num_packets >= n->tx_burst) {
+            break;
+        }
     }
+    return num_packets;
 }
 
 static void virtio_net_handle_tx(VirtIODevice *vdev, VirtQueue *vq)
@@ -905,7 +913,7 @@ static void virtio_net_vmstate_change(void *opaque, int running, int reason)
 }
 
 VirtIODevice *virtio_net_init(DeviceState *dev, NICConf *conf,
-                              uint32_t txtimer)
+                              uint32_t txtimer, int32_t txburst)
 {
     VirtIONet *n;
 
@@ -942,6 +950,7 @@ VirtIODevice *virtio_net_init(DeviceState *dev, NICConf *conf,
             n->tx_timeout = txtimer;
         }
     }
+    n->tx_burst = txburst;
     n->mergeable_rx_bufs = 0;
     n->promisc = 1; /* for compatibility */
 
diff --git a/hw/virtio-pci.c b/hw/virtio-pci.c
index e3b9897..e025c09 100644
--- a/hw/virtio-pci.c
+++ b/hw/virtio-pci.c
@@ -109,6 +109,8 @@ typedef struct {
     uint32_t max_virtserial_ports;
     /* Timeout value for virtio-net txtimer, 1 = default, >1 = ns timeout */
     uint32_t txtimer;
+    /* Max tx packets for virtio-net to burst at a time */
+    int32_t txburst;
 } VirtIOPCIProxy;
 
 /* virtio device */
@@ -615,7 +617,8 @@ static int virtio_net_init_pci(PCIDevice *pci_dev)
     VirtIOPCIProxy *proxy = DO_UPCAST(VirtIOPCIProxy, pci_dev, pci_dev);
     VirtIODevice *vdev;
 
-    vdev = virtio_net_init(&pci_dev->qdev, &proxy->nic, proxy->txtimer);
+    vdev = virtio_net_init(&pci_dev->qdev, &proxy->nic,
+                           proxy->txtimer, proxy->txburst);
 
     vdev->nvectors = proxy->nvectors;
     virtio_init_pci(proxy, vdev,
@@ -693,6 +696,7 @@ static PCIDeviceInfo virtio_info[] = {
             DEFINE_VIRTIO_NET_FEATURES(VirtIOPCIProxy, host_features),
             DEFINE_NIC_PROPERTIES(VirtIOPCIProxy, nic),
             DEFINE_PROP_UINT32("txtimer", VirtIOPCIProxy, txtimer, 1),
+            DEFINE_PROP_INT32("txburst", VirtIOPCIProxy, txburst, 256),
             DEFINE_PROP_END_OF_LIST(),
         },
         .qdev.reset = virtio_pci_reset,
diff --git a/hw/virtio.h b/hw/virtio.h
index 77d05e0..4051889 100644
--- a/hw/virtio.h
+++ b/hw/virtio.h
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ void virtio_bind_device(VirtIODevice *vdev, const VirtIOBindings *binding,
 /* Base devices.  */
 VirtIODevice *virtio_blk_init(DeviceState *dev, BlockConf *conf);
 VirtIODevice *virtio_net_init(DeviceState *dev, NICConf *conf,
-                              uint32_t txtimer);
+                              uint32_t txtimer, int32_t txburst);
 VirtIODevice *virtio_serial_init(DeviceState *dev, uint32_t max_nr_ports);
 VirtIODevice *virtio_balloon_init(DeviceState *dev);
 #ifdef CONFIG_LINUX
