diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/networking/suricata/default.nix b/nixos/modules/services/networking/suricata/default.nix
index a1aee42b26f6..c6f6b3f369eb 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/networking/suricata/default.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/networking/suricata/default.nix
@@ -152,6 +152,14 @@ in
         List of rules that should be disabled.
       '';
     };
+    reloadOnRulesetUpdate = mkOption {
+      type = types.bool;
+      default = false;
+      description = ''
+        Whether to reload Suricata if it is running after an automated ruleset update.
+        This is a blocking reload, and may take some time depending on the number of rules and computational power of the host.
+      '';
+    };
   };
 
   config =
@@ -213,11 +221,20 @@ in
       };
 
       systemd.services = {
+        suricata-blocking-reload = lib.mkIf cfg.reloadOnRulesetUpdate {
+          description = "Refresh Runtime Suricata Ruleset";
+          serviceConfig = {
+            Type = "oneshot";
+            ExecCondition = "systemctl is-active --quiet suricata.service";
+            ExecStart = "${pkg}/bin/suricatasc -c reload-rules";
+          };
+        };
         suricata-update = {
           description = "Update Suricata Rules";
           wantedBy = [ "multi-user.target" ];
           wants = [ "network-online.target" ];
           after = [ "network-online.target" ];
+          onSuccess = lib.mkIf cfg.reloadOnRulesetUpdate [ "suricata-blocking-reload.service" ];
 
           script =
             let
diff --git a/nixos/tests/suricata.nix b/nixos/tests/suricata.nix
index c79d0799551b..8353d5547d56 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/suricata.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/suricata.nix
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 
       services.suricata = {
         enable = true;
+        reloadOnRulesetUpdate = true;
         settings = {
           vars.address-groups.HOME_NET = "192.168.1.0/24";
           unix-command.enabled = true;
@@ -66,7 +67,7 @@
     # check that configuration has been applied correctly with suricatasc
     with subtest("suricata configuration test"):
         ids.wait_for_unit("suricata.service")
-        assert '1' in ids.succeed("suricatasc -c 'iface-list' | ${pkgs.jq}/bin/jq .message.count")
+        assert '1' in ids.wait_until_succeeds("suricatasc -c 'iface-list' | ${pkgs.jq}/bin/jq .message.count", 5)
 
     # test detection of events based on a static ruleset (output of id command)
     with subtest("suricata rule test"):
@@ -75,5 +76,9 @@
 
         ids.succeed("curl http://192.168.1.1/id/")
         assert "id check returned root [**] [Classification: Potentially Bad Traffic]" in ids.succeed("tail -n 1 /var/log/suricata/fast.log"), "Suricata didn't detect the output of id comment"
+
+    with subtest("suricata blocking reload test"):
+      ids.wait_for_unit("suricata.service")
+      assert ids.systemctl("start suricata-blocking-reload.service")[0] == 0
   '';
 }