diff --git a/src/soc/rockchip/common/include/soc/spi.h b/src/soc/rockchip/common/include/soc/spi.h
index 7e9e568e6d..dcaa4711d2 100644
--- a/src/soc/rockchip/common/include/soc/spi.h
+++ b/src/soc/rockchip/common/include/soc/spi.h
@@ -165,6 +165,13 @@ check_member(rockchip_spi, rxdr, 0x800);
 #define SPI_OMOD_SLAVE	0x01
 
 /* --------Bit fields in CTRLR0--------end */
+
+/* TXFLR bits */
+#define TXFLR_LEVEL_MASK	0x3f
+
+/* RXFLR bits */
+#define RXFLR_LEVEL_MASK	0x3f
+
 /* Bit fields in SR, 7 bits */
 #define SR_MASK	0x7f
 #define SR_BUSY	(1 << 0)
diff --git a/src/soc/rockchip/common/spi.c b/src/soc/rockchip/common/spi.c
index 6784f5b975..f35f91589f 100644
--- a/src/soc/rockchip/common/spi.c
+++ b/src/soc/rockchip/common/spi.c
@@ -235,11 +235,18 @@ static int do_xfer(struct rockchip_spi *regs, const void *dout,
 			xferred = 1;
 		}
 
+		/*
+		 * Try to read as many bytes as are available in one go.
+		 * Reading the status registers probably requires
+		 * sychronizing with the SPI clock which is pretty slow.
+		 */
 		if (*bytes_in && !(sr & SR_RF_EMPT)) {
-			*in_buf = read32(&regs->rxdr) & 0xff;
-			in_buf++;
-			*bytes_in -= 1;
-			xferred = 1;
+			int todo = read32(&regs->rxflr) & RXFLR_LEVEL_MASK;
+
+			*bytes_in -= todo;
+			xferred = todo;
+			while (todo-- > 0)
+				*in_buf++ = read32(&regs->rxdr) & 0xff;
 		}
 
 		min_xfer -= xferred;