diff --git a/esphome/components/usb_uart/usb_uart.cpp b/esphome/components/usb_uart/usb_uart.cpp
index 997f8361464..a5d312f1912 100644
--- a/esphome/components/usb_uart/usb_uart.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/usb_uart/usb_uart.cpp
@@ -160,11 +160,9 @@ void USBUartChannel::write_array(const uint8_t *data, size_t len) {
     size_t chunk_len = std::min(len, UsbOutputChunk::MAX_CHUNK_SIZE);
     memcpy(chunk->data, data, chunk_len);
     chunk->length = static_cast<uint8_t>(chunk_len);
-    if (!this->output_queue_.push(chunk)) {
-      this->output_pool_.release(chunk);
-      ESP_LOGE(TAG, "Output queue full - lost %zu bytes", len);
-      break;
-    }
+    // Push always succeeds: pool is sized to queue capacity (SIZE-1), so if
+    // allocate() returned non-null, the queue cannot be full.
+    this->output_queue_.push(chunk);
     data += chunk_len;
     len -= chunk_len;
   }
@@ -320,7 +318,8 @@ void USBUartComponent::start_input(USBUartChannel *channel) {
       chunk->channel = channel;
 
       // Push to lock-free queue for main loop processing
-      // Push always succeeds because pool size == queue size
+      // Push always succeeds: pool is sized to queue capacity (SIZE-1), so if
+      // allocate() returned non-null, the queue cannot be full.
       this->usb_data_queue_.push(chunk);
 
       // Re-enable component loop to process the queued data
diff --git a/esphome/components/usb_uart/usb_uart.h b/esphome/components/usb_uart/usb_uart.h
index 16469df7f60..7a06b04f114 100644
--- a/esphome/components/usb_uart/usb_uart.h
+++ b/esphome/components/usb_uart/usb_uart.h
@@ -158,7 +158,10 @@ class USBUartChannel : public uart::UARTComponent, public Parented<USBUartCompon
   // Larger structures first (8+ bytes)
   RingBuffer input_buffer_;
   LockFreeQueue<UsbOutputChunk, USB_OUTPUT_CHUNK_COUNT> output_queue_;
-  EventPool<UsbOutputChunk, USB_OUTPUT_CHUNK_COUNT> output_pool_;
+  // Pool sized to queue capacity (SIZE-1) because LockFreeQueue<T,N> is a ring
+  // buffer that holds N-1 elements. This guarantees allocate() returns nullptr
+  // before push() can fail, preventing a pool slot leak.
+  EventPool<UsbOutputChunk, USB_OUTPUT_CHUNK_COUNT - 1> output_pool_;
   std::function<void()> rx_callback_{};
   CdcEps cdc_dev_{};
   StringRef debug_prefix_{};
@@ -190,7 +193,8 @@ class USBUartComponent : public usb_host::USBClient {
   // Lock-free data transfer from USB task to main loop
   static constexpr int USB_DATA_QUEUE_SIZE = 32;
   LockFreeQueue<UsbDataChunk, USB_DATA_QUEUE_SIZE> usb_data_queue_;
-  EventPool<UsbDataChunk, USB_DATA_QUEUE_SIZE> chunk_pool_;
+  // Pool sized to queue capacity (SIZE-1) — see USBUartChannel::output_pool_ comment.
+  EventPool<UsbDataChunk, USB_DATA_QUEUE_SIZE - 1> chunk_pool_;
 
  protected:
   std::vector<USBUartChannel *> channels_{};