diff --git a/r/R/array-stream.R b/r/R/array-stream.R
index 54863a4b7..3b3472cb9 100644
--- a/r/R/array-stream.R
+++ b/r/R/array-stream.R
@@ -259,3 +259,13 @@ names.nanoarrow_array_stream <- function(x, ...) {
 `$.nanoarrow_array_stream` <- function(x, i, ...) {
   x[[i]]
 }
+
+nanoarrow_array_stream_get_next_async <- function(stream, callback,
+                                                  schema = stream$get_schema()) {
+  callback_env <- new.env(parent = emptyenv())
+  callback_env$callback <- callback
+  array <- nanoarrow_allocate_array()
+  nanoarrow_array_set_schema(array, schema, validate = FALSE)
+  .Call(nanoarrow_c_array_stream_get_next_async, stream, array, callback_env)
+  invisible(NULL)
+}
diff --git a/r/src/nanoarrow_cpp.cc b/r/src/nanoarrow_cpp.cc
index 031c8cd78..c08594174 100644
--- a/r/src/nanoarrow_cpp.cc
+++ b/r/src/nanoarrow_cpp.cc
@@ -216,8 +216,6 @@ class CallbackQueue {
     void* return_value;
   };
 
-  void AddTask(std::unique_ptr<std::thread> task) { tasks_.push_back(std::move(task)); }
-
   void AddCallback(RCallback callback) {
     std::lock_guard<std::mutex> lock(callbacks_lock_);
     pending_callbacks_.push_back(callback);
@@ -251,6 +249,7 @@ class CallbackQueue {
         PROTECT(Rf_lang3(callback_sym, return_code_sexp, return_value_xptr));
 
     Rf_eval(callback_call, env_sexp);
+    UNPROTECT(6);
   }
 
   static CallbackQueue& GetInstance() {
@@ -259,7 +258,6 @@ class CallbackQueue {
   }
 
  private:
-  std::deque<std::unique_ptr<std::thread>> tasks_;
   std::deque<RCallback> pending_callbacks_;
   std::mutex callbacks_lock_;
 };
@@ -279,13 +277,11 @@ extern "C" void nanoarrow_array_stream_get_next_async(SEXP array_stream_xptr,
                                        array};
 
   // Bad: need to keep track of these somewhere instead of leaking them all
-  std::unique_ptr<std::thread> worker(new std::thread([array_stream, array, callback] {
+  std::thread* worker = new std::thread([array_stream, array, callback] {
     CallbackQueue::RCallback callback_out = callback;
     callback_out.return_code = array_stream->get_next(array_stream, array);
     CallbackQueue::GetInstance().AddCallback(callback_out);
-  }));
-
-  CallbackQueue::GetInstance().AddTask(std::move(worker));
+  });
 }
 
 extern "C" int nanoarrow_run_callbacks(void) {
diff --git a/r/tests/testthat/test-array-stream.R b/r/tests/testthat/test-array-stream.R
index 195c31cc8..8553f614f 100644
--- a/r/tests/testthat/test-array-stream.R
+++ b/r/tests/testthat/test-array-stream.R
@@ -212,3 +212,13 @@ test_that("Errors from user array stream finalizer are ignored", {
   expect_false(nanoarrow_pointer_is_valid(stream))
   expect_silent(stream$release())
 })
+
+test_that("Async get next", {
+  stream <- basic_array_stream(list(1:5))
+  nanoarrow_array_stream_get_next_async(stream, function(code, array) {
+    expect_identical(code, 0L)
+    expect_identical(convert_array(array), 1:5)
+  })
+  Sys.sleep(0.5)
+  expect_identical(run_callbacks(), 1L)
+})