diff --git a/packages/apollo-server-core/src/__tests__/dataSources.test.ts b/packages/apollo-server-core/src/__tests__/dataSources.test.ts
index 995ef2ee497..4a6d1754c97 100644
--- a/packages/apollo-server-core/src/__tests__/dataSources.test.ts
+++ b/packages/apollo-server-core/src/__tests__/dataSources.test.ts
@@ -81,6 +81,26 @@ describe('ApolloServerBase dataSources', () => {
     expect(actualCallOrder).toEqual(expectedCallOrder);
   });
 
+  it('initializes datasources from an asynchronous datasource creator function', async () => {
+    const initialize = jest.fn();
+
+    const server = new ApolloServerBase({
+      typeDefs,
+      resolvers: {
+        Query: {
+          hello() {
+            return 'world';
+          }
+        }
+      },
+      dataSources: async () => ({ x: { initialize }, y: { initialize } })
+    });
+
+    await server.executeOperation({ query: "query { hello }"});
+
+    expect(initialize).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
+  });
+
   it('makes datasources available on resolver contexts', async () => {
     const message = 'hi from dataSource';
     const getData = jest.fn(() => message);
diff --git a/packages/apollo-server-core/src/graphqlOptions.ts b/packages/apollo-server-core/src/graphqlOptions.ts
index b4c6f1a7b86..2771b33c8bd 100644
--- a/packages/apollo-server-core/src/graphqlOptions.ts
+++ b/packages/apollo-server-core/src/graphqlOptions.ts
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ export interface GraphQLServerOptions<
   tracing?: boolean;
   cacheControl?: CacheControlExtensionOptions;
   extensions?: Array<() => GraphQLExtension>;
-  dataSources?: () => DataSources<TContext>;
+  dataSources?: () => DataSources<TContext> | Promise<DataSources<TContext>>;
   cache?: KeyValueCache;
   persistedQueries?: PersistedQueryOptions;
   plugins?: ApolloServerPlugin[];
diff --git a/packages/apollo-server-core/src/requestPipeline.ts b/packages/apollo-server-core/src/requestPipeline.ts
index d3588f04e1a..b1695793371 100644
--- a/packages/apollo-server-core/src/requestPipeline.ts
+++ b/packages/apollo-server-core/src/requestPipeline.ts
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ export interface GraphQLRequestPipelineConfig<TContext> {
   executor?: GraphQLExecutor;
   fieldResolver?: GraphQLFieldResolver<any, TContext>;
 
-  dataSources?: () => DataSources<TContext>;
+  dataSources?: () => DataSources<TContext> | Promise<DataSources<TContext>>;
 
   extensions?: Array<() => GraphQLExtension>;
   persistedQueries?: PersistedQueryOptions;
@@ -718,7 +718,7 @@ export async function processGraphQLRequest<TContext>(
     if (config.dataSources) {
       const context = requestContext.context;
 
-      const dataSources = config.dataSources();
+      const dataSources = await config.dataSources();
 
       const initializers: any[] = [];
       for (const dataSource of Object.values(dataSources)) {