diff --git a/workflow/controller/healthz.go b/workflow/controller/healthz.go
index b1d882b40c9c..a1138c0d9b5b 100644
--- a/workflow/controller/healthz.go
+++ b/workflow/controller/healthz.go
@@ -6,11 +6,14 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	log "github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
+	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/unstructured"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/labels"
+	"k8s.io/client-go/tools/cache"
 
-	"github.com/argoproj/argo-workflows/v3/pkg/client/listers/workflow/v1alpha1"
+	wfv1 "github.com/argoproj/argo-workflows/v3/pkg/apis/workflow/v1alpha1"
 	"github.com/argoproj/argo-workflows/v3/util/env"
 	"github.com/argoproj/argo-workflows/v3/workflow/common"
+	"github.com/argoproj/argo-workflows/v3/workflow/util"
 )
 
 var (
@@ -29,7 +32,7 @@ func (wfc *WorkflowController) Healthz(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 	}()
 	labelSelector := "!" + common.LabelKeyPhase + "," + instanceIDSelector
 	err := func() error {
-		seletor, err := labels.Parse(labelSelector)
+		selector, err := labels.Parse(labelSelector)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
@@ -38,12 +41,26 @@ func (wfc *WorkflowController) Healthz(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 			log.Info("healthz: current pod is not the leader")
 			return nil
 		}
-		lister := v1alpha1.NewWorkflowLister(wfc.wfInformer.GetIndexer())
-		list, err := lister.Workflows(wfc.managedNamespace).List(seletor)
+
+		// establish a list of unreconciled workflows
+		unreconciledWorkflows := []*wfv1.Workflow{}
+		err = cache.ListAllByNamespace(wfc.wfInformer.GetIndexer(), wfc.managedNamespace, selector, func(m interface{}) {
+			// Informer holds Workflows as type *Unstructured
+			un := m.(*unstructured.Unstructured)
+			// verify it's of type *Workflow (if not, it's an incorrectly formatted Workflow spec)
+			wf, err := util.FromUnstructured(un)
+			if err != nil {
+				log.Warnf("Healthz check found an incorrectly formatted Workflow: %q (namespace %q)", un.GetName(), un.GetNamespace())
+				return
+			}
+
+			unreconciledWorkflows = append(unreconciledWorkflows, wf)
+		})
 		if err != nil {
-			return err
+			return fmt.Errorf("Healthz check failed to list Workflows using Informer, err=%v", err)
 		}
-		for _, wf := range list {
+		// go through the unreconciled workflows to determine if any of them exceed the max allowed age
+		for _, wf := range unreconciledWorkflows {
 			if time.Since(wf.GetCreationTimestamp().Time) > age {
 				return fmt.Errorf("workflow never reconciled: %s", wf.Name)
 			}
diff --git a/workflow/controller/healthz_test.go b/workflow/controller/healthz_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..351773c0578e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/workflow/controller/healthz_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+package controller
+
+import (
+	"net/http"
+	"net/http/httptest"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
+
+	wfv1 "github.com/argoproj/argo-workflows/v3/pkg/apis/workflow/v1alpha1"
+	"github.com/argoproj/argo-workflows/v3/workflow/common"
+)
+
+func TestHealthz(t *testing.T) {
+
+	veryOldUnreconciledWF := wfv1.MustUnmarshalWorkflow(helloWorldWf)
+	veryOldUnreconciledWF.SetCreationTimestamp(metav1.Date(2023, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, time.UTC)) // a long time ago
+	veryOldUnreconciledWF.SetName(veryOldUnreconciledWF.Name + "-1")
+
+	newUnreconciledWF := wfv1.MustUnmarshalWorkflow(helloWorldWf)
+	newUnreconciledWF.SetCreationTimestamp(metav1.Now())
+	newUnreconciledWF.SetName(newUnreconciledWF.Name + "-2")
+
+	veryOldReconciledWF := wfv1.MustUnmarshalWorkflow(helloWorldWf)
+	veryOldReconciledWF.SetCreationTimestamp(metav1.Date(2023, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, time.UTC)) // a long time ago
+	veryOldReconciledWF.SetName(veryOldUnreconciledWF.Name + "-3")
+	veryOldReconciledWF.Labels = map[string]string{common.LabelKeyPhase: string(wfv1.WorkflowPending)}
+
+	tests := []struct {
+		workflows      []*wfv1.Workflow
+		expectedStatus int
+	}{
+		{
+			[]*wfv1.Workflow{veryOldUnreconciledWF},
+			500,
+		},
+		{
+			[]*wfv1.Workflow{newUnreconciledWF},
+			200,
+		},
+		{
+			[]*wfv1.Workflow{veryOldUnreconciledWF, newUnreconciledWF},
+			500,
+		},
+		{
+			[]*wfv1.Workflow{veryOldReconciledWF},
+			200,
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		workflowsAsInterfaceSlice := []interface{}{}
+		for _, wf := range tt.workflows {
+			workflowsAsInterfaceSlice = append(workflowsAsInterfaceSlice, wf)
+		}
+		cancel, controller := newController(workflowsAsInterfaceSlice...)
+		defer cancel()
+
+		rr := httptest.NewRecorder()
+
+		handler := http.HandlerFunc(controller.Healthz)
+
+		req, err := http.NewRequest("GET", "/healthz", nil)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		handler.ServeHTTP(rr, req)
+
+		// Check the status code is what we expect.
+		if status := rr.Code; status != tt.expectedStatus {
+			t.Errorf("handler returned wrong status code: got %v want %v",
+				status, tt.expectedStatus)
+		}
+	}
+
+}