diff --git a/pkg/workloads/cortex/serve/serve.py b/pkg/workloads/cortex/serve/serve.py
index 4cf18b8eca..cf560a09a1 100644
--- a/pkg/workloads/cortex/serve/serve.py
+++ b/pkg/workloads/cortex/serve/serve.py
@@ -176,13 +176,16 @@ async def parse_payload(request: Request, call_next):
     return await call_next(request)
 
 
-def predict(request: Request):
+async def predict(request: Request):
     tasks = BackgroundTasks()
     api = local_cache["api"]
     predictor_impl = local_cache["predictor_impl"]
     kwargs = build_predict_kwargs(request)
 
-    prediction = predictor_impl.predict(**kwargs)
+    if inspect.iscoroutinefunction(predictor_impl.predict):
+        prediction = await predictor_impl.predict(**kwargs)
+    else:
+        prediction = predictor_impl.predict(**kwargs)
 
     if isinstance(prediction, bytes):
         response = Response(content=prediction, media_type="application/octet-stream")