diff --git a/server/mock/store.go b/server/mock/store.go
index bceb73a92c3..460c2a677f4 100644
--- a/server/mock/store.go
+++ b/server/mock/store.go
@@ -103,7 +103,9 @@ func (ms multiStore) Snapshot(height uint64, format uint32) (<-chan io.ReadClose
 	panic("not implemented")
 }
 
-func (ms multiStore) Restore(height uint64, format uint32, chunks <-chan io.ReadCloser) error {
+func (ms multiStore) Restore(
+	height uint64, format uint32, chunks <-chan io.ReadCloser, ready chan<- struct{},
+) error {
 	panic("not implemented")
 }
 
diff --git a/snapshots/helpers_test.go b/snapshots/helpers_test.go
index eede8b2d585..bda3c315545 100644
--- a/snapshots/helpers_test.go
+++ b/snapshots/helpers_test.go
@@ -63,13 +63,18 @@ type mockSnapshotter struct {
 	chunks [][]byte
 }
 
-func (m *mockSnapshotter) Restore(height uint64, format uint32, chunks <-chan io.ReadCloser) error {
+func (m *mockSnapshotter) Restore(
+	height uint64, format uint32, chunks <-chan io.ReadCloser, ready chan<- struct{},
+) error {
 	if format == 0 {
 		return types.ErrUnknownFormat
 	}
 	if m.chunks != nil {
 		return errors.New("already has contents")
 	}
+	if ready != nil {
+		close(ready)
+	}
 
 	m.chunks = [][]byte{}
 	for reader := range chunks {
@@ -140,6 +145,8 @@ func (m *hungSnapshotter) Snapshot(height uint64, format uint32) (<-chan io.Read
 	return ch, nil
 }
 
-func (m *hungSnapshotter) Restore(height uint64, format uint32, chunks <-chan io.ReadCloser) error {
+func (m *hungSnapshotter) Restore(
+	height uint64, format uint32, chunks <-chan io.ReadCloser, ready chan<- struct{},
+) error {
 	panic("not implemented")
 }
diff --git a/snapshots/manager.go b/snapshots/manager.go
index 3ccf502b3b2..1341bcf958a 100644
--- a/snapshots/manager.go
+++ b/snapshots/manager.go
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ import (
 	"io"
 	"io/ioutil"
 	"sync"
-	"time"
 
 	"github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/snapshots/types"
 )
@@ -169,9 +168,10 @@ func (m *Manager) Restore(snapshot types.Snapshot) error {
 
 	// Start an asynchronous snapshot restoration, passing chunks and completion status via channels.
 	chChunks := make(chan io.ReadCloser, chunkBufferSize)
+	chReady := make(chan struct{}, 1)
 	chDone := make(chan restoreDone, 1)
 	go func() {
-		err := m.target.Restore(snapshot.Height, snapshot.Format, chChunks)
+		err := m.target.Restore(snapshot.Height, snapshot.Format, chChunks, chReady)
 		chDone <- restoreDone{
 			complete: err == nil,
 			err:      err,
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ func (m *Manager) Restore(snapshot types.Snapshot) error {
 			return done.err
 		}
 		return errors.New("restore ended unexpectedly")
-	case <-time.After(20 * time.Millisecond):
+	case <-chReady:
 	}
 
 	m.chRestore = chChunks
diff --git a/snapshots/types/snapshotter.go b/snapshots/types/snapshotter.go
index d59a2a0874b..1ebd763b5d7 100644
--- a/snapshots/types/snapshotter.go
+++ b/snapshots/types/snapshotter.go
@@ -10,5 +10,7 @@ type Snapshotter interface {
 	Snapshot(height uint64, format uint32) (<-chan io.ReadCloser, error)
 
 	// Restore restores a state snapshot, taking snapshot chunk readers as input.
-	Restore(height uint64, format uint32, chunks <-chan io.ReadCloser) error
+	// If the ready channel is non-nil, it returns a ready signal (by being closed) once the
+	// restorer is ready to accept chunks.
+	Restore(height uint64, format uint32, chunks <-chan io.ReadCloser, ready chan<- struct{}) error
 }
diff --git a/store/rootmulti/store.go b/store/rootmulti/store.go
index 9cc4b3f3d63..4e55d531362 100644
--- a/store/rootmulti/store.go
+++ b/store/rootmulti/store.go
@@ -658,7 +658,9 @@ func (rs *Store) Snapshot(height uint64, format uint32) (<-chan io.ReadCloser, e
 }
 
 // Restore implements snapshottypes.Snapshotter.
-func (rs *Store) Restore(height uint64, format uint32, chunks <-chan io.ReadCloser) error {
+func (rs *Store) Restore(
+	height uint64, format uint32, chunks <-chan io.ReadCloser, ready chan<- struct{},
+) error {
 	if format != snapshottypes.CurrentFormat {
 		return fmt.Errorf("%w %v", snapshottypes.ErrUnknownFormat, format)
 	}
@@ -670,6 +672,12 @@ func (rs *Store) Restore(height uint64, format uint32, chunks <-chan io.ReadClos
 			height, math.MaxInt64)
 	}
 
+	// Signal readiness. Must be done before the readers below are set up, since the zlib
+	// reader reads from the stream on initialization, potentially causing deadlocks.
+	if ready != nil {
+		close(ready)
+	}
+
 	// Set up a restore stream pipeline
 	// chan io.ReadCloser -> chunkReader -> zlib -> delimited Protobuf -> ExportNode
 	chunkReader := snapshots.NewChunkReader(chunks)
diff --git a/store/rootmulti/store_test.go b/store/rootmulti/store_test.go
index 55af45cc3ae..06509b0caca 100644
--- a/store/rootmulti/store_test.go
+++ b/store/rootmulti/store_test.go
@@ -593,7 +593,7 @@ func TestMultistoreRestore_Errors(t *testing.T) {
 	for name, tc := range testcases {
 		tc := tc
 		t.Run(name, func(t *testing.T) {
-			err := store.Restore(tc.height, tc.format, nil)
+			err := store.Restore(tc.height, tc.format, nil, nil)
 			require.Error(t, err)
 			if tc.expectType != nil {
 				assert.True(t, errors.Is(err, tc.expectType))
@@ -610,8 +610,10 @@ func TestMultistoreSnapshotRestore(t *testing.T) {
 
 	chunks, err := source.Snapshot(version, snapshottypes.CurrentFormat)
 	require.NoError(t, err)
-	err = target.Restore(version, snapshottypes.CurrentFormat, chunks)
+	ready := make(chan struct{})
+	err = target.Restore(version, snapshottypes.CurrentFormat, chunks, ready)
 	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.EqualValues(t, struct{}{}, <-ready)
 
 	assert.Equal(t, source.LastCommitID(), target.LastCommitID())
 	for key, sourceStore := range source.stores {
@@ -687,7 +689,7 @@ func benchmarkMultistoreSnapshotRestore(b *testing.B, stores uint8, storeKeys ui
 
 		chunks, err := source.Snapshot(version, snapshottypes.CurrentFormat)
 		require.NoError(b, err)
-		err = target.Restore(version, snapshottypes.CurrentFormat, chunks)
+		err = target.Restore(version, snapshottypes.CurrentFormat, chunks, nil)
 		require.NoError(b, err)
 		require.Equal(b, source.LastCommitID(), target.LastCommitID())
 	}