diff --git a/news/12256.feature.rst b/news/12256.feature.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..52045cbdce0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/news/12256.feature.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Introduce ``--use-feature=metadata-cache`` to cache metadata lookups in ``~/.cache/pip/link-metadata``.
diff --git a/src/pip/_internal/cli/cmdoptions.py b/src/pip/_internal/cli/cmdoptions.py
index 02ba6082793..284b87bc507 100644
--- a/src/pip/_internal/cli/cmdoptions.py
+++ b/src/pip/_internal/cli/cmdoptions.py
@@ -1009,6 +1009,7 @@ def check_list_path_option(options: Values) -> None:
     choices=[
         "fast-deps",
         "truststore",
+        "metadata-cache",
     ]
     + ALWAYS_ENABLED_FEATURES,
     help="Enable new functionality, that may be backward incompatible.",
diff --git a/src/pip/_internal/cli/req_command.py b/src/pip/_internal/cli/req_command.py
index bfc1733960c..93bd7039741 100644
--- a/src/pip/_internal/cli/req_command.py
+++ b/src/pip/_internal/cli/req_command.py
@@ -308,7 +308,7 @@ def make_requirement_preparer(
                     "fast-deps has no effect when used with the legacy resolver."
                 )
 
-        if options.cache_dir:
+        if bool(options.cache_dir) and ("metadata-cache" in options.features_enabled):
             metadata_cache = LinkMetadataCache(options.cache_dir)
         else:
             metadata_cache = None