diff --git a/config/kibana.yml b/config/kibana.yml
index 721bd83bfcf8e..0f506c91579bc 100644
--- a/config/kibana.yml
+++ b/config/kibana.yml
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@
 
 # Time in milliseconds to wait for responses from the back end or Elasticsearch. This value 
 # must be a positive integer.
-# elasticsearch.requestTimeout: 300000
+# elasticsearch.requestTimeout: 30000
 
 # Time in milliseconds for Elasticsearch to wait for responses from shards. Set to 0 to disable.
 # elasticsearch.shardTimeout: 0
diff --git a/src/plugins/elasticsearch/lib/create_proxy.js b/src/plugins/elasticsearch/lib/create_proxy.js
index 9ec30c8d93065..b2a82a07a1bca 100644
--- a/src/plugins/elasticsearch/lib/create_proxy.js
+++ b/src/plugins/elasticsearch/lib/create_proxy.js
@@ -1,23 +1,30 @@
 import createAgent from './create_agent';
 import mapUri from './map_uri';
 import { resolve } from 'url';
+import { assign } from 'lodash';
 
 function createProxy(server, method, route, config) {
 
   const options = {
     method: method,
     path: createProxy.createPath(route),
+    config: {
+      timeout: {
+        socket: server.config().get('elasticsearch.requestTimeout')
+      }
+    },
     handler: {
       proxy: {
         mapUri: mapUri(server),
         passThrough: true,
         agent: createAgent(server),
-        xforward: true
+        xforward: true,
+        timeout: server.config().get('elasticsearch.requestTimeout')
       }
     },
   };
 
-  if (config) options.config = config;
+  assign(options.config, config);
 
   server.route(options);
 };
diff --git a/src/plugins/elasticsearch/lib/expose_client.js b/src/plugins/elasticsearch/lib/expose_client.js
index 9a9c45b3d21be..0e82a78449174 100644
--- a/src/plugins/elasticsearch/lib/expose_client.js
+++ b/src/plugins/elasticsearch/lib/expose_client.js
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ module.exports = function (server) {
       clientKey: config.get('elasticsearch.ssl.key'),
       ca: config.get('elasticsearch.ssl.ca'),
       apiVersion: config.get('elasticsearch.apiVersion'),
+      pingTimeout: config.get('elasticsearch.pingTimeout'),
+      requestTimeout: config.get('elasticsearch.requestTimeout'),
       keepAlive: true,
       auth: true
     });
@@ -45,6 +47,8 @@ module.exports = function (server) {
       plugins: options.plugins,
       apiVersion: options.apiVersion,
       keepAlive: options.keepAlive,
+      pingTimeout: options.pingTimeout,
+      requestTimeout: options.requestTimeout,
       defer: function () {
         return Bluebird.defer();
       },
diff --git a/src/plugins/elasticsearch/lib/health_check.js b/src/plugins/elasticsearch/lib/health_check.js
index 00285903a57cc..3b4b66425faa5 100644
--- a/src/plugins/elasticsearch/lib/health_check.js
+++ b/src/plugins/elasticsearch/lib/health_check.js
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ module.exports = function (plugin, server) {
   plugin.status.yellow('Waiting for Elasticsearch');
 
   function waitForPong() {
-    return client.ping({ requestTimeout: 1500 }).catch(function (err) {
+    return client.ping().catch(function (err) {
       if (!(err instanceof NoConnections)) throw err;
 
       plugin.status.red(format('Unable to connect to Elasticsearch at %s.', config.get('elasticsearch.url')));
diff --git a/src/plugins/testsBundle/testsEntryTemplate.js b/src/plugins/testsBundle/testsEntryTemplate.js
index aff1601d50675..61127f4bfc48f 100644
--- a/src/plugins/testsBundle/testsEntryTemplate.js
+++ b/src/plugins/testsBundle/testsEntryTemplate.js
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ window.__KBN__ = {
     kbnIndex: '.kibana',
     esShardTimeout: 1500,
     esApiVersion: '2.0',
+    esRequestTimeout: '300000'
   }
 };
 
diff --git a/src/ui/index.js b/src/ui/index.js
index 2c3981c5fadf4..28b1fc267f1a8 100644
--- a/src/ui/index.js
+++ b/src/ui/index.js
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ module.exports = async (kbnServer, server, config) => {
     defaultInjectedVars.kbnIndex = config.get('kibana.index');
   }
   if (config.has('elasticsearch')) {
+    defaultInjectedVars.esRequestTimeout = config.get('elasticsearch.requestTimeout');
     defaultInjectedVars.esShardTimeout = config.get('elasticsearch.shardTimeout');
     defaultInjectedVars.esApiVersion = config.get('elasticsearch.apiVersion');
   }
diff --git a/src/ui/public/es.js b/src/ui/public/es.js
index 4dc1b7bdc640c..0dffbbf83172c 100644
--- a/src/ui/public/es.js
+++ b/src/ui/public/es.js
@@ -5,13 +5,13 @@ import uiModules from 'ui/modules';
 var es; // share the client amoungst all apps
 uiModules
   .get('kibana', ['elasticsearch', 'kibana/config'])
-  .service('es', function (esFactory, esUrl, $q, esApiVersion) {
+  .service('es', function (esFactory, esUrl, $q, esApiVersion, esRequestTimeout) {
     if (es) return es;
 
     es = esFactory({
       host: esUrl,
       log: 'info',
-      requestTimeout: 0,
+      requestTimeout: esRequestTimeout,
       apiVersion: esApiVersion,
       plugins: [function (Client, config) {