diff --git a/metadata/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/controller/AclControlManager.java b/metadata/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/controller/AclControlManager.java
index a2c8a717a603a..1a500e1a77e64 100644
--- a/metadata/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/controller/AclControlManager.java
+++ b/metadata/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/controller/AclControlManager.java
@@ -184,6 +184,10 @@ ControllerResult<List<AclDeleteResult>> deleteAcls(List<AclBindingFilter> filter
                 validateFilter(filter);
                 AclDeleteResult result = deleteAclsForFilter(filter, records);
                 results.add(result);
+            } catch (BoundedListTooLongException e) {
+                // we do not return partial results here because the fact that only a portion of the deletions
+                // succeeded can be easily missed due to response size. instead fail the entire response
+                throw new InvalidRequestException(e.getMessage(), e);
             } catch (Throwable e) {
                 results.add(new AclDeleteResult(ApiError.fromThrowable(e).exception()));
             }
@@ -199,13 +203,14 @@ AclDeleteResult deleteAclsForFilter(AclBindingFilter filter,
             StandardAcl acl = entry.getValue();
             AclBinding binding = acl.toBinding();
             if (filter.matches(binding)) {
-                deleted.add(new AclBindingDeleteResult(binding));
-                records.add(new ApiMessageAndVersion(
-                    new RemoveAccessControlEntryRecord().setId(id), (short) 0));
-                if (records.size() > MAX_RECORDS_PER_USER_OP) {
+                // check size limitation first before adding additional records
+                if (records.size() >= MAX_RECORDS_PER_USER_OP) {
                     throw new BoundedListTooLongException("Cannot remove more than " +
                         MAX_RECORDS_PER_USER_OP + " acls in a single delete operation.");
                 }
+                deleted.add(new AclBindingDeleteResult(binding));
+                records.add(new ApiMessageAndVersion(
+                    new RemoveAccessControlEntryRecord().setId(id), (short) 0));
             }
         }
         return new AclDeleteResult(deleted);
diff --git a/metadata/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/controller/AclControlManagerTest.java b/metadata/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/controller/AclControlManagerTest.java
index 15abdba14b2f2..8fdead891d3c2 100644
--- a/metadata/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/controller/AclControlManagerTest.java
+++ b/metadata/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/controller/AclControlManagerTest.java
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@
 import org.apache.kafka.server.authorizer.AuthorizationResult;
 import org.apache.kafka.server.authorizer.AuthorizerServerInfo;
 import org.apache.kafka.server.common.ApiMessageAndVersion;
+import org.apache.kafka.server.mutable.BoundedListTooLongException;
 import org.apache.kafka.timeline.SnapshotRegistry;
 
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
@@ -69,6 +70,7 @@
 import static org.apache.kafka.common.resource.PatternType.LITERAL;
 import static org.apache.kafka.common.resource.PatternType.MATCH;
 import static org.apache.kafka.common.resource.ResourceType.TOPIC;
+import static org.apache.kafka.controller.QuorumController.MAX_RECORDS_PER_USER_OP;
 import static org.apache.kafka.metadata.authorizer.StandardAclWithIdTest.TEST_ACLS;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertFalse;
@@ -380,4 +382,60 @@ public void testDeleteDedupe() {
         assertEquals(id, ((RemoveAccessControlEntryRecord) deleteAclResultsBothFilters.records().get(0).message()).id());
         assertEquals(2, deleteAclResultsBothFilters.response().size());
     }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testDeleteExceedsMaxRecords() {
+        AclControlManager manager = new AclControlManager.Builder().build();
+        MockClusterMetadataAuthorizer authorizer = new MockClusterMetadataAuthorizer();
+        authorizer.loadSnapshot(manager.idToAcl());
+
+        List<AclBinding> firstCreate = new ArrayList<>();
+        List<AclBinding> secondCreate = new ArrayList<>();
+
+        // create MAX_RECORDS_PER_USER_OP + 2 ACLs
+        for (int i = 0; i < MAX_RECORDS_PER_USER_OP + 2; i++) {
+            StandardAclWithId acl = new StandardAclWithId(Uuid.randomUuid(),
+                new StandardAcl(
+                    ResourceType.TOPIC,
+                    "mytopic_" + i,
+                    PatternType.LITERAL,
+                    "User:alice",
+                    "127.0.0.1",
+                    AclOperation.READ,
+                    AclPermissionType.ALLOW));
+
+            // split acl creations between two create requests
+            if (i % 2 == 0) {
+                firstCreate.add(acl.toBinding());
+            } else {
+                secondCreate.add(acl.toBinding());
+            }
+        }
+        ControllerResult<List<AclCreateResult>> firstCreateResult = manager.createAcls(firstCreate);
+        assertEquals((MAX_RECORDS_PER_USER_OP / 2) + 1, firstCreateResult.response().size());
+        for (AclCreateResult result : firstCreateResult.response()) {
+            assertTrue(result.exception().isEmpty());
+        }
+
+        ControllerResult<List<AclCreateResult>> secondCreateResult = manager.createAcls(secondCreate);
+        assertEquals((MAX_RECORDS_PER_USER_OP / 2) + 1, secondCreateResult.response().size());
+        for (AclCreateResult result : secondCreateResult.response()) {
+            assertTrue(result.exception().isEmpty());
+        }
+
+        RecordTestUtils.replayAll(manager, firstCreateResult.records());
+        RecordTestUtils.replayAll(manager, secondCreateResult.records());
+        assertFalse(manager.idToAcl().isEmpty());
+
+        ArrayList<AclBindingFilter> filters = new ArrayList<>();
+        for (int i = 0; i < MAX_RECORDS_PER_USER_OP + 2; i++) {
+            filters.add(new AclBindingFilter(
+                new ResourcePatternFilter(ResourceType.TOPIC, "mytopic_" + i, PatternType.LITERAL),
+                AccessControlEntryFilter.ANY));
+        }
+
+        Exception exception = assertThrows(InvalidRequestException.class, () -> manager.deleteAcls(filters));
+        assertEquals(BoundedListTooLongException.class, exception.getCause().getClass());
+        assertEquals("Cannot remove more than " + MAX_RECORDS_PER_USER_OP + " acls in a single delete operation.", exception.getCause().getMessage());
+    }
 }