diff --git a/CHANGELOG.txt b/CHANGELOG.txt
index afadfb3e43..f91c3a190f 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.txt
+++ b/CHANGELOG.txt
@@ -123,6 +123,7 @@ Changelog
  * Maintenance: Migrate away from using the `"wagtailadmin/shared/field_as_li.html"` template include (Storm Heg)
  * Maintenance: Deprecate `wagtail.contrib.modeladmin` (Sage Abdullah)
  * Maintenance: Upgrade documentation theme `sphinx_wagtail_theme` to v6.1.1 which includes multiple styling fixes and always visible code copy buttons (LB (Ben) Johnston)
+ * Maintenance: Don't update the reference index while deleting it (Andy Chosak)
 
 
 5.0.2 (21.06.2023)
diff --git a/docs/releases/5.1.md b/docs/releases/5.1.md
index f471a29566..76f22abe9d 100644
--- a/docs/releases/5.1.md
+++ b/docs/releases/5.1.md
@@ -169,6 +169,7 @@ This feature was developed by Aman Pandey as part of the Google Summer of Code p
  * Remove unused snippets _header_with_history.html template (Thibaud Colas)
  * Migrate away from using the `"wagtailadmin/shared/field_as_li.html"` template include (Storm Heg)
  * Upgrade documentation theme `sphinx_wagtail_theme` to v6.1.1 which includes multiple styling fixes and always visible code copy buttons (LB (Ben) Johnston)
+ * Don't update the reference index while deleting it (Andy Chosak)
 
 ## Upgrade considerations
 
diff --git a/wagtail/management/commands/rebuild_references_index.py b/wagtail/management/commands/rebuild_references_index.py
index 72e6aa9efc..3831bb7615 100644
--- a/wagtail/management/commands/rebuild_references_index.py
+++ b/wagtail/management/commands/rebuild_references_index.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ from django.core.management.base import BaseCommand
 from django.db import transaction
 
 from wagtail.models import ReferenceIndex
+from wagtail.signal_handlers import disable_reference_index_auto_update
 
 DEFAULT_CHUNK_SIZE = 1000
 
@@ -36,7 +37,8 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
         self.write("Rebuilding reference index")
 
         with transaction.atomic():
-            ReferenceIndex.objects.all().delete()
+            with disable_reference_index_auto_update():
+                ReferenceIndex.objects.all().delete()
 
             for model in apps.get_models():
                 if not ReferenceIndex.is_indexed(model):