diff --git a/AUTHORS b/AUTHORS
index 68680e4f9..16c2058b8 100644
--- a/AUTHORS
+++ b/AUTHORS
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ Bart Merenda
 Bas van Oostveen
 Brian Helba
 Carl Schwan
+Daniel Golding
 Daniel 'Vector' Kerr
 Darrel O'Pry
 Dave Burkholder
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index fab13a0ea..6d2ea4cca 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -14,6 +14,11 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 ### Security
   -->
 
+## [unreleased]
+
+### Added
+* #1273 Add caching of loading of OIDC private key.
+
 ## [2.3.0] 2023-05-31
 
 ### WARNING
diff --git a/oauth2_provider/models.py b/oauth2_provider/models.py
index 3779ed491..d22f7ee82 100644
--- a/oauth2_provider/models.py
+++ b/oauth2_provider/models.py
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 from .generators import generate_client_id, generate_client_secret
 from .scopes import get_scopes_backend
 from .settings import oauth2_settings
+from .utils import jwk_from_pem
 from .validators import RedirectURIValidator, WildcardSet
 
 
@@ -234,7 +235,7 @@ def jwk_key(self):
         if self.algorithm == AbstractApplication.RS256_ALGORITHM:
             if not oauth2_settings.OIDC_RSA_PRIVATE_KEY:
                 raise ImproperlyConfigured("You must set OIDC_RSA_PRIVATE_KEY to use RSA algorithm")
-            return jwk.JWK.from_pem(oauth2_settings.OIDC_RSA_PRIVATE_KEY.encode("utf8"))
+            return jwk_from_pem(oauth2_settings.OIDC_RSA_PRIVATE_KEY)
         elif self.algorithm == AbstractApplication.HS256_ALGORITHM:
             return jwk.JWK(kty="oct", k=base64url_encode(self.client_secret))
         raise ImproperlyConfigured("This application does not support signed tokens")
diff --git a/oauth2_provider/utils.py b/oauth2_provider/utils.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..de641f74f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/oauth2_provider/utils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+import functools
+
+from jwcrypto import jwk
+
+
+@functools.lru_cache()
+def jwk_from_pem(pem_string):
+    """
+    A cached version of jwcrypto.JWK.from_pem.
+    Converting from PEM is expensive for large keys such as those using RSA.
+    """
+    return jwk.JWK.from_pem(pem_string.encode("utf-8"))
diff --git a/oauth2_provider/views/oidc.py b/oauth2_provider/views/oidc.py
index d7310c58b..e98630f39 100644
--- a/oauth2_provider/views/oidc.py
+++ b/oauth2_provider/views/oidc.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 from django.utils.decorators import method_decorator
 from django.views.decorators.csrf import csrf_exempt
 from django.views.generic import FormView, View
-from jwcrypto import jwk, jwt
+from jwcrypto import jwt
 from jwcrypto.common import JWException
 from jwcrypto.jws import InvalidJWSObject
 from jwcrypto.jwt import JWTExpired
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
     get_refresh_token_model,
 )
 from ..settings import oauth2_settings
+from ..utils import jwk_from_pem
 from .mixins import OAuthLibMixin, OIDCLogoutOnlyMixin, OIDCOnlyMixin
 
 
@@ -114,7 +115,7 @@ def get(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
                 oauth2_settings.OIDC_RSA_PRIVATE_KEY,
                 *oauth2_settings.OIDC_RSA_PRIVATE_KEYS_INACTIVE,
             ]:
-                key = jwk.JWK.from_pem(pem.encode("utf8"))
+                key = jwk_from_pem(pem)
                 data = {"alg": "RS256", "use": "sig", "kid": key.thumbprint()}
                 data.update(json.loads(key.export_public()))
                 keys.append(data)
diff --git a/tests/test_utils.py b/tests/test_utils.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2c319b6ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+from oauth2_provider import utils
+
+
+def test_jwk_from_pem_caches_jwk():
+    a_tiny_rsa_key = """-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
+MGQCAQACEQCxqYaL6GtPooVMhVwcZrCfAgMBAAECECyNmdsuHvMqIEl9/Fex27kC
+CQDlc0deuSVrtQIJAMY4MTw2eCeDAgkA5VzfMykQ5yECCQCgkF4Zl0nHPwIJALPv
++IAFUPv3
+-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----"""
+
+    # For the same private key we expect the same object to be returned
+
+    jwk1 = utils.jwk_from_pem(a_tiny_rsa_key)
+    jwk2 = utils.jwk_from_pem(a_tiny_rsa_key)
+
+    assert jwk1 is jwk2
+
+    a_different_tiny_rsa_key = """-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
+MGMCAQACEQCvyNNNw4J201yzFVogcfgnAgMBAAECEE3oXe5bNlle+xU4EVHTUIEC
+CQDpSvwIvDMSIQIJAMDk47DzG9FHAghtvg1TWpy3oQIJAL6NHlS+RBufAgkA6QLA
+2GK4aDc=
+-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----"""
+
+    # But for a different key, a different object
+    jwk3 = utils.jwk_from_pem(a_different_tiny_rsa_key)
+
+    assert jwk3 is not jwk1