diff --git a/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/ESIntegTestCase.java b/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/ESIntegTestCase.java
index 5a9e6b8b95281..233c3fd9eabd8 100644
--- a/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/ESIntegTestCase.java
+++ b/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/ESIntegTestCase.java
@@ -226,13 +226,14 @@
 import static org.elasticsearch.test.hamcrest.ElasticsearchAssertions.assertAcked;
 import static org.elasticsearch.test.hamcrest.ElasticsearchAssertions.assertNoFailures;
 import static org.elasticsearch.test.hamcrest.ElasticsearchAssertions.assertNoTimeout;
-import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.not;
-import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.anEmptyMap;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.allOf;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.containsString;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.empty;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.equalTo;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.greaterThanOrEqualTo;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.is;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.lessThanOrEqualTo;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.not;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.startsWith;
 
 /**
@@ -1733,23 +1734,13 @@ public static boolean indexExists(String index, Client client) {
         return getIndexResponse.getIndices().length > 0;
     }
 
-    public static void awaitIndexExists(String index) throws Exception {
+    public static void awaitIndexExists(String index) {
         awaitIndexExists(index, client());
     }
 
-    public static void awaitIndexExists(String index, Client client) throws Exception {
-        if (Regex.isSimpleMatchPattern(index) || Metadata.ALL.equals(index)) {
-            assertBusy(() -> {
-                final var response = clusterHealthWithIndex(index, client);
-                assertThat(response.getIndices(), not(anEmptyMap()));
-            });
-        } else {
-            clusterHealthWithIndex(index, client);
-        }
-    }
-
-    private static ClusterHealthResponse clusterHealthWithIndex(String index, Client client) {
-        return safeGet(
+    public static void awaitIndexExists(String index, Client client) {
+        assertThat("wildcards not supported", index, allOf(not(Metadata.ALL), not(containsString("*"))));
+        safeGet(
             client.admin()
                 .cluster()
                 .prepareHealth(SAFE_AWAIT_TIMEOUT, index)
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/monitoring/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/monitoring/MultiNodesStatsTests.java b/x-pack/plugin/monitoring/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/monitoring/MultiNodesStatsTests.java
index fbe2e957fc73b..2d51303b1d939 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/monitoring/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/monitoring/MultiNodesStatsTests.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/monitoring/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/monitoring/MultiNodesStatsTests.java
@@ -6,7 +6,10 @@
  */
 package org.elasticsearch.xpack.monitoring;
 
+import org.elasticsearch.action.support.IndicesOptions;
+import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.IndexNameExpressionResolver;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.Index;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.query.QueryBuilders;
 import org.elasticsearch.search.aggregations.Aggregation;
 import org.elasticsearch.search.aggregations.AggregationBuilders;
@@ -22,7 +25,6 @@
 import static org.elasticsearch.test.hamcrest.ElasticsearchAssertions.assertResponse;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.equalTo;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.greaterThanOrEqualTo;
-import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.instanceOf;
 
 @ClusterScope(scope = Scope.TEST, numDataNodes = 0, numClientNodes = 0)
 public class MultiNodesStatsTests extends MonitoringIntegTestCase {
@@ -65,10 +67,7 @@ public void testMultipleNodes() throws Exception {
         nodes += n;
 
         final int nbNodes = nodes;
-        assertBusy(() -> {
-            assertThat(cluster().size(), equalTo(nbNodes));
-            assertNoTimeout(clusterAdmin().prepareHealth(TEST_REQUEST_TIMEOUT).setWaitForNodes(Integer.toString(nbNodes)).get());
-        });
+        assertNoTimeout(safeGet(clusterAdmin().prepareHealth(TEST_REQUEST_TIMEOUT).setWaitForNodes(Integer.toString(nbNodes)).execute()));
 
         enableMonitoringCollection();
         waitForMonitoringIndices();
@@ -83,11 +82,11 @@ public void testMultipleNodes() throws Exception {
                     .addAggregation(AggregationBuilders.terms("nodes_ids").field("node_stats.node_id")),
                 response -> {
                     for (Aggregation aggregation : response.getAggregations()) {
-                        assertThat(aggregation, instanceOf(StringTerms.class));
-                        assertThat(((StringTerms) aggregation).getBuckets().size(), equalTo(nbNodes));
+                        final var stringTerms = asInstanceOf(StringTerms.class, aggregation);
+                        assertThat(stringTerms.getBuckets().size(), equalTo(nbNodes));
 
                         for (String nodeName : internalCluster().getNodeNames()) {
-                            StringTerms.Bucket bucket = ((StringTerms) aggregation).getBucketByKey(getNodeId(nodeName));
+                            StringTerms.Bucket bucket = stringTerms.getBucketByKey(getNodeId(nodeName));
                             // At least 1 doc must exist per node, but it can be more than 1
                             // because the first node may have already collected many node stats documents
                             // whereas the last node just started to collect node stats.
@@ -98,4 +97,24 @@ public void testMultipleNodes() throws Exception {
             );
         });
     }
+
+    private void waitForMonitoringIndices() throws Exception {
+        final var indexNameExpressionResolver = internalCluster().getCurrentMasterNodeInstance(IndexNameExpressionResolver.class);
+        final var indicesOptions = IndicesOptions.builder()
+            .wildcardOptions(IndicesOptions.WildcardOptions.builder().allowEmptyExpressions(true))
+            .build();
+        awaitClusterState(cs -> {
+            final var indices = indexNameExpressionResolver.concreteIndices(cs, indicesOptions, ".monitoring-es-*");
+            if (indices.length == 0) {
+                return false;
+            }
+            for (Index index : indices) {
+                final var indexRoutingTable = cs.routingTable().index(index);
+                if (indexRoutingTable.allPrimaryShardsActive() == false) {
+                    return false;
+                }
+            }
+            return true;
+        });
+    }
 }
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/monitoring/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/monitoring/test/MonitoringIntegTestCase.java b/x-pack/plugin/monitoring/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/monitoring/test/MonitoringIntegTestCase.java
index 6c301032c1b94..eee7671c118b0 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/monitoring/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/monitoring/test/MonitoringIntegTestCase.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/monitoring/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/monitoring/test/MonitoringIntegTestCase.java
@@ -124,10 +124,6 @@ protected void deleteMonitoringIndices() {
         assertAcked(client().admin().indices().prepareDelete(ALL_MONITORING_INDICES));
     }
 
-    protected void ensureMonitoringIndicesYellow() {
-        ensureYellowAndNoInitializingShards(".monitoring-es-*");
-    }
-
     protected List<Tuple<String, String>> monitoringWatches() {
         final ClusterService clusterService = clusterService();
 
@@ -150,11 +146,6 @@ protected void assertTemplateInstalled(String name) {
         assertTrue("failed to find a template matching [" + name + "]", found);
     }
 
-    protected void waitForMonitoringIndices() throws Exception {
-        awaitIndexExists(ALL_MONITORING_INDICES);
-        assertBusy(this::ensureMonitoringIndicesYellow);
-    }
-
     protected void enableMonitoringCollection() {
         updateClusterSettings(Settings.builder().put(MonitoringService.ENABLED.getKey(), true));
     }