diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 041f0ec7496..6c144d35354 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/kong/go-database-reconciler v1.4.0
 	github.com/kong/go-kong v0.51.1-0.20240125175037-0c077f5b9ac7
 	github.com/kong/kubernetes-telemetry v0.1.3
-	github.com/kong/kubernetes-testing-framework v0.44.1-0.20240205140522-212122cacfa5
+	github.com/kong/kubernetes-testing-framework v0.44.1-0.20240205142508-67728343fd9d
 	github.com/lithammer/dedent v1.1.0
 	github.com/miekg/dns v1.1.58
 	github.com/mitchellh/mapstructure v1.5.0
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 34b236caa9d..90270d43c28 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -259,14 +259,8 @@ github.com/kong/go-kong v0.51.1-0.20240125175037-0c077f5b9ac7 h1:/iV93Gwv410lIeJ
 github.com/kong/go-kong v0.51.1-0.20240125175037-0c077f5b9ac7/go.mod h1:YNkLvjxfOqS+BZ1J2YWOy/83wc26JM5QJbAukoeg1sY=
 github.com/kong/kubernetes-telemetry v0.1.3 h1:Hz2tkHGIIUqbn1x46QRDmmNjbEtJyxyOvHSPne3uPto=
 github.com/kong/kubernetes-telemetry v0.1.3/go.mod h1:wB7o8dOKa5R396CyiU0sPa8am/g3c5DKd/qrn/Vmb+k=
-github.com/kong/kubernetes-testing-framework v0.44.1-0.20240202145146-bfaba2de4ca0 h1:E2x6ZjxqzsfZrtBbEYEGuW62bw7d5A61C1NcEmTGcEc=
-github.com/kong/kubernetes-testing-framework v0.44.1-0.20240202145146-bfaba2de4ca0/go.mod h1:5sfsKs6kF3UiVkQWI8TrX5ZrOTWw6sv/lSVs5JaMJ40=
-github.com/kong/kubernetes-testing-framework v0.44.1-0.20240202161102-891d46eaef6f h1:pGecga5/RPhm+/MHtP44fKNT5HfAc3VQG1o9OkbuB4U=
-github.com/kong/kubernetes-testing-framework v0.44.1-0.20240202161102-891d46eaef6f/go.mod h1:5sfsKs6kF3UiVkQWI8TrX5ZrOTWw6sv/lSVs5JaMJ40=
-github.com/kong/kubernetes-testing-framework v0.44.1-0.20240202161743-711ae3966c1b h1:boBmxgZ1Ay/fhEyz7YUmFFO5U7qVbb97iJwfgM3FNtk=
-github.com/kong/kubernetes-testing-framework v0.44.1-0.20240202161743-711ae3966c1b/go.mod h1:5sfsKs6kF3UiVkQWI8TrX5ZrOTWw6sv/lSVs5JaMJ40=
-github.com/kong/kubernetes-testing-framework v0.44.1-0.20240205140522-212122cacfa5 h1:nSgV3SzFAQsom2g0EO6uLfhnETsszML6GdzO8j/ttwQ=
-github.com/kong/kubernetes-testing-framework v0.44.1-0.20240205140522-212122cacfa5/go.mod h1:5sfsKs6kF3UiVkQWI8TrX5ZrOTWw6sv/lSVs5JaMJ40=
+github.com/kong/kubernetes-testing-framework v0.44.1-0.20240205142508-67728343fd9d h1:cacVtkZkeePd6lxwlScIKpWjijCJDqwHc/OLaQ8lfCs=
+github.com/kong/kubernetes-testing-framework v0.44.1-0.20240205142508-67728343fd9d/go.mod h1:5sfsKs6kF3UiVkQWI8TrX5ZrOTWw6sv/lSVs5JaMJ40=
 github.com/kong/semver/v4 v4.0.1 h1:DIcNR8W3gfx0KabFBADPalxxsp+q/5COwIFkkhrFQ2Y=
 github.com/kong/semver/v4 v4.0.1/go.mod h1:LImQ0oT15pJvSns/hs2laLca2zcYoHu5EsSNY0J6/QA=
 github.com/kr/pretty v0.1.0/go.mod h1:dAy3ld7l9f0ibDNOQOHHMYYIIbhfbHSm3C4ZsoJORNo=
diff --git a/test/e2e/helpers_test.go b/test/e2e/helpers_test.go
index 8ebb477ff31..0379a9068d6 100644
--- a/test/e2e/helpers_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e/helpers_test.go
@@ -411,6 +411,13 @@ func deployIngressWithEchoBackends(ctx context.Context, t *testing.T, env enviro
 
 	t.Logf("exposing deployment %s via service", deployment.Name)
 	service := generators.NewServiceForDeployment(deployment, corev1.ServiceTypeClusterIP)
+	for i := range service.Spec.Ports {
+		// Set Service's appProtocol to http so that Kuma load-balances requests on HTTP-level instead of TCP.
+		// TCP load-balancing proved to cause issues with not distributing load evenly in short time spans like in this test.
+		// Ref: https://github.com/Kong/kubernetes-ingress-controller/issues/5498
+		service.Spec.Ports[i].AppProtocol = lo.ToPtr("http")
+	}
+
 	_, err = env.Cluster().Client().CoreV1().Services(corev1.NamespaceDefault).Create(ctx, service, metav1.CreateOptions{})
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 	t.Cleanup(func() {
diff --git a/test/e2e/kuma_test.go b/test/e2e/kuma_test.go
index d9fecdfccb5..8db42a2934a 100644
--- a/test/e2e/kuma_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e/kuma_test.go
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ import (
 
 func NewKumaAddon() *kuma.Addon {
 	return kuma.NewBuilder().
+		WithMTLS().
 		WithVersion(semver.MustParse("2.6.0")).
 		Build()
 }