diff --git a/flink-connector-kafka/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/connector/kafka/sink/FlinkKafkaInternalProducer.java b/flink-connector-kafka/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/connector/kafka/sink/FlinkKafkaInternalProducer.java
index e514054d7..dc00aa52b 100644
--- a/flink-connector-kafka/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/connector/kafka/sink/FlinkKafkaInternalProducer.java
+++ b/flink-connector-kafka/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/connector/kafka/sink/FlinkKafkaInternalProducer.java
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ class FlinkKafkaInternalProducer<K, V> extends KafkaProducer<K, V> {
     @Nullable private String transactionalId;
     private volatile boolean inTransaction;
     private volatile boolean hasRecordsInTransaction;
+    private volatile boolean hasRecordsInBuffer;
     private volatile boolean closed;
 
     public FlinkKafkaInternalProducer(Properties properties, @Nullable String transactionalId) {
@@ -77,6 +78,7 @@ public Future<RecordMetadata> send(ProducerRecord<K, V> record, Callback callbac
         if (inTransaction) {
             hasRecordsInTransaction = true;
         }
+        hasRecordsInBuffer = true;
         return super.send(record, callback);
     }
 
@@ -86,6 +88,7 @@ public void flush() {
         if (inTransaction) {
             flushNewPartitions();
         }
+        hasRecordsInBuffer = false;
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -120,6 +123,10 @@ public boolean hasRecordsInTransaction() {
         return hasRecordsInTransaction;
     }
 
+    public boolean hasRecordsInBuffer() {
+        return hasRecordsInBuffer;
+    }
+
     @Override
     public void close() {
         closed = true;
@@ -133,12 +140,14 @@ public void close() {
             // If this is outside of a transaction, we should be able to cleanly shutdown.
             super.close(Duration.ofHours(1));
         }
+        hasRecordsInBuffer = false;
     }
 
     @Override
     public void close(Duration timeout) {
         closed = true;
         super.close(timeout);
+        hasRecordsInBuffer = false;
     }
 
     public boolean isClosed() {
diff --git a/flink-connector-kafka/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/connector/kafka/sink/KafkaCommittable.java b/flink-connector-kafka/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/connector/kafka/sink/KafkaCommittable.java
index 72a3281e6..891189791 100644
--- a/flink-connector-kafka/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/connector/kafka/sink/KafkaCommittable.java
+++ b/flink-connector-kafka/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/connector/kafka/sink/KafkaCommittable.java
@@ -32,26 +32,45 @@ class KafkaCommittable {
     private final long producerId;
     private final short epoch;
     private final String transactionalId;
+    private final boolean transactional;
     @Nullable private Recyclable<? extends FlinkKafkaInternalProducer<?, ?>> producer;
 
     public KafkaCommittable(
             long producerId,
             short epoch,
             String transactionalId,
+            boolean transactional,
             @Nullable Recyclable<? extends FlinkKafkaInternalProducer<?, ?>> producer) {
         this.producerId = producerId;
         this.epoch = epoch;
         this.transactionalId = transactionalId;
+        this.transactional = transactional;
         this.producer = producer;
     }
 
+    public KafkaCommittable(
+            long producerId,
+            short epoch,
+            String transactionalId,
+            @Nullable Recyclable<? extends FlinkKafkaInternalProducer<?, ?>> producer) {
+        this(producerId, epoch, transactionalId, true, producer);
+    }
+
     public static <K, V> KafkaCommittable of(
             FlinkKafkaInternalProducer<K, V> producer,
             Consumer<FlinkKafkaInternalProducer<K, V>> recycler) {
+        return KafkaCommittable.of(producer, true, recycler);
+    }
+
+    public static <K, V> KafkaCommittable of(
+            FlinkKafkaInternalProducer<K, V> producer,
+            boolean transactional,
+            Consumer<FlinkKafkaInternalProducer<K, V>> recycler) {
         return new KafkaCommittable(
                 producer.getProducerId(),
                 producer.getEpoch(),
                 producer.getTransactionalId(),
+                transactional,
                 new Recyclable<>(producer, recycler));
     }
 
@@ -67,6 +86,10 @@ public String getTransactionalId() {
         return transactionalId;
     }
 
+    public boolean isTransactional() {
+        return transactional;
+    }
+
     public Optional<Recyclable<? extends FlinkKafkaInternalProducer<?, ?>>> getProducer() {
         return Optional.ofNullable(producer);
     }
@@ -76,6 +99,8 @@ public String toString() {
         return "KafkaCommittable{"
                 + "producerId="
                 + producerId
+                + "transactional="
+                + transactional
                 + ", epoch="
                 + epoch
                 + ", transactionalId="
@@ -94,11 +119,12 @@ public boolean equals(Object o) {
         KafkaCommittable that = (KafkaCommittable) o;
         return producerId == that.producerId
                 && epoch == that.epoch
+                && transactional == that.transactional
                 && transactionalId.equals(that.transactionalId);
     }
 
     @Override
     public int hashCode() {
-        return Objects.hash(producerId, epoch, transactionalId);
+        return Objects.hash(producerId, epoch, transactional, transactionalId);
     }
 }
diff --git a/flink-connector-kafka/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/connector/kafka/sink/KafkaCommitter.java b/flink-connector-kafka/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/connector/kafka/sink/KafkaCommitter.java
index 4dbeaf9e7..ec03d0858 100644
--- a/flink-connector-kafka/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/connector/kafka/sink/KafkaCommitter.java
+++ b/flink-connector-kafka/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/connector/kafka/sink/KafkaCommitter.java
@@ -70,7 +70,9 @@ public void commit(Collection<CommitRequest<KafkaCommittable>> requests)
                         recyclable
                                 .<FlinkKafkaInternalProducer<?, ?>>map(Recyclable::getObject)
                                 .orElseGet(() -> getRecoveryProducer(committable));
-                producer.commitTransaction();
+                if (committable.isTransactional()) {
+                    producer.commitTransaction();
+                }
                 producer.flush();
                 recyclable.ifPresent(Recyclable::close);
             } catch (RetriableException e) {
diff --git a/flink-connector-kafka/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/connector/kafka/sink/KafkaWriter.java b/flink-connector-kafka/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/connector/kafka/sink/KafkaWriter.java
index 0cc16b219..c9c53c7a1 100644
--- a/flink-connector-kafka/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/connector/kafka/sink/KafkaWriter.java
+++ b/flink-connector-kafka/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/connector/kafka/sink/KafkaWriter.java
@@ -209,22 +209,27 @@ public void flush(boolean endOfInput) throws IOException, InterruptedException {
 
     @Override
     public Collection<KafkaCommittable> prepareCommit() {
-        if (deliveryGuarantee != DeliveryGuarantee.EXACTLY_ONCE) {
+        if (deliveryGuarantee == DeliveryGuarantee.NONE) {
             return Collections.emptyList();
         }
 
         // only return a KafkaCommittable if the current transaction has been written some data
-        if (currentProducer.hasRecordsInTransaction()) {
+        // or if there's any record in buffer after our first flush
+        if (currentProducer.hasRecordsInTransaction() || currentProducer.hasRecordsInBuffer()) {
             final List<KafkaCommittable> committables =
                     Collections.singletonList(
-                            KafkaCommittable.of(currentProducer, producerPool::add));
+                            KafkaCommittable.of(
+                                    currentProducer,
+                                    deliveryGuarantee == DeliveryGuarantee.EXACTLY_ONCE,
+                                    producerPool::add));
             LOG.debug("Committing {} committables.", committables);
             return committables;
+        } else if (deliveryGuarantee == DeliveryGuarantee.EXACTLY_ONCE) {
+            // otherwise, we commit the empty transaction as is (no-op) and just recycle the
+            // producer
+            currentProducer.commitTransaction();
+            producerPool.add(currentProducer);
         }
-
-        // otherwise, we commit the empty transaction as is (no-op) and just recycle the producer
-        currentProducer.commitTransaction();
-        producerPool.add(currentProducer);
         return Collections.emptyList();
     }
 
diff --git a/flink-connector-kafka/src/test/java/org/apache/flink/connector/kafka/sink/KafkaWriterITCase.java b/flink-connector-kafka/src/test/java/org/apache/flink/connector/kafka/sink/KafkaWriterITCase.java
index 811ffa207..6041c0308 100644
--- a/flink-connector-kafka/src/test/java/org/apache/flink/connector/kafka/sink/KafkaWriterITCase.java
+++ b/flink-connector-kafka/src/test/java/org/apache/flink/connector/kafka/sink/KafkaWriterITCase.java
@@ -507,6 +507,26 @@ void testAbortOnClose() throws Exception {
         }
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testAtLeastOnceSecondFlush() throws Exception {
+        Properties properties = getKafkaClientConfiguration();
+        try (final KafkaWriter<Integer> writer =
+                createWriterWithConfiguration(properties, DeliveryGuarantee.AT_LEAST_ONCE)) {
+            writer.write(1, SINK_WRITER_CONTEXT);
+            writer.flush(false);
+            Collection<KafkaCommittable> commitables = writer.prepareCommit();
+            assertThat(commitables.size()).isEqualTo(0);
+
+            writer.write(2, SINK_WRITER_CONTEXT);
+            commitables = writer.prepareCommit();
+            assertThat(commitables.size()).isGreaterThan(0);
+
+            writer.flush(false);
+            commitables = writer.prepareCommit();
+            assertThat(commitables.size()).isEqualTo(0);
+        }
+    }
+
     private void assertKafkaMetricNotPresent(
             DeliveryGuarantee guarantee, String configKey, String configValue) throws Exception {
         final Properties config = getKafkaClientConfiguration();