diff --git a/distributed/deploy/tests/test_adaptive.py b/distributed/deploy/tests/test_adaptive.py
index fcc15ee0e9..3aae49f346 100644
--- a/distributed/deploy/tests/test_adaptive.py
+++ b/distributed/deploy/tests/test_adaptive.py
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 )
 from distributed.compatibility import LINUX, MACOS, WINDOWS
 from distributed.metrics import time
-from distributed.utils_test import async_poll_for, gen_test, slowinc
+from distributed.utils_test import async_poll_for, gen_cluster, gen_test, slowinc
 
 
 def test_adaptive_local_cluster(loop):
@@ -484,3 +484,26 @@ async def test_adaptive_stopped():
         pc = instance.periodic_callback
 
     await async_poll_for(lambda: not pc.is_running(), timeout=5)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("saturation", [1, float("inf")])
+@gen_cluster(
+    client=True,
+    nthreads=[],
+    config={
+        "distributed.scheduler.default-task-durations": {"slowinc": 1000},
+    },
+)
+async def test_scale_up_large_tasks(c, s, saturation):
+    s.WORKER_SATURATION = saturation
+    futures = c.map(slowinc, range(10))
+    while not s.tasks:
+        await asyncio.sleep(0.001)
+
+    assert s.adaptive_target() == 10
+
+    more_futures = c.map(slowinc, range(200))
+    while len(s.tasks) != 200:
+        await asyncio.sleep(0.001)
+
+    assert s.adaptive_target() == 200
diff --git a/distributed/scheduler.py b/distributed/scheduler.py
index ca612cd9ba..4649dc205d 100644
--- a/distributed/scheduler.py
+++ b/distributed/scheduler.py
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@
 import psutil
 from sortedcontainers import SortedDict, SortedSet
 from tlz import (
+    concat,
     first,
     groupby,
     merge,
@@ -45,6 +46,7 @@
     partition,
     pluck,
     second,
+    take,
     valmap,
 )
 from tornado.ioloop import IOLoop
@@ -8061,15 +8063,23 @@ def adaptive_target(self, target_duration=None):
         target_duration = parse_timedelta(target_duration)
 
         # CPU
+        queued = take(100, concat([self.queued, self.unrunnable]))
+        queued_occupancy = 0
+        for ts in queued:
+            if ts.prefix.duration_average == -1:
+                queued_occupancy += self.UNKNOWN_TASK_DURATION
+            else:
+                queued_occupancy += ts.prefix.duration_average
+
+        if len(self.queued) + len(self.unrunnable) > 100:
+            queued_occupancy *= (len(self.queued) + len(self.unrunnable)) / 100
 
-        # TODO consider any user-specified default task durations for queued tasks
-        queued_occupancy = len(self.queued) * self.UNKNOWN_TASK_DURATION
         cpu = math.ceil(
             (self.total_occupancy + queued_occupancy) / target_duration
         )  # TODO: threads per worker
 
         # Avoid a few long tasks from asking for many cores
-        tasks_ready = len(self.queued)
+        tasks_ready = len(self.queued) + len(self.unrunnable)
         for ws in self.workers.values():
             tasks_ready += len(ws.processing)