diff --git a/plugins/inputs/kafka_consumer/README.md b/plugins/inputs/kafka_consumer/README.md
index 8928aec1e..0198d2b97 100644
--- a/plugins/inputs/kafka_consumer/README.md
+++ b/plugins/inputs/kafka_consumer/README.md
@@ -46,6 +46,10 @@ to use them.
   ## Topics to consume.
   topics = ["telegraf"]
 
+  ## Topic regular expressions to consume.  Matches will be added to topics.
+  ## Example: topic_regexps = [ "*test", "metric[0-9A-z]*" ]
+  # topic_regexps = [ ]
+
   ## When set this tag will be added to all metrics with the topic as the value.
   # topic_tag = ""
 
diff --git a/plugins/inputs/kafka_consumer/kafka_consumer.go b/plugins/inputs/kafka_consumer/kafka_consumer.go
index 02f06d18e..b9195d673 100644
--- a/plugins/inputs/kafka_consumer/kafka_consumer.go
+++ b/plugins/inputs/kafka_consumer/kafka_consumer.go
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	_ "embed"
 	"fmt"
+	"regexp"
+	"sort"
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
 	"time"
@@ -41,6 +43,7 @@ type KafkaConsumer struct {
 	Offset                 string          `toml:"offset"`
 	BalanceStrategy        string          `toml:"balance_strategy"`
 	Topics                 []string        `toml:"topics"`
+	TopicRegexps           []string        `toml:"topic_regexps"`
 	TopicTag               string          `toml:"topic_tag"`
 	ConsumerFetchDefault   config.Size     `toml:"consumer_fetch_default"`
 	ConnectionStrategy     string          `toml:"connection_strategy"`
@@ -55,9 +58,16 @@ type KafkaConsumer struct {
 	consumer        ConsumerGroup
 	config          *sarama.Config
 
-	parser parsers.Parser
-	wg     sync.WaitGroup
-	cancel context.CancelFunc
+	topicClient     sarama.Client
+	regexps         []regexp.Regexp
+	allWantedTopics []string
+	ticker          *time.Ticker
+	fingerprint     string
+
+	parser    parsers.Parser
+	topicLock sync.Mutex
+	wg        sync.WaitGroup
+	cancel    context.CancelFunc
 }
 
 type ConsumerGroup interface {
@@ -143,6 +153,100 @@ func (k *KafkaConsumer) Init() error {
 	}
 
 	k.config = cfg
+
+	if len(k.TopicRegexps) == 0 {
+		k.allWantedTopics = k.Topics
+	} else {
+		if err := k.compileTopicRegexps(); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		// We have regexps, so we're going to need a client to ask
+		// the broker for topics
+		client, err := sarama.NewClient(k.Brokers, k.config)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		k.topicClient = client
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (k *KafkaConsumer) compileTopicRegexps() error {
+	// While we can add new topics matching extant regexps, we can't
+	// update that list on the fly.  We compile them once at startup.
+	// Changing them is a configuration change and requires a restart.
+
+	k.regexps = make([]regexp.Regexp, 0, len(k.TopicRegexps))
+	for _, r := range k.TopicRegexps {
+		re, err := regexp.Compile(r)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("regular expression %q did not compile: '%w", r, err)
+		}
+		k.regexps = append(k.regexps, *re)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (k *KafkaConsumer) refreshTopics() error {
+	// We have instantiated a new generic Kafka client, so we can ask
+	// it for all the topics it knows about.  Then we build
+	// regexps from our strings, loop over those, loop over the
+	// topics, and if we find a match, add that topic to
+	// out topic set, which then we turn back into a list at the end.
+
+	if len(k.regexps) == 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	allDiscoveredTopics, err := k.topicClient.Topics()
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	k.Log.Debugf("discovered topics: %v", allDiscoveredTopics)
+
+	extantTopicSet := make(map[string]bool, len(allDiscoveredTopics))
+	for _, t := range allDiscoveredTopics {
+		extantTopicSet[t] = true
+	}
+	// Even if a topic specified by a literal string (that is, k.Topics)
+	// does not appear in the topic list, we want to keep it around, in
+	// case it pops back up--it is not guaranteed to be matched by any
+	// of our regular expressions.  Therefore, we pretend that it's in
+	// extantTopicSet, even if it isn't.
+	//
+	// Assuming that literally-specified topics are usually in the topics
+	// present on the broker, this should not need a resizing (although if
+	// you have many topics that you don't care about, it will be too big)
+	wantedTopicSet := make(map[string]bool, len(allDiscoveredTopics))
+	for _, t := range k.Topics {
+		// Get our pre-specified topics
+		k.Log.Debugf("adding literally-specified topic %s", t)
+		wantedTopicSet[t] = true
+	}
+	for _, t := range allDiscoveredTopics {
+		// Add topics that match regexps
+		for _, r := range k.regexps {
+			if r.MatchString(t) {
+				wantedTopicSet[t] = true
+				k.Log.Debugf("adding regexp-matched topic %q", t)
+				break
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	topicList := make([]string, 0, len(wantedTopicSet))
+	for t := range wantedTopicSet {
+		topicList = append(topicList, t)
+	}
+	sort.Strings(topicList)
+	fingerprint := strings.Join(topicList, ";")
+	if fingerprint != k.fingerprint {
+		k.Log.Infof("updating topics: replacing %q with %q", k.allWantedTopics, topicList)
+	}
+	k.topicLock.Lock()
+	k.fingerprint = fingerprint
+	k.allWantedTopics = topicList
+	k.topicLock.Unlock()
 	return nil
 }
 
@@ -170,6 +274,13 @@ func (k *KafkaConsumer) startErrorAdder(acc telegraf.Accumulator) {
 func (k *KafkaConsumer) Start(acc telegraf.Accumulator) error {
 	var err error
 
+	// If TopicRegexps is set, add matches to Topics
+	if len(k.TopicRegexps) > 0 {
+		if err := k.refreshTopics(); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	}
+
 	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(context.Background())
 	k.cancel = cancel
 
@@ -201,7 +312,14 @@ func (k *KafkaConsumer) Start(acc telegraf.Accumulator) error {
 			handler := NewConsumerGroupHandler(acc, k.MaxUndeliveredMessages, k.parser, k.Log)
 			handler.MaxMessageLen = k.MaxMessageLen
 			handler.TopicTag = k.TopicTag
-			err := k.consumer.Consume(ctx, k.Topics, handler)
+			// We need to copy allWantedTopics; the Consume() is
+			// long-running and we can easily deadlock if our
+			// topic-update-checker fires.
+			topics := make([]string, len(k.allWantedTopics))
+			k.topicLock.Lock()
+			copy(topics, k.allWantedTopics)
+			k.topicLock.Unlock()
+			err := k.consumer.Consume(ctx, topics, handler)
 			if err != nil {
 				acc.AddError(fmt.Errorf("consume: %w", err))
 				internal.SleepContext(ctx, reconnectDelay) //nolint:errcheck // ignore returned error as we cannot do anything about it anyway
@@ -221,6 +339,15 @@ func (k *KafkaConsumer) Gather(_ telegraf.Accumulator) error {
 }
 
 func (k *KafkaConsumer) Stop() {
+	if k.ticker != nil {
+		k.ticker.Stop()
+	}
+	// Lock so that a topic refresh cannot start while we are stopping.
+	k.topicLock.Lock()
+	defer k.topicLock.Unlock()
+	if k.topicClient != nil {
+		k.topicClient.Close()
+	}
 	k.cancel()
 	k.wg.Wait()
 }
diff --git a/plugins/inputs/kafka_consumer/kafka_consumer_test.go b/plugins/inputs/kafka_consumer/kafka_consumer_test.go
index 31b9ceab1..f7b82c76d 100644
--- a/plugins/inputs/kafka_consumer/kafka_consumer_test.go
+++ b/plugins/inputs/kafka_consumer/kafka_consumer_test.go
@@ -476,11 +476,15 @@ func TestKafkaRoundTripIntegration(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 
 	var tests = []struct {
-		name               string
-		connectionStrategy string
+		name                 string
+		connectionStrategy   string
+		topics               []string
+		topicRegexps         []string
+		topicRefreshInterval config.Duration
 	}{
-		{"connection strategy startup", "startup"},
-		{"connection strategy defer", "defer"},
+		{"connection strategy startup", "startup", []string{"Test"}, nil, config.Duration(0)},
+		{"connection strategy defer", "defer", []string{"Test"}, nil, config.Duration(0)},
+		{"topic regexp", "startup", nil, []string{"T*"}, config.Duration(5 * time.Second)},
 	}
 
 	for _, tt := range tests {
@@ -513,7 +517,6 @@ func TestKafkaRoundTripIntegration(t *testing.T) {
 			defer zookeeper.Terminate()
 
 			t.Logf("rt: starting broker")
-			topic := "Test"
 			container := testutil.Container{
 				Name:         "telegraf-test-kafka-consumer",
 				Image:        "wurstmeister/kafka",
@@ -522,7 +525,7 @@ func TestKafkaRoundTripIntegration(t *testing.T) {
 					"KAFKA_ADVERTISED_HOST_NAME": "localhost",
 					"KAFKA_ADVERTISED_PORT":      "9092",
 					"KAFKA_ZOOKEEPER_CONNECT":    fmt.Sprintf("%s:%s", zookeeperName, zookeeper.Ports["2181"]),
-					"KAFKA_CREATE_TOPICS":        fmt.Sprintf("%s:1:1", topic),
+					"KAFKA_CREATE_TOPICS":        fmt.Sprintf("%s:1:1", "Test"),
 				},
 				Networks:   []string{networkName},
 				WaitingFor: wait.ForLog("Log loaded for partition Test-0 with initial high watermark 0"),
@@ -544,7 +547,7 @@ func TestKafkaRoundTripIntegration(t *testing.T) {
 			require.NoError(t, s.Init())
 			output.SetSerializer(s)
 			output.Brokers = brokers
-			output.Topic = topic
+			output.Topic = "Test"
 			output.Log = testutil.Logger{}
 
 			require.NoError(t, output.Init())
@@ -555,7 +558,8 @@ func TestKafkaRoundTripIntegration(t *testing.T) {
 			input := KafkaConsumer{
 				Brokers:                brokers,
 				Log:                    testutil.Logger{},
-				Topics:                 []string{topic},
+				Topics:                 tt.topics,
+				TopicRegexps:           tt.topicRegexps,
 				MaxUndeliveredMessages: 1,
 				ConnectionStrategy:     tt.connectionStrategy,
 			}
diff --git a/plugins/inputs/kafka_consumer/sample.conf b/plugins/inputs/kafka_consumer/sample.conf
index 059de14c3..c618d1610 100644
--- a/plugins/inputs/kafka_consumer/sample.conf
+++ b/plugins/inputs/kafka_consumer/sample.conf
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@
   ## Topics to consume.
   topics = ["telegraf"]
 
+  ## Topic regular expressions to consume.  Matches will be added to topics.
+  ## Example: topic_regexps = [ "*test", "metric[0-9A-z]*" ]
+  # topic_regexps = [ ]
+
   ## When set this tag will be added to all metrics with the topic as the value.
   # topic_tag = ""