diff --git a/go/vt/sqlparser/predicate_rewriting.go b/go/vt/sqlparser/predicate_rewriting.go
index 40e9a953f57..9dcd239f9eb 100644
--- a/go/vt/sqlparser/predicate_rewriting.go
+++ b/go/vt/sqlparser/predicate_rewriting.go
@@ -20,11 +20,26 @@ import (
 	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/log"
 )
 
+// This is the number of OR expressions in a predicate that will disable the CNF
+// rewrite because we don't want to send large queries to MySQL
+const CNFOrLimit = 5
+
 // RewritePredicate walks the input AST and rewrites any boolean logic into a simpler form
 // This simpler form is CNF plus logic for extracting predicates from OR, plus logic for turning ORs into IN
 // Note: In order to re-plan, we need to empty the accumulated metadata in the AST,
 // so ColName.Metadata will be nil:ed out as part of this rewrite
 func RewritePredicate(ast SQLNode) SQLNode {
+	count := 0
+	_ = Walk(func(node SQLNode) (bool, error) {
+		if _, isExpr := node.(*OrExpr); isExpr {
+			count++
+		}
+
+		return true, nil
+	}, ast)
+
+	allowCNF := count < CNFOrLimit
+
 	for {
 		printExpr(ast)
 		exprChanged := false
@@ -37,7 +52,7 @@ func RewritePredicate(ast SQLNode) SQLNode {
 				return true
 			}
 
-			rewritten, state := simplifyExpression(e)
+			rewritten, state := simplifyExpression(e, allowCNF)
 			if ch, isChange := state.(changed); isChange {
 				printRule(ch.rule, ch.exprMatched)
 				exprChanged = true
@@ -52,12 +67,12 @@ func RewritePredicate(ast SQLNode) SQLNode {
 	}
 }
 
-func simplifyExpression(expr Expr) (Expr, rewriteState) {
+func simplifyExpression(expr Expr, allowCNF bool) (Expr, rewriteState) {
 	switch expr := expr.(type) {
 	case *NotExpr:
 		return simplifyNot(expr)
 	case *OrExpr:
-		return simplifyOr(expr)
+		return simplifyOr(expr, allowCNF)
 	case *XorExpr:
 		return simplifyXor(expr)
 	case *AndExpr:
@@ -113,14 +128,14 @@ func ExtractINFromOR(expr *OrExpr) []Expr {
 	return uniquefy(ins)
 }
 
-func simplifyOr(expr *OrExpr) (Expr, rewriteState) {
+func simplifyOr(expr *OrExpr, allowCNF bool) (Expr, rewriteState) {
 	or := expr
 
 	// first we search for ANDs and see how they can be simplified
 	land, lok := or.Left.(*AndExpr)
 	rand, rok := or.Right.(*AndExpr)
-	switch {
-	case lok && rok:
+
+	if lok && rok {
 		// (<> AND <>) OR (<> AND <>)
 		var a, b, c Expr
 		var change changed
@@ -128,40 +143,51 @@ func simplifyOr(expr *OrExpr) (Expr, rewriteState) {
 		case Equals.Expr(land.Left, rand.Left):
 			change = newChange("(A and B) or (A and C) => A AND (B OR C)", f(expr))
 			a, b, c = land.Left, land.Right, rand.Right
+			return &AndExpr{Left: a, Right: &OrExpr{Left: b, Right: c}}, change
 		case Equals.Expr(land.Left, rand.Right):
 			change = newChange("(A and B) or (C and A) => A AND (B OR C)", f(expr))
 			a, b, c = land.Left, land.Right, rand.Left
+			return &AndExpr{Left: a, Right: &OrExpr{Left: b, Right: c}}, change
 		case Equals.Expr(land.Right, rand.Left):
 			change = newChange("(B and A) or (A and C) => A AND (B OR C)", f(expr))
 			a, b, c = land.Right, land.Left, rand.Right
+			return &AndExpr{Left: a, Right: &OrExpr{Left: b, Right: c}}, change
 		case Equals.Expr(land.Right, rand.Right):
 			change = newChange("(B and A) or (C and A) => A AND (B OR C)", f(expr))
 			a, b, c = land.Right, land.Left, rand.Left
-		default:
-			return expr, noChange{}
+			return &AndExpr{Left: a, Right: &OrExpr{Left: b, Right: c}}, change
 		}
-		return &AndExpr{Left: a, Right: &OrExpr{Left: b, Right: c}}, change
-	case lok:
-		// (<> AND <>) OR <>
+	}
+
+	// (<> AND <>) OR <>
+	if lok {
 		// Simplification
 		if Equals.Expr(or.Right, land.Left) || Equals.Expr(or.Right, land.Right) {
 			return or.Right, newChange("(A AND B) OR A => A", f(expr))
 		}
-		// Distribution Law
-		return &AndExpr{Left: &OrExpr{Left: land.Left, Right: or.Right}, Right: &OrExpr{Left: land.Right, Right: or.Right}},
-			newChange("(A AND B) OR C => (A OR C) AND (B OR C)", f(expr))
-	case rok:
-		// <> OR (<> AND <>)
+
+		if allowCNF {
+			// Distribution Law
+			return &AndExpr{Left: &OrExpr{Left: land.Left, Right: or.Right}, Right: &OrExpr{Left: land.Right, Right: or.Right}},
+				newChange("(A AND B) OR C => (A OR C) AND (B OR C)", f(expr))
+		}
+	}
+
+	// <> OR (<> AND <>)
+	if rok {
 		// Simplification
 		if Equals.Expr(or.Left, rand.Left) || Equals.Expr(or.Left, rand.Right) {
 			return or.Left, newChange("A OR (A AND B) => A", f(expr))
 		}
-		// Distribution Law
-		return &AndExpr{
-				Left:  &OrExpr{Left: or.Left, Right: rand.Left},
-				Right: &OrExpr{Left: or.Left, Right: rand.Right},
-			},
-			newChange("C OR (A AND B) => (C OR A) AND (C OR B)", f(expr))
+
+		if allowCNF {
+			// Distribution Law
+			return &AndExpr{
+					Left:  &OrExpr{Left: or.Left, Right: rand.Left},
+					Right: &OrExpr{Left: or.Left, Right: rand.Right},
+				},
+				newChange("C OR (A AND B) => (C OR A) AND (C OR B)", f(expr))
+		}
 	}
 
 	// next, we want to try to turn multiple ORs into an IN when possible
@@ -257,7 +283,6 @@ func simplifyAnd(expr *AndExpr) (Expr, rewriteState) {
 	and := expr
 	if or, ok := and.Left.(*OrExpr); ok {
 		// Simplification
-
 		if Equals.Expr(or.Left, and.Right) {
 			return and.Right, newChange("(A OR B) AND A => A", f(expr))
 		}
diff --git a/go/vt/sqlparser/predicate_rewriting_test.go b/go/vt/sqlparser/predicate_rewriting_test.go
index 34e23597894..fba3d2f01dd 100644
--- a/go/vt/sqlparser/predicate_rewriting_test.go
+++ b/go/vt/sqlparser/predicate_rewriting_test.go
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ func TestSimplifyExpression(in *testing.T) {
 			expr, err := ParseExpr(tc.in)
 			require.NoError(t, err)
 
-			expr, didRewrite := simplifyExpression(expr)
+			expr, didRewrite := simplifyExpression(expr, true)
 			assert.True(t, didRewrite.changed())
 			assert.Equal(t, tc.expected, String(expr))
 		})
@@ -129,6 +129,17 @@ func TestRewritePredicate(in *testing.T) {
 	}, {
 		in:       "A and (B or A)",
 		expected: "A",
+	}, {
+		in: "(a = 1 and b = 41) or (a = 2 and b = 42)",
+		// this might look weird, but it allows the planner to either a or b in a vindex operation
+		expected: "a in (1, 2) and (a = 1 or b = 42) and ((b = 41 or a = 2) and b in (41, 42))",
+	}, {
+		in:       "(a = 1 and b = 41) or (a = 2 and b = 42) or (a = 3 and b = 43)",
+		expected: "a in (1, 2, 3) and (a in (1, 2) or b = 43) and ((a = 1 or b = 42 or a = 3) and (a = 1 or b = 42 or b = 43)) and ((b = 41 or a = 2 or a = 3) and (b = 41 or a = 2 or b = 43) and ((b in (41, 42) or a = 3) and b in (41, 42, 43)))",
+	}, {
+		// this has too many OR expressions in it, so we don't even try the CNF rewriting
+		in:       "a = 1 and b = 41 or a = 2 and b = 42 or a = 3 and b = 43 or a = 4 and b = 44 or a = 5 and b = 45 or a = 6 and b = 46",
+		expected: "a = 1 and b = 41 or a = 2 and b = 42 or a = 3 and b = 43 or a = 4 and b = 44 or a = 5 and b = 45 or a = 6 and b = 46",
 	}}
 
 	for _, tc := range tests {
@@ -164,6 +175,9 @@ func TestExtractINFromOR(in *testing.T) {
 	}, {
 		in:       "(a in (1, 5) and B or C and a in (5, 7))",
 		expected: "a in (1, 5, 7)",
+	}, {
+		in:       "(a = 5 and b = 1 or b = 2 and a = 6 or b = 3 and a = 4)",
+		expected: "<nil>",
 	}}
 
 	for _, tc := range tests {
diff --git a/go/vt/vtgate/executor_select_test.go b/go/vt/vtgate/executor_select_test.go
index 10440fc4af5..43df08b0f9c 100644
--- a/go/vt/vtgate/executor_select_test.go
+++ b/go/vt/vtgate/executor_select_test.go
@@ -1273,7 +1273,7 @@ func TestSelectINFromOR(t *testing.T) {
 	_, err := executorExec(ctx, executor, session, "select 1 from user where id = 1 and name = 'apa' or id = 2 and name = 'toto'", nil)
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 	wantQueries := []*querypb.BoundQuery{{
-		Sql: "select 1 from `user` where id = 1 and `name` = 'apa' or id = 2 and `name` = 'toto'",
+		Sql: "select 1 from `user` where id in ::__vals and (id = 1 or `name` = 'toto') and (`name` = 'apa' or id = 2) and `name` in ('apa', 'toto')",
 		BindVariables: map[string]*querypb.BindVariable{
 			"__vals": sqltypes.TestBindVariable([]any{int64(1), int64(2)}),
 		},
diff --git a/go/vt/vtgate/planbuilder/testdata/filter_cases.json b/go/vt/vtgate/planbuilder/testdata/filter_cases.json
index a3753375292..3af60651eea 100644
--- a/go/vt/vtgate/planbuilder/testdata/filter_cases.json
+++ b/go/vt/vtgate/planbuilder/testdata/filter_cases.json
@@ -4110,7 +4110,7 @@
           "Sharded": true
         },
         "FieldQuery": "select id from `user` where 1 != 1",
-        "Query": "select id from `user` where id = 5 and `name` = 'foo' or id = 12 and `name` = 'bar'",
+        "Query": "select id from `user` where id in ::__vals and (id = 5 or `name` = 'bar') and (`name` = 'foo' or id = 12) and `name` in ('foo', 'bar')",
         "Table": "`user`",
         "Values": [
           "(INT64(5), INT64(12))"