diff --git a/quinn-proto/src/connection/packet_builder.rs b/quinn-proto/src/connection/packet_builder.rs
index a78589ff5..bc179c860 100644
--- a/quinn-proto/src/connection/packet_builder.rs
+++ b/quinn-proto/src/connection/packet_builder.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-use std::time::Instant;
+use std::{cmp, time::Instant};
 
 use bytes::Bytes;
 use rand::Rng;
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ use super::{spaces::SentPacket, Connection, SentFrames};
 use crate::{
     frame::{self, Close},
     packet::{Header, InitialHeader, LongType, PacketNumber, PartialEncode, SpaceId, FIXED_BIT},
-    ConnectionId, TransportError, TransportErrorCode,
+    ConnectionId, TransportError, TransportErrorCode, INITIAL_MTU,
 };
 
 pub(super) struct PacketBuilder {
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ impl PacketBuilder {
         space_id: SpaceId,
         dst_cid: ConnectionId,
         buffer: &mut Vec<u8>,
-        buffer_capacity: usize,
+        mut buffer_capacity: usize,
         datagram_start: usize,
         ack_eliciting: bool,
         conn: &mut Connection,
@@ -80,7 +80,12 @@ impl PacketBuilder {
 
         let space = &mut conn.spaces[space_id];
 
-        space.loss_probes = space.loss_probes.saturating_sub(1);
+        if space.loss_probes != 0 {
+            space.loss_probes -= 1;
+            // Clamp the packet size to at most the minimum MTU to ensure that loss probes can get
+            // through and enable recovery even if the path MTU has shrank unexpectedly.
+            buffer_capacity = cmp::min(buffer_capacity, datagram_start + usize::from(INITIAL_MTU));
+        }
         let exact_number = match space_id {
             SpaceId::Data => conn.packet_number_filter.allocate(&mut conn.rng, space),
             _ => space.get_tx_number(),