diff --git a/CHANGES.rst b/CHANGES.rst
index 363d36e67..8bdb893f5 100644
--- a/CHANGES.rst
+++ b/CHANGES.rst
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ Bug fixes
   * Coincidentally, this also fixes an error that caused `pytest` to error-out when invoked without an active internet connection. Running `pytest` without network access is now supported (requires cached testing data). (:issue:`1468`).
 * Calling a ``sdba.map_blocks``-wrapped function with data chunked along the reduced dimensions will raise an error. This forbids chunking the trained dataset along the distribution dimensions, for example. (:issue:`1481`, :pull:`1482`).
 * Optimization of indicators ``huglin_index`` and ``biologically_effective_degree_days`` when used with dask and flox. As a side effect, the indice functions (i.e. under ``xc.indices``) no longer mask incomplete periods. The indicators' output is unchanged under the default "check_missing" setting (:issue:`1494`, :pull:`1495`).
+* Fixed ``xclim.indices.run_length.lazy_indexing`` which would sometimes trigger the loading of auxiliary coordinates. (:issue:`1483`, :pull:`1484`).
 
 Breaking changes
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
@@ -39,6 +40,7 @@ Internal changes
 * Mastodon publishing now uses `chuhlomin/render-template <https://github.com/chuhlomin/render-template>`_ and a standard formatting markdown document to format Mastodon toots. (:pull:`1469`).
 * GitHub testing workflows now use `Concurrency` instead of the styfle/cancel-workflow-action to cancel redundant workflows. (:pull:`1487`).
 * The `pkg_resources` library has been replaced for the `packaging` library when version comparisons have been performed, and a few warning messages have been silenced in the testing suite. (:issue:`1489`, :pull:`1490`).
+* New ``xclim.testing.helpers.assert_lazy`` context manager to assert the laziness of code blocks. (:pull:`1484`).
 
 v0.45.0 (2023-09-05)
 --------------------
diff --git a/tests/test_run_length.py b/tests/test_run_length.py
index 74b726571..0e62653f7 100644
--- a/tests/test_run_length.py
+++ b/tests/test_run_length.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 
 from xclim.core.options import set_options
 from xclim.indices import run_length as rl
+from xclim.testing.helpers import assert_lazy
 
 K2C = 273.15
 
@@ -654,6 +655,7 @@ def test_too_many_dates(self, func, tas_series):
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("use_dask", [True, False])
 def test_lazy_indexing(use_dask):
     idx = xr.DataArray([[0, 10], [33, 99]], dims=("x", "y"))
+    idx = idx.assign_coords(x2=idx.x**2)
     da = xr.DataArray(np.arange(100), dims=("time",))
     db = xr.DataArray(-np.arange(100), dims=("time",))
 
@@ -661,7 +663,10 @@ def test_lazy_indexing(use_dask):
         idx = idx.chunk({"x": 1})
 
     # Ensure tasks are different
-    outa, outb = compute(rl.lazy_indexing(da, idx), rl.lazy_indexing(db, idx))
+    with assert_lazy:
+        outa = rl.lazy_indexing(da, idx)
+        outb = rl.lazy_indexing(db, idx)
+    outa, outb = compute(outa, outb)
 
     assert set(outa.dims) == {"x", "y"}
     np.testing.assert_array_equal(idx, outa)
diff --git a/xclim/indices/run_length.py b/xclim/indices/run_length.py
index 7ce29a8e9..c05c66010 100644
--- a/xclim/indices/run_length.py
+++ b/xclim/indices/run_length.py
@@ -1345,15 +1345,22 @@ def _index_from_1d_array(indices, array):
             # The 0-D index case, we add a dummy dimension to help dask
             dim = get_temp_dimname(da.dims, "x")
             index = index.expand_dims(dim)
-        invalid = index.isnull()  # Which indexes to mask
+        # Which indexes to mask.
+        invalid = index.isnull()
         # NaN-indexing doesn't work, so fill with 0 and cast to int
         index = index.fillna(0).astype(int)
         # for each chunk of index, take corresponding values from da
 
         da2 = da.rename("__placeholder__")
         out = index.map_blocks(_index_from_1d_array, args=(da2,)).rename(da.name)
-        # mask where index was NaN
-        out = out.where(~invalid)
+        # mask where index was NaN. Drop any auxiliary coord, they are already on `out`.
+        # Chunked aux coord would have the same name on both sides and xarray will want to check if they are equal, which means loading them
+        # making lazy_indexing not lazy.
+        out = out.where(
+            ~invalid.drop_vars(
+                [crd for crd in invalid.coords if crd not in invalid.dims]
+            )
+        )
         if idx_ndim == 0:
             # 0-D case, drop useless coords and dummy dim
             out = out.drop_vars(da.dims[0]).squeeze()
diff --git a/xclim/testing/helpers.py b/xclim/testing/helpers.py
index e87894edf..abc2c0681 100644
--- a/xclim/testing/helpers.py
+++ b/xclim/testing/helpers.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 import numpy as np
 import pandas as pd
 import xarray as xr
+from dask.diagnostics import Callback
 from yaml import safe_load
 
 from xclim.core import calendar
@@ -66,6 +67,7 @@
     "PREFETCH_TESTING_DATA",
     "TESTDATA_BRANCH",
     "add_example_file_paths",
+    "assert_lazy",
     "generate_atmos",
     "populate_testing_data",
     "test_timeseries",
@@ -253,3 +255,14 @@ def test_timeseries(
         return da.to_dataset()
     else:
         return da
+
+
+def _raise_on_compute(dsk: dict):
+    """Raise an AssertionError mentionning the number triggered tasks."""
+    raise AssertionError(
+        f"Not lazy. Computation was triggered with a graph of {len(dsk)} tasks."
+    )
+
+
+assert_lazy = Callback(start=_raise_on_compute)
+"""Context manager that raises an AssertionError if any dask computation is triggered."""