diff --git a/llama_stack/providers/tests/inference/fixtures.py b/llama_stack/providers/tests/inference/fixtures.py
index e0d36124f..ed0b0302d 100644
--- a/llama_stack/providers/tests/inference/fixtures.py
+++ b/llama_stack/providers/tests/inference/fixtures.py
@@ -47,6 +47,9 @@ def inference_meta_reference(inference_model) -> ProviderFixture:
     inference_model = (
         [inference_model] if isinstance(inference_model, str) else inference_model
     )
+    # If embedding dimension is set, use the 8B model for testing
+    if os.getenv("EMBEDDING_DIMENSION"):
+        inference_model = ["meta-llama/Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct"]
 
     return ProviderFixture(
         providers=[