diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/fix-controller-parallel-shots-d32967c029259790.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/fix-controller-parallel-shots-d32967c029259790.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..86aefecec7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/fix-controller-parallel-shots-d32967c029259790.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+fixes:
+  - |
+    Fixed bug with statevector and unitary simulators running a number of (parallel)
+    shots equal to the number of CPU threads instead of only running a single shot.
diff --git a/src/controllers/statevector_controller.hpp b/src/controllers/statevector_controller.hpp
index 769a17712e..883194ab0f 100755
--- a/src/controllers/statevector_controller.hpp
+++ b/src/controllers/statevector_controller.hpp
@@ -137,6 +137,10 @@ void StatevectorController::set_config(const json_t& config) {
   // Set base controller config
   Base::Controller::set_config(config);
 
+  // Override max parallel shots to be 1 since this should only be used
+  // for single shot simulations
+  Base::Controller::max_parallel_shots_ = 1;
+
   // Add custom initial state
   if (JSON::get_value(initial_state_, "initial_statevector", config)) {
     // Check initial state is normalized
diff --git a/src/controllers/unitary_controller.hpp b/src/controllers/unitary_controller.hpp
index 147154d571..eb3cf4dac9 100755
--- a/src/controllers/unitary_controller.hpp
+++ b/src/controllers/unitary_controller.hpp
@@ -129,6 +129,10 @@ void UnitaryController::set_config(const json_t &config) {
   // Set base controller config
   Base::Controller::set_config(config);
 
+  // Override max parallel shots to be 1 since this should only be used
+  // for single shot simulations
+  Base::Controller::max_parallel_shots_ = 1;
+
   // Add custom initial unitary
   if (JSON::get_value(initial_unitary_, "initial_unitary", config)) {
     // Check initial state is unitary