diff --git a/nodeadm/cmd/nodeadm/init/init.go b/nodeadm/cmd/nodeadm/init/init.go
index febb1159cfc1..6cd1f408a073 100644
--- a/nodeadm/cmd/nodeadm/init/init.go
+++ b/nodeadm/cmd/nodeadm/init/init.go
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ func (c *initCmd) Run(log *zap.Logger, opts *cli.GlobalOptions) error {
 
 	daemons := []daemon.Daemon{
 		containerd.NewContainerdDaemon(daemonManager),
-		kubelet.NewKubeletDaemon(daemonManager),
+		kubelet.NewKubeletDaemon(log, daemonManager),
 	}
 
 	if !slices.Contains(c.skipPhases, configPhase) {
diff --git a/nodeadm/internal/kubelet/daemon.go b/nodeadm/internal/kubelet/daemon.go
index f8fd77039485..e2d625201344 100644
--- a/nodeadm/internal/kubelet/daemon.go
+++ b/nodeadm/internal/kubelet/daemon.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package kubelet
 import (
 	"github.com/awslabs/amazon-eks-ami/nodeadm/internal/api"
 	"github.com/awslabs/amazon-eks-ami/nodeadm/internal/daemon"
+	"go.uber.org/zap"
 )
 
 const KubeletDaemonName = "kubelet"
@@ -17,7 +18,11 @@ type kubelet struct {
 	flags map[string]string
 }
 
-func NewKubeletDaemon(daemonManager daemon.DaemonManager) daemon.Daemon {
+func NewKubeletDaemon(log *zap.Logger, daemonManager daemon.DaemonManager) daemon.Daemon {
+	version, err := GetKubeletVersion()
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Info("kubelet", zap.String("version", version))
+	}
 	return &kubelet{
 		daemonManager: daemonManager,
 		environment:   make(map[string]string),
diff --git a/nodeadm/internal/kubelet/version.go b/nodeadm/internal/kubelet/version.go
index 7ee011637a8d..a916a0ec9754 100644
--- a/nodeadm/internal/kubelet/version.go
+++ b/nodeadm/internal/kubelet/version.go
@@ -5,16 +5,23 @@ import (
 	"regexp"
 )
 
+var (
+	kubeletVersion    string
+)
+
 func GetKubeletVersion() (string, error) {
-	rawVersion, err := GetKubeletVersionRaw()
+	if kubeletVersion != "" {
+		return kubeletVersion, nil
+	}
+	rawVersion, err := getKubeletVersionRaw()
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", err
 	}
-	version := parseSemVer(*rawVersion)
-	return version, nil
+	kubeletVersion = parseSemVer(*rawVersion)
+	return kubeletVersion, nil
 }
 
-func GetKubeletVersionRaw() (*string, error) {
+func getKubeletVersionRaw() (*string, error) {
 	output, err := exec.Command("kubelet", "--version").Output()
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err