diff --git a/tests/malloc/main.c b/tests/malloc/main.c
index 67db274ad1..5048492800 100644
--- a/tests/malloc/main.c
+++ b/tests/malloc/main.c
@@ -78,10 +78,13 @@ static void free_memory(struct node *head)
 {
     struct node *old_head;
 
+    uint32_t freed = 0;
+
     while (head) {
         if (head->ptr) {
             if (total > CHUNK_SIZE) {
                 total -= CHUNK_SIZE;
+                freed++;
             }
             printf("Free %"PRIu32" Bytes at 0x%p, total %"PRIu32"\n",
                    (uint32_t)CHUNK_SIZE, head->ptr, total);
@@ -100,6 +103,8 @@ static void free_memory(struct node *head)
 
         total -= sizeof(struct node);
     }
+
+    printf("Free count: %"PRIu32"\n", freed);
 }
 
 int main(void)
diff --git a/tests/malloc/tests/01-run.py b/tests/malloc/tests/01-run.py
index fea0d3c031..a29812b9da 100755
--- a/tests/malloc/tests/01-run.py
+++ b/tests/malloc/tests/01-run.py
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ from testrunner import run
 # For BOARD's with large amount of RAM allocating all chunks takes longer
 # than 10s
 ALLOCATION_TIMEOUT = 20
+FREE_TIMEOUT = ALLOCATION_TIMEOUT
 
 
 def testfunc(child):
@@ -30,9 +31,11 @@ def testfunc(child):
         if initial_allocations == 0:
             initial_allocations = allocations
         assert initial_allocations == allocations
-        for _ in range(allocations):
-            child.expect(r"Free {} Bytes at 0x[a-z0-9]+, total [a-z0-9]+\r\n"
-                         .format(chunk_size))
+        child.expect(r"Free {} Bytes at 0x[a-z0-9]+, total [a-z0-9]+\r\n"
+                     .format(chunk_size))
+        child.expect(r'Free count: (\d+)\r\n', timeout=FREE_TIMEOUT)
+        freed = int(child.match.group(1))
+        assert freed == allocations
     child.expect_exact("[SUCCESS]")