diff --git a/src/debug.c b/src/debug.c
index 5318c1469..1b2bbf2c2 100644
--- a/src/debug.c
+++ b/src/debug.c
@@ -467,6 +467,8 @@ void debugCommand(client *c) {
 "    Return the size of different Redis core C structures.",
 "ZIPLIST <key>",
 "    Show low level info about the ziplist encoding of <key>.",
+"PAUSE-CRON <0|1>",
+"    Stop periodic cron job processing.",
 NULL
         };
         addReplyHelp(c, help);
@@ -887,6 +889,9 @@ NULL
         mallctl_string(c, c->argv+2, c->argc-2);
         return;
 #endif
+    } else if (!strcasecmp(c->argv[1]->ptr,"pause-cron") && c->argc == 3) {
+        server.pause_cron = atoi(c->argv[2]->ptr);
+        addReply(c,shared.ok);
     } else {
         addReplySubcommandSyntaxError(c);
         return;
diff --git a/src/server.c b/src/server.c
index 7c0f6125d..55562732b 100644
--- a/src/server.c
+++ b/src/server.c
@@ -2072,6 +2072,9 @@ int serverCron(struct aeEventLoop *eventLoop, long long id, void *clientData) {
         }
     }
 
+    /* for debug purposes: skip actual cron work if pause_cron is on */
+    if (server.pause_cron) return 1000/server.hz;
+
     run_with_period(100) {
         long long stat_net_input_bytes, stat_net_output_bytes;
         atomicGet(server.stat_net_input_bytes, stat_net_input_bytes);
@@ -2697,6 +2700,7 @@ void initServerConfig(void) {
     server.migrate_cached_sockets = dictCreate(&migrateCacheDictType,NULL);
     server.next_client_id = 1; /* Client IDs, start from 1 .*/
     server.loading_process_events_interval_bytes = (1024*1024*2);
+    server.pause_cron = 0;
 
     unsigned int lruclock = getLRUClock();
     atomicSet(server.lruclock,lruclock);
diff --git a/src/server.h b/src/server.h
index 1b4f5fed9..be0c42cbe 100644
--- a/src/server.h
+++ b/src/server.h
@@ -1345,6 +1345,7 @@ struct redisServer {
     int set_proc_title;             /* True if change proc title */
     char *proc_title_template;      /* Process title template format */
     clientBufferLimitsConfig client_obuf_limits[CLIENT_TYPE_OBUF_COUNT];
+    int pause_cron;                 /* Don't run cron tasks (debug) */
     /* AOF persistence */
     int aof_enabled;                /* AOF configuration */
     int aof_state;                  /* AOF_(ON|OFF|WAIT_REWRITE) */