diff --git a/extensions/hibernate-orm/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/hibernate/orm/runtime/JPAConfig.java b/extensions/hibernate-orm/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/hibernate/orm/runtime/JPAConfig.java
index a47169ef6777d..d458ce63a33aa 100644
--- a/extensions/hibernate-orm/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/hibernate/orm/runtime/JPAConfig.java
+++ b/extensions/hibernate-orm/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/hibernate/orm/runtime/JPAConfig.java
@@ -14,8 +14,11 @@
 import javax.persistence.EntityManagerFactory;
 import javax.persistence.Persistence;
 
+import org.hibernate.SessionFactory;
 import org.jboss.logging.Logger;
 
+import io.quarkus.hibernate.orm.runtime.session.JTASessionOptions;
+
 @Singleton
 public class JPAConfig {
 
@@ -114,13 +117,28 @@ EntityManagerFactory get() {
                         throw new IllegalStateException("Persistence unit is closed");
                     }
                     if (value == null) {
-                        value = Persistence.createEntityManagerFactory(name);
+                        value = create();
                     }
                 }
             }
             return value;
         }
 
+        private EntityManagerFactory create() {
+            EntityManagerFactory result = Persistence.createEntityManagerFactory(name);
+            try {
+                JTASessionOptions.init(result.unwrap(SessionFactory.class));
+            } catch (RuntimeException e) {
+                try {
+                    result.close();
+                } catch (RuntimeException e2) {
+                    e.addSuppressed(e2);
+                    throw e;
+                }
+            }
+            return result;
+        }
+
         public synchronized void close() {
             closed = true;
             EntityManagerFactory emf = this.value;
diff --git a/extensions/hibernate-orm/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/hibernate/orm/runtime/boot/FastBootMetadataBuilder.java b/extensions/hibernate-orm/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/hibernate/orm/runtime/boot/FastBootMetadataBuilder.java
index ab7a594f89bd2..44ea98d385395 100644
--- a/extensions/hibernate-orm/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/hibernate/orm/runtime/boot/FastBootMetadataBuilder.java
+++ b/extensions/hibernate-orm/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/hibernate/orm/runtime/boot/FastBootMetadataBuilder.java
@@ -255,9 +255,6 @@ private MergedSettings mergeSettings(PersistenceUnitDescriptor persistenceUnit)
         cfg.putIfAbsent(AvailableSettings.CONNECTION_HANDLING,
                 PhysicalConnectionHandlingMode.DELAYED_ACQUISITION_AND_RELEASE_BEFORE_TRANSACTION_COMPLETION);
 
-        // Auto-close sessions before transaction completion, as they should be when using JTA.
-        cfg.putIfAbsent(AvailableSettings.AUTO_CLOSE_SESSION, "true");
-
         if (readBooleanConfigurationValue(cfg, WRAP_RESULT_SETS)) {
             LOG.warn("Wrapping result sets is not supported. Setting " + WRAP_RESULT_SETS + " to false.");
         }
diff --git a/extensions/hibernate-orm/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/hibernate/orm/runtime/session/JTASessionOptions.java b/extensions/hibernate-orm/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/hibernate/orm/runtime/session/JTASessionOptions.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..480b8cd2b3ea4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/extensions/hibernate-orm/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/hibernate/orm/runtime/session/JTASessionOptions.java
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+package io.quarkus.hibernate.orm.runtime.session;
+
+import org.hibernate.FlushMode;
+import org.hibernate.SessionBuilder;
+import org.hibernate.SessionFactory;
+import org.hibernate.resource.jdbc.spi.PhysicalConnectionHandlingMode;
+
+public class JTASessionOptions {
+    private static final String KEY = JTASessionOptions.class.getName();
+
+    public static void init(SessionFactory sessionFactory) {
+        SessionBuilder<?> options = sessionFactory.withOptions()
+                .autoClose(true) // .owner() is deprecated as well, so it looks like we need to rely on deprecated code...
+                .connectionHandlingMode(
+                        PhysicalConnectionHandlingMode.DELAYED_ACQUISITION_AND_RELEASE_BEFORE_TRANSACTION_COMPLETION)
+                .flushMode(FlushMode.ALWAYS);
+        sessionFactory.getProperties().put(KEY, options);
+    }
+
+    public static SessionBuilder<?> get(SessionFactory sessionFactory) {
+        return (SessionBuilder<?>) sessionFactory.getProperties().get(KEY);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/extensions/hibernate-orm/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/hibernate/orm/runtime/session/TransactionScopedSession.java b/extensions/hibernate-orm/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/hibernate/orm/runtime/session/TransactionScopedSession.java
index f4046bfaee123..efb3e38122d51 100644
--- a/extensions/hibernate-orm/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/hibernate/orm/runtime/session/TransactionScopedSession.java
+++ b/extensions/hibernate-orm/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/hibernate/orm/runtime/session/TransactionScopedSession.java
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
 import org.hibernate.NaturalIdLoadAccess;
 import org.hibernate.ReplicationMode;
 import org.hibernate.Session;
+import org.hibernate.SessionBuilder;
 import org.hibernate.SessionEventListener;
 import org.hibernate.SessionFactory;
 import org.hibernate.SharedSessionBuilder;
@@ -59,6 +60,7 @@ public class TransactionScopedSession implements Session {
     private final TransactionManager transactionManager;
     private final TransactionSynchronizationRegistry transactionSynchronizationRegistry;
     private final SessionFactory sessionFactory;
+    private final SessionBuilder<?> jtaSessionOptions;
     private final String unitName;
     private final String sessionKey;
     private final Instance<RequestScopedSessionHolder> requestScopedSessions;
@@ -71,6 +73,7 @@ public TransactionScopedSession(TransactionManager transactionManager,
         this.transactionManager = transactionManager;
         this.transactionSynchronizationRegistry = transactionSynchronizationRegistry;
         this.sessionFactory = sessionFactory;
+        this.jtaSessionOptions = JTASessionOptions.get(sessionFactory);
         this.unitName = unitName;
         this.sessionKey = this.getClass().getSimpleName() + "-" + unitName;
         this.requestScopedSessions = requestScopedSessions;
@@ -82,7 +85,7 @@ SessionResult acquireSession() {
             if (session != null) {
                 return new SessionResult(session, false, true);
             }
-            Session newSession = sessionFactory.openSession();
+            Session newSession = jtaSessionOptions.openSession();
             // The session has automatically joined the JTA transaction when it was constructed.
             transactionSynchronizationRegistry.putResource(sessionKey, newSession);
             // No need to flush or close the session upon transaction completion: