diff --git a/.changelog/9651.txt b/.changelog/9651.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..eb3be8db67
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changelog/9651.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+```release-note:bug
+xds: prevent LDS flaps in mesh gateways due to unstable datacenter lists; also prevent some flaps in terminating gateways as well
+```
diff --git a/agent/proxycfg/snapshot.go b/agent/proxycfg/snapshot.go
index 03d548fc91..08cb91da52 100644
--- a/agent/proxycfg/snapshot.go
+++ b/agent/proxycfg/snapshot.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package proxycfg
 import (
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
+	"sort"
 
 	"github.com/hashicorp/consul/agent/structs"
 	"github.com/mitchellh/copystructure"
@@ -245,6 +246,10 @@ func (c *configSnapshotMeshGateway) Datacenters() []string {
 			dcs = append(dcs, dc)
 		}
 	}
+
+	// Always sort the results to ensure we generate deterministic things over
+	// xDS, such as mesh-gateway listener filter chains.
+	sort.Strings(dcs)
 	return dcs
 }
 
diff --git a/agent/xds/listeners.go b/agent/xds/listeners.go
index 28f395a945..9c57ed4811 100644
--- a/agent/xds/listeners.go
+++ b/agent/xds/listeners.go
@@ -775,6 +775,16 @@ func (s *Server) makeTerminatingGatewayListener(
 		}
 	}
 
+	// Before we add the fallback, sort these chains by the matched name. All
+	// of these filter chains are independent, but envoy requires them to be in
+	// some order. If we put them in a random order then every xDS iteration
+	// envoy will force the listener to be replaced. Sorting these has no
+	// effect on how they operate, but it does mean that we won't churn
+	// listeners at idle.
+	sort.Slice(l.FilterChains, func(i, j int) bool {
+		return l.FilterChains[i].FilterChainMatch.ServerNames[0] < l.FilterChains[j].FilterChainMatch.ServerNames[0]
+	})
+
 	// This fallback catch-all filter ensures a listener will be present for health checks to pass
 	// Envoy will reset these connections since known endpoints are caught by filter chain matches above
 	tcpProxy, err := makeTCPProxyFilter(name, "", "terminating_gateway.")
diff --git a/agent/xds/listeners_test.go b/agent/xds/listeners_test.go
index b30d0b80d4..5d900958f6 100644
--- a/agent/xds/listeners_test.go
+++ b/agent/xds/listeners_test.go
@@ -513,24 +513,14 @@ func TestListenersFromSnapshot(t *testing.T) {
 						ProxyFeatures: sf,
 					}
 					listeners, err := s.listenersFromSnapshot(cInfo, snap)
+					require.NoError(err)
+
+					// The order of listeners returned via LDS isn't relevant, so it's safe
+					// to sort these for the purposes of test comparisons.
 					sort.Slice(listeners, func(i, j int) bool {
 						return listeners[i].(*envoy.Listener).Name < listeners[j].(*envoy.Listener).Name
 					})
 
-					// For terminating gateways we create filter chain matches for services/subsets from the ServiceGroups map
-					for i := 0; i < len(listeners); i++ {
-						l := listeners[i].(*envoy.Listener)
-
-						if l.FilterChains != nil {
-							// Sort chains by the matched name with the exception of the last one
-							// The last chain is a fallback and does not have a FilterChainMatch
-							sort.Slice(l.FilterChains[:len(l.FilterChains)-1], func(i, j int) bool {
-								return l.FilterChains[i].FilterChainMatch.ServerNames[0] < l.FilterChains[j].FilterChainMatch.ServerNames[0]
-							})
-						}
-					}
-
-					require.NoError(err)
 					r, err := createResponse(ListenerType, "00000001", "00000001", listeners)
 					require.NoError(err)