diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/71920-fix-templating-recursion-error.yml b/changelogs/fragments/71920-fix-templating-recursion-error.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b7ee60af993
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/71920-fix-templating-recursion-error.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - Fix ``RecursionError`` when templating large vars structures (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/71920)
diff --git a/lib/ansible/template/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/template/__init__.py
index bfc02514081..a5392d708fb 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/template/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/template/__init__.py
@@ -257,6 +257,7 @@ def _unroll_iterator(func):
             return list(ret)
         return ret
 
+    wrapper.__UNROLLED__ = True
     return _update_wrapper(wrapper, func)
 
 
@@ -1086,7 +1087,8 @@ class Templar:
             # Adds Ansible custom filters and tests
             myenv.filters.update(self._get_filters())
             for k in myenv.filters:
-                myenv.filters[k] = _unroll_iterator(myenv.filters[k])
+                if not getattr(myenv.filters[k], '__UNROLLED__', False):
+                    myenv.filters[k] = _unroll_iterator(myenv.filters[k])
             myenv.tests.update(self._get_tests())
 
             if escape_backslashes: