diff --git a/README.org b/README.org
index a767d5c0..93bc7d0f 100644
--- a/README.org
+++ b/README.org
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@
   - [[#post][POST]]
   - [[#delete][DELETE]]
   - [[#async-http-request][Async HTTP Request]]
+    - [[#async-futures][Async Futures]]
     - [[#cancelling-requests][Cancelling Requests]]
   - [[#coercions][Coercions]]
     - [[#input-coercion][Input coercion]]
@@ -445,12 +446,22 @@ start an async request is easy, for example:
 
 All exceptions thrown during the request will be passed to the raise callback.
 
+*** Async Futures
+Alternatively, if you prefer working with Futures, you can get the async response in the shape of a Future:
+
+#+begin_src clojure
+(def fut (client/get "http://example.com" {:async-future? true}))
+@fut
+#+end_src
+
+Deref-ing the future will return the response map or throw a [[https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/util/concurrent/ExecutionException.html][ExecutionException]] on error.
+
 *** Cancelling Requests
 :PROPERTIES:
 :CUSTOM_ID: cancelling-requests
 :END:
 
-Calls to the http methods with =:async true= return an Apache [[https://hc.apache.org/httpcomponents-core-ga/httpcore/apidocs/org/apache/http/concurrent/BasicFuture.html][BasicFuture]] that you can call =.get=
+Calls to the http methods with =:async true or :async-future true= return an Apache [[https://hc.apache.org/httpcomponents-core-ga/httpcore/apidocs/org/apache/http/concurrent/BasicFuture.html][BasicFuture]] that you can call =.get=
 or =.cancel= on. See the Javadocs for =BasicFuture= [[https://hc.apache.org/httpcomponents-core-ga/httpcore/apidocs/org/apache/http/concurrent/BasicFuture.html][here]]. For instance:
 
 #+BEGIN_SRC clojure
diff --git a/src/clj_http/client.clj b/src/clj_http/client.clj
index 7370e35f..7a09611d 100644
--- a/src/clj_http/client.clj
+++ b/src/clj_http/client.clj
@@ -1112,6 +1112,15 @@
   Automatically bound when `with-middleware` is used."
   default-middleware)
 
+(defn- async-future [client req]
+  (let [fut     (org.apache.http.concurrent.BasicFuture. nil)
+        respond #(.completed fut %)
+        raise   #(.failed fut %)
+        cancel  #(.cancel fut)
+        req     (assoc req :async true :oncancel cancel)]
+    (client req respond raise)
+    fut))
+
 (defn- async-transform
   [client]
   (fn
@@ -1123,6 +1132,9 @@
            (throw (IllegalArgumentException. "If :async? is true, you must pass respond and raise")))
          (client req respond raise))
 
+       (opt req :async-future)
+       (async-future client (dissoc req :async-future :async-future?))
+
        :else
        (client req)))
 
diff --git a/test/clj_http/test/client_test.clj b/test/clj_http/test/client_test.clj
index f284572d..3431c46c 100644
--- a/test/clj_http/test/client_test.clj
+++ b/test/clj_http/test/client_test.clj
@@ -167,6 +167,45 @@
             (is (= params (read-fn (:body @resp))))
             (is (not (realized? exception)))))))))
 
+(deftest ^:integration roundtrip-async-future
+  (run-server)
+  ;; roundtrip with scheme as a keyword
+  (let [resp (request {:uri "/get" :method :get
+                       :async-future? true})]
+    (is (= 200 (:status @resp)))
+    (is (= "close" (get-in @resp [:headers "connection"])))
+    (is (= "get" (:body @resp))))
+  ;; roundtrip with scheme as a string
+  (let [resp (request {:uri "/get" :method :get
+                       :scheme "http"
+                       :async-future? true})]
+    (is (= 200 (:status @resp)))
+    (is (= "close" (get-in @resp [:headers "connection"])))
+    (is (= "get" (:body @resp))))
+  ;; error handling
+  (let [resp (request {:uri "/error" :method :get
+                       :async-future? true})]
+    (is (thrown? java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException
+          @resp)))
+
+  (let [params {:a "1" :b "2"}]
+    (doseq [[content-type read-fn]
+            [[nil (comp parse-form-params slurp)]
+             [:x-www-form-urlencoded (comp parse-form-params slurp)]
+             [:edn (comp read-string slurp)]
+             [:transit+json #(client/parse-transit % :json)]
+             [:transit+msgpack #(client/parse-transit % :msgpack)]]]
+      (let [resp (request {:uri "/post"
+                           :as :stream
+                           :method :post
+                           :content-type content-type
+                           :flatten-nested-keys []
+                           :form-params params
+                           :async-future? true})]
+        (is (= 200 (:status @resp)))
+        (is (= "close" (get-in @resp [:headers "connection"])))
+        (is (= params (read-fn (:body @resp))))))))
+
 (def ^:dynamic *test-dynamic-var* nil)
 
 (deftest ^:integration async-preserves-dynamic-variable-bindings