diff --git a/catalog/dags/common/constants.py b/catalog/dags/common/constants.py
index 0105ecda921..c56778d473e 100644
--- a/catalog/dags/common/constants.py
+++ b/catalog/dags/common/constants.py
@@ -50,6 +50,11 @@
 ES_PROD_HTTP_CONN_ID = "elasticsearch_http_production"
 REFRESH_POKE_INTERVAL = int(os.getenv("DATA_REFRESH_POKE_INTERVAL", 60 * 30))
 DATA_REFRESH_POOL = os.getenv("DATA_REFRESH_POOL", "data_refresh")
+DATA_REFRESH_ALTER_BATCH_SIZE = (
+    int(os.getenv("DATA_REFRESH_ALTER_BATCH_SIZE"))
+    if os.getenv("DATA_REFRESH_ALTER_BATCH_SIZE")
+    else None
+)
 
 
 @dataclass
diff --git a/catalog/dags/data_refresh/alter_data.py b/catalog/dags/data_refresh/alter_data.py
index 260900bd3d1..0c490a2c149 100644
--- a/catalog/dags/data_refresh/alter_data.py
+++ b/catalog/dags/data_refresh/alter_data.py
@@ -199,7 +199,7 @@ def alter_table_data(
 
     batches = get_alter_batches(
         estimated_record_count.output,
-        batch_size="{{ var.value.get('DATA_REFRESH_ALTER_BATCH_SIZE', none) }}",
+        batch_size=data_refresh_config.alter_data_batch_size,
     )
 
     alter_data = alter_data_batch.partial(
diff --git a/catalog/dags/data_refresh/data_refresh_types.py b/catalog/dags/data_refresh/data_refresh_types.py
index 0041443047d..8d0e9ecfaf6 100644
--- a/catalog/dags/data_refresh/data_refresh_types.py
+++ b/catalog/dags/data_refresh/data_refresh_types.py
@@ -10,7 +10,12 @@
 from datetime import datetime, timedelta
 from typing import Optional
 
-from common.constants import AUDIO, IMAGE, REFRESH_POKE_INTERVAL
+from common.constants import (
+    AUDIO,
+    DATA_REFRESH_ALTER_BATCH_SIZE,
+    IMAGE,
+    REFRESH_POKE_INTERVAL,
+)
 from data_refresh import queries
 
 
@@ -70,6 +75,10 @@ class DataRefreshConfig:
                                        data refresh may take.
     copy_data_timeout:                 timedelta expressing the amount of time it may take to
                                        copy the upstream table into the downstream DB
+    add_primary_key_timeout:           timedelta expressing the amount of time it may take to
+                                       add the primary key to the temp table
+    alter_data_batch_size:             int number of records to process per batch in alter_data
+                                       tasks
     indexer_worker_timeout:            timedelta expressing the amount of time it may take for
                                        any individual indexer worker to perform its portion of
                                        the distributed reindex
@@ -96,6 +105,7 @@ class DataRefreshConfig:
     dag_timeout: timedelta = timedelta(days=1)
     copy_data_timeout: timedelta = timedelta(hours=1)
     add_primary_key_timeout: timedelta = timedelta(hours=1)
+    alter_data_batch_size: int = DATA_REFRESH_ALTER_BATCH_SIZE
     indexer_worker_timeout: timedelta = timedelta(hours=12)
     index_readiness_timeout: timedelta = timedelta(days=1)
     create_filtered_index_timeout: timedelta = timedelta(days=1)
@@ -126,6 +136,10 @@ def table_mappings(self) -> list[TableMapping]:
         dag_timeout=timedelta(days=4),
         copy_data_timeout=timedelta(hours=12),
         add_primary_key_timeout=timedelta(hours=12),
+        # Larger batches for image data refresh to avoid overloading XCOMs
+        alter_data_batch_size=int(
+            os.getenv("DATA_REFRESH_ALTER_BATCH_SIZE", 1_000_000)
+        ),
         indexer_worker_timeout=timedelta(days=1),
         concurrency_check_poke_interval=int(
             os.getenv("DATA_REFRESH_POKE_INTERVAL", 60 * 5)