diff --git a/lib/fetch/request.js b/lib/fetch/request.js
index 336d361ce20..5e1114636dc 100644
--- a/lib/fetch/request.js
+++ b/lib/fetch/request.js
@@ -10,7 +10,8 @@ const {
   isValidHTTPToken,
   sameOrigin,
   normalizeMethod,
-  makePolicyContainer
+  makePolicyContainer,
+  normalizeMethodRecord
 } = require('./util')
 const {
   forbiddenMethodsSet,
@@ -315,16 +316,16 @@ class Request {
 
       // 2. If method is not a method or method is a forbidden method, then
       // throw a TypeError.
-      if (!isValidHTTPToken(init.method)) {
-        throw new TypeError(`'${init.method}' is not a valid HTTP method.`)
+      if (!isValidHTTPToken(method)) {
+        throw new TypeError(`'${method}' is not a valid HTTP method.`)
       }
 
       if (forbiddenMethodsSet.has(method.toUpperCase())) {
-        throw new TypeError(`'${init.method}' HTTP method is unsupported.`)
+        throw new TypeError(`'${method}' HTTP method is unsupported.`)
       }
 
       // 3. Normalize method.
-      method = normalizeMethod(init.method)
+      method = normalizeMethodRecord[method] ?? normalizeMethod(method)
 
       // 4. Set request’s method to method.
       request.method = method
diff --git a/lib/fetch/util.js b/lib/fetch/util.js
index bc6fd50c68a..b12142c7f42 100644
--- a/lib/fetch/util.js
+++ b/lib/fetch/util.js
@@ -698,11 +698,30 @@ function isCancelled (fetchParams) {
     fetchParams.controller.state === 'terminated'
 }
 
-// https://fetch.spec.whatwg.org/#concept-method-normalize
+const normalizeMethodRecord = {
+  delete: 'DELETE',
+  DELETE: 'DELETE',
+  get: 'GET',
+  GET: 'GET',
+  head: 'HEAD',
+  HEAD: 'HEAD',
+  options: 'OPTIONS',
+  OPTIONS: 'OPTIONS',
+  post: 'POST',
+  POST: 'POST',
+  put: 'PUT',
+  PUT: 'PUT'
+}
+
+// Note: object prototypes should not be able to be referenced. e.g. `Object#hasOwnProperty`.
+Object.setPrototypeOf(normalizeMethodRecord, null)
+
+/**
+ * @see https://fetch.spec.whatwg.org/#concept-method-normalize
+ * @param {string} method
+ */
 function normalizeMethod (method) {
-  return /^(DELETE|GET|HEAD|OPTIONS|POST|PUT)$/i.test(method)
-    ? method.toUpperCase()
-    : method
+  return normalizeMethodRecord[method.toLowerCase()] ?? method
 }
 
 // https://infra.spec.whatwg.org/#serialize-a-javascript-value-to-a-json-string
@@ -1047,5 +1066,6 @@ module.exports = {
   urlIsLocal,
   urlHasHttpsScheme,
   urlIsHttpHttpsScheme,
-  readAllBytes
+  readAllBytes,
+  normalizeMethodRecord
 }
diff --git a/test/fetch/request.js b/test/fetch/request.js
index de593e8c053..4f66de4ec73 100644
--- a/test/fetch/request.js
+++ b/test/fetch/request.js
@@ -497,4 +497,11 @@ test('Clone the set-cookie header when Request is passed as the first parameter
   t.equal(request2.headers.getSetCookie().join(', '), request2.headers.get('set-cookie'))
 })
 
+// Tests for optimization introduced in https://github.com/nodejs/undici/pull/2456
+test('keys to object prototypes method', (t) => {
+  t.plan(1)
+  const request = new Request('http://localhost', { method: 'hasOwnProperty' })
+  t.ok(typeof request.method === 'string')
+})
+
 teardown(() => process.exit())