diff --git a/tests/boards/espressif_esp32/cache_coex/prj.conf b/tests/boards/espressif_esp32/cache_coex/prj.conf
index 577a3f115e1d213..7dd9dfcd5e85cb4 100644
--- a/tests/boards/espressif_esp32/cache_coex/prj.conf
+++ b/tests/boards/espressif_esp32/cache_coex/prj.conf
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 CONFIG_ESP_SPIRAM=y
-CONFIG_ESP_HEAP_MIN_EXTRAM_THRESHOLD=2048
 CONFIG_HEAP_MEM_POOL_SIZE=98304
 CONFIG_ESP_HEAP_SEARCH_ALL_REGIONS=n
 CONFIG_FLASH=y
diff --git a/tests/boards/espressif_esp32/cache_coex/src/cache_coex.c b/tests/boards/espressif_esp32/cache_coex/src/cache_coex.c
index 7f2370ed6e10996..06ab4a9326fc9e6 100644
--- a/tests/boards/espressif_esp32/cache_coex/src/cache_coex.c
+++ b/tests/boards/espressif_esp32/cache_coex/src/cache_coex.c
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 #include <zephyr/drivers/flash.h>
 #include <zephyr/random/random.h>
 #include <soc/soc_memory_layout.h>
+#include <zephyr/multi_heap/shared_multi_heap.h>
 
 /* definitions used in Flash & RAM operations */
 #define SPIRAM_ALLOC_SIZE               (24 * 1024)
@@ -201,7 +202,7 @@ static void psram_test(void)
 
 static void psram_init(void)
 {
-	mem = k_malloc(SPIRAM_ALLOC_SIZE);
+	mem = shared_multi_heap_aligned_alloc(SMH_REG_ATTR_EXTERNAL, 32, SPIRAM_ALLOC_SIZE);
 	if (!mem) {
 		TC_ERROR("SPIRAM allocation has failed\n");
 	}