diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/re/redis/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/re/redis/package.nix
index 98057ad86d3a..a46d70a2b3d8 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/re/redis/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/re/redis/package.nix
@@ -77,8 +77,9 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
 
   env.NIX_LDFLAGS = lib.optionalString stdenv.hostPlatform.isFreeBSD "-lexecinfo";
 
-  # darwin currently lacks a pure `pgrep` which is extensively used here
-  doCheck = !stdenv.hostPlatform.isDarwin;
+  # Tests are in the `tests` passthru derivation: the suite is very large and some tests (e.g. memtests) are flaky.
+  doCheck = false;
+
   nativeCheckInputs = [
     which
     tcl
@@ -126,7 +127,10 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
   versionCheckProgram = "${placeholder "out"}/bin/redis-server";
 
   passthru = {
-    tests.redis = nixosTests.redis;
+    tests = {
+      redis = nixosTests.redis;
+      unitTests = finalAttrs.finalPackage.overrideAttrs { doCheck = true; };
+    };
     serverBin = "redis-server";
     updateScript = nix-update-script { };
   };
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/va/valkey/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/va/valkey/package.nix
index 82e625efe933..558f37808261 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/va/valkey/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/va/valkey/package.nix
@@ -65,8 +65,9 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
 
   env.NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = toString (lib.optionals stdenv.cc.isClang [ "-std=c11" ]);
 
-  # darwin currently lacks a pure `pgrep` which is extensively used here
-  doCheck = !stdenv.hostPlatform.isDarwin;
+  # Tests are in the `tests` passthru derivation: the suite is very large and significantly slows down the build.
+  doCheck = false;
+
   nativeCheckInputs = [
     which
     tcl
@@ -102,13 +103,17 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
       --skipunit unit/memefficiency \
       --skipunit unit/type/string \
       --skipunit integration/failover \
-      --skipunit integration/aof-multi-part
+      --skipunit integration/aof-multi-part \
+      --skipunit integration/dual-channel-replication
 
     runHook postCheck
   '';
 
   passthru = {
-    tests.redis = nixosTests.redis;
+    tests = {
+      redis = nixosTests.redis;
+      unitTests = finalAttrs.finalPackage.overrideAttrs { doCheck = true; };
+    };
     serverBin = "valkey-server";
   };