diff --git a/esphome/components/nfc/automation.cpp b/esphome/components/nfc/automation.cpp
index 3a45dbdb18..e2956e4c12 100644
--- a/esphome/components/nfc/automation.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/nfc/automation.cpp
@@ -6,8 +6,7 @@ namespace nfc {
 
 void NfcOnTagTrigger::process(const std::unique_ptr<NfcTag> &tag) {
   char uid_buf[FORMAT_UID_BUFFER_SIZE];
-  format_uid_to(uid_buf, tag->get_uid());
-  this->trigger(std::string(uid_buf), *tag);
+  this->trigger(std::string(format_uid_to(uid_buf, tag->get_uid())), *tag);
 }
 
 }  // namespace nfc
diff --git a/esphome/components/nfc/binary_sensor/nfc_binary_sensor.cpp b/esphome/components/nfc/binary_sensor/nfc_binary_sensor.cpp
index 0f5b7db117..b62b243cc6 100644
--- a/esphome/components/nfc/binary_sensor/nfc_binary_sensor.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/nfc/binary_sensor/nfc_binary_sensor.cpp
@@ -26,8 +26,7 @@ void NfcTagBinarySensor::dump_config() {
   }
   if (!this->uid_.empty()) {
     char uid_buf[FORMAT_BYTES_BUFFER_SIZE];
-    format_bytes_to(uid_buf, this->uid_);
-    ESP_LOGCONFIG(TAG, "  Tag UID: %s", uid_buf);
+    ESP_LOGCONFIG(TAG, "  Tag UID: %s", format_bytes_to(uid_buf, this->uid_));
   }
 }