diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yaml b/.github/workflows/release.yaml
index 171aec932fb..8167d6862d8 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yaml
@@ -1,6 +1,11 @@
 name: Release
 on:
   workflow_dispatch:
+    inputs:
+      validate:
+        type: boolean
+        default: false
+        description: "Validate the release artifacts"
   push:
     tags:
       - 'v*'
@@ -115,3 +120,49 @@ jobs:
           IMAGE_REGISTRY: ${{ env.IMAGE_REGISTRY }}
           GORELEASER_ARGS: ${{ needs.setup.outputs.goreleaser_args }}
           GORELEASER_CURRENT_TAG: ${{ needs.setup.outputs.version }}
+
+  validate:
+    name: Validate release artifacts
+    needs: [setup, helm, goreleaser]
+    if: ${{ startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/') || inputs.validate == 'true' }}
+    runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - uses: actions/setup-go@v5
+        with:
+          go-version-file: "go.mod"
+
+      - name: Login to ghcr.io
+        if: ${{ github.event_name != 'pull_request' }}
+        run: echo "${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}" | helm registry login ${{ env.IMAGE_REGISTRY }} -u ${{ github.repository_owner }} --password-stdin
+
+      - name: Download module dependencies
+        run: make mod-download
+
+      - name: Setup kind cluster
+        run: ./ci/kind/setup-kind.sh
+        env:
+          VERSION: ${{ needs.setup.outputs.version }}
+          SKIP_DOCKER: "true"
+          CONFORMANCE: "true"
+
+      - name: Install the released chart
+        run: |
+          helm install --create-namespace --namespace kgateway-system kgateway \
+            oci://${{ env.IMAGE_REGISTRY }}/charts/kgateway \
+            --version ${{ needs.setup.outputs.version }} \
+            --set controller.image.registry=${{ env.IMAGE_REGISTRY }} \
+            --set gateway.envoyContainer.image.registry=${{ env.IMAGE_REGISTRY }} \
+            --set gateway.sdsContainer.image.registry=${{ env.IMAGE_REGISTRY }} \
+            --wait --timeout 5m
+
+      - name: Wait for the kgateway deployment to be ready
+        run: |
+          kubectl wait --for=condition=available --timeout=5m deployment/kgateway -n kgateway-system
+
+      - name: Run Conformance Tests
+        run: make conformance
+        shell: bash
+        env:
+          VERSION: ${{ needs.setup.outputs.version }}