diff --git a/docs/releases.md b/docs/releases.md
index ecb83f39..04fb8a18 100644
--- a/docs/releases.md
+++ b/docs/releases.md
@@ -42,6 +42,8 @@
   By [Tom Nicholas](https://github.com/TomNicholas).
 - Fix `ZarrParser` not correctly parsing scalar variables from v2 native zarr stores ([#936](https://github.com/zarr-developers/VirtualiZarr/pull/936)).
   By [Julius Buseceke](https://github.com/jbusecke)
+- Add `.shutdown()` method to custom executors (dask, lithops) preventing unbounded memory increase in the case of lithops ([#925](https://github.com/zarr-developers/VirtualiZarr/pull/925)).
+  By [Julius Buseceke](https://github.com/jbusecke)
 
 ### Documentation
 
diff --git a/virtualizarr/parallel.py b/virtualizarr/parallel.py
index 7341261d..2fcadd68 100644
--- a/virtualizarr/parallel.py
+++ b/virtualizarr/parallel.py
@@ -137,6 +137,9 @@ def map(
         """
         return map(fn, *iterables)
 
+    def shutdown(self, wait: bool = True, *, cancel_futures: bool = False) -> None:
+        self._futures.clear()
+
 
 class DaskDelayedExecutor(Executor):
     """
@@ -230,6 +233,9 @@ def map(
         # Compute all tasks
         return iter(dask.compute(*delayed_tasks))
 
+    def shutdown(self, wait: bool = True, *, cancel_futures: bool = False) -> None:
+        self._futures.clear()
+
 
 class LithopsEagerFunctionExecutor(Executor):
     """
@@ -270,6 +276,23 @@ def __call__(self, *args: P.args, **kwargs: P.kwargs) -> T:
     def __init__(self, **kwargs) -> None:
         import lithops  # type: ignore[import-untyped]
 
+        # Fix for unbounded memory growth on repeated `open_virtual_mfdataset` calls
+        # see https://github.com/zarr-developers/VirtualiZarr/issues/926
+
+        # Users are encouraged to provide configs for lithops via file
+        # But just in case that someone imports this and configures it, they have to provide all
+        # details below explicitly as `config=` argument.
+        if "config" not in kwargs:
+            _config_file = lithops.config.load_config()
+            if _config_file["lithops"].get("backend") == "localhost":
+                # We currently only want to apply this fix for the localhost executor
+                kwargs["config"] = {
+                    "lithops": {
+                        "data_cleaner": False,  # prevents atexit registration of `.lithops_client.clean` method
+                        "backend": "localhost",  # if this is not provided lithops will default to aws lambda
+                    }
+                }
+
         # Create Lithops client with optional configuration
         self.lithops_client = lithops.FunctionExecutor(**kwargs).__enter__()
 
@@ -372,4 +395,16 @@ def shutdown(self, wait: bool = True, *, cancel_futures: bool = False) -> None:
         wait
             Whether to wait for pending futures.
         """
+        if wait:
+            # ensure all futures are completed before exiting
+            self.lithops_client.wait(show_progressbar=False)
+
+        self._futures.clear()
+
+        # Free output memory and clear lithops internal futures list
+        for f in self.lithops_client.futures:
+            f._call_output = None
+        self.lithops_client.futures.clear()
+
+        # Exit context manager entered during __init__
         self.lithops_client.__exit__(None, None, None)
diff --git a/virtualizarr/tests/test_parallel.py b/virtualizarr/tests/test_parallel.py
index 9aad3fdc..d274cb58 100644
--- a/virtualizarr/tests/test_parallel.py
+++ b/virtualizarr/tests/test_parallel.py
@@ -2,8 +2,13 @@
 
 import pytest
 
-from virtualizarr.parallel import LithopsEagerFunctionExecutor, get_executor
-from virtualizarr.tests import requires_lithops
+from virtualizarr.parallel import (
+    DaskDelayedExecutor,
+    LithopsEagerFunctionExecutor,
+    SerialExecutor,
+    get_executor,
+)
+from virtualizarr.tests import requires_dask, requires_lithops
 
 
 @pytest.mark.flaky
@@ -43,3 +48,55 @@ def test_get_executor_process_pool_mode():
 
     assert ctx is not None, "Expected executor to have a multiprocessing context"
     assert ctx.get_start_method() == "forkserver"
+
+
+def _make_executor(executor_cls):
+    """Create a pytest param for an executor class with appropriate marks."""
+    marks = {
+        "DaskDelayedExecutor": [requires_dask],
+        "LithopsEagerFunctionExecutor": [requires_lithops],
+    }
+    return pytest.param(
+        executor_cls,
+        id=executor_cls.__name__,
+        marks=marks.get(executor_cls.__name__, []),
+    )
+
+
+ALL_CUSTOM_EXECUTORS = [
+    _make_executor(SerialExecutor),
+    _make_executor(DaskDelayedExecutor),
+    _make_executor(LithopsEagerFunctionExecutor),
+]
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("executor_cls", ALL_CUSTOM_EXECUTORS)
+class TestExecutorShutdown:
+    def test_shutdown_clears_futures(self, executor_cls):
+        """Internal _futures list should be empty after shutdown."""
+        with executor_cls() as executor:
+            executor.submit(lambda x: x * 2, 1)
+            executor.submit(lambda x: x + 1, 2)
+            assert len(executor._futures) == 2
+            if executor_cls is LithopsEagerFunctionExecutor:
+                # grab refs before they get cleared
+                lithops_futures = list(executor.lithops_client.futures)
+                assert len(lithops_futures) == 2
+
+        assert len(executor._futures) == 0
+
+        # Lithops-specific: verify lithops internal futures are also cleared
+        if executor_cls is LithopsEagerFunctionExecutor:
+            assert len(executor.lithops_client.futures) == 0
+            assert all(f._call_output is None for f in lithops_futures)
+
+        # Testing idempotency
+        executor.shutdown()
+        assert len(executor._futures) == 0
+
+
+@requires_lithops
+def test_lithops_executor_data_cleaner_disabled():
+    """Data_cleaner must be False to prevent atexit registration of lithops' clean method."""
+    with LithopsEagerFunctionExecutor() as executor:
+        assert executor.lithops_client.data_cleaner is False