diff --git a/rust/lance-datafusion/src/exec.rs b/rust/lance-datafusion/src/exec.rs
index cad0a359c0..8872d8a6dc 100644
--- a/rust/lance-datafusion/src/exec.rs
+++ b/rust/lance-datafusion/src/exec.rs
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@ use datafusion::{
     datasource::streaming::StreamingTable,
     execution::{
         context::{SessionConfig, SessionContext, SessionState},
+        disk_manager::DiskManagerConfig,
+        memory_pool::GreedyMemoryPool,
         runtime_env::{RuntimeConfig, RuntimeEnv},
         TaskContext,
     },
@@ -147,12 +149,36 @@ impl ExecutionPlan for OneShotExec {
     }
 }
 
+#[derive(Debug, Clone)]
+pub struct LanceExecutionOptions {
+    pub use_spilling: bool,
+    pub mem_pool_size: u64,
+}
+
+impl Default for LanceExecutionOptions {
+    fn default() -> Self {
+        Self {
+            use_spilling: false,
+            mem_pool_size: 1024 * 1024 * 100,
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 /// Executes a plan using default session & runtime configuration
 ///
 /// Only executes a single partition.  Panics if the plan has more than one partition.
-pub fn execute_plan(plan: Arc<dyn ExecutionPlan>) -> Result<SendableRecordBatchStream> {
+pub fn execute_plan(
+    plan: Arc<dyn ExecutionPlan>,
+    options: LanceExecutionOptions,
+) -> Result<SendableRecordBatchStream> {
     let session_config = SessionConfig::new();
-    let runtime_config = RuntimeConfig::new();
+    let mut runtime_config = RuntimeConfig::new();
+    if options.use_spilling {
+        runtime_config.disk_manager = DiskManagerConfig::NewOs;
+        runtime_config.memory_pool = Some(Arc::new(GreedyMemoryPool::new(
+            options.mem_pool_size as usize,
+        )));
+    }
     let runtime_env = Arc::new(RuntimeEnv::new(runtime_config)?);
     let session_state = SessionState::new_with_config_rt(session_config, runtime_env);
     // NOTE: we are only executing the first partition here. Therefore, if
diff --git a/rust/lance-index/src/scalar/btree.rs b/rust/lance-index/src/scalar/btree.rs
index 1d4cd9acf5..a8af03e278 100644
--- a/rust/lance-index/src/scalar/btree.rs
+++ b/rust/lance-index/src/scalar/btree.rs
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ use futures::{
 use lance_core::{Error, Result};
 use lance_datafusion::{
     chunker::chunk_concat_stream,
-    exec::{execute_plan, OneShotExec},
+    exec::{execute_plan, LanceExecutionOptions, OneShotExec},
 };
 use roaring::RoaringBitmap;
 use serde::{Serialize, Serializer};
@@ -1124,7 +1124,13 @@ impl BtreeTrainingSource for BTreeUpdater {
         // them back into a single partition.
         let all_data = Arc::new(UnionExec::new(vec![old_input, new_input]));
         let ordered = Arc::new(SortPreservingMergeExec::new(vec![sort_expr], all_data));
-        let unchunked = execute_plan(ordered)?;
+        let unchunked = execute_plan(
+            ordered,
+            LanceExecutionOptions {
+                use_spilling: true,
+                ..Default::default()
+            },
+        )?;
         Ok(chunk_concat_stream(unchunked, chunk_size as usize))
     }
 }
diff --git a/rust/lance/src/dataset/scanner.rs b/rust/lance/src/dataset/scanner.rs
index 611f1067d8..986dd40704 100644
--- a/rust/lance/src/dataset/scanner.rs
+++ b/rust/lance/src/dataset/scanner.rs
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ use futures::stream::{Stream, StreamExt};
 use futures::TryStreamExt;
 use lance_arrow::floats::{coerce_float_vector, FloatType};
 use lance_core::{ROW_ID, ROW_ID_FIELD};
-use lance_datafusion::exec::execute_plan;
+use lance_datafusion::exec::{execute_plan, LanceExecutionOptions};
 use lance_datafusion::expr::parse_substrait;
 use lance_index::vector::{Query, DIST_COL};
 use lance_index::{scalar::expression::ScalarIndexExpr, DatasetIndexExt};
@@ -667,12 +667,18 @@ impl Scanner {
     #[instrument(skip_all)]
     pub async fn try_into_stream(&self) -> Result<DatasetRecordBatchStream> {
         let plan = self.create_plan().await?;
-        Ok(DatasetRecordBatchStream::new(execute_plan(plan)?))
+        Ok(DatasetRecordBatchStream::new(execute_plan(
+            plan,
+            LanceExecutionOptions::default(),
+        )?))
     }
 
-    pub(crate) async fn try_into_dfstream(&self) -> Result<SendableRecordBatchStream> {
+    pub(crate) async fn try_into_dfstream(
+        &self,
+        options: LanceExecutionOptions,
+    ) -> Result<SendableRecordBatchStream> {
         let plan = self.create_plan().await?;
-        execute_plan(plan)
+        execute_plan(plan, options)
     }
 
     pub async fn try_into_batch(&self) -> Result<RecordBatch> {
@@ -705,7 +711,7 @@ impl Scanner {
             plan,
             plan_schema,
         )?);
-        let mut stream = execute_plan(count_plan)?;
+        let mut stream = execute_plan(count_plan, LanceExecutionOptions::default())?;
 
         // A count plan will always return a single batch with a single row.
         if let Some(first_batch) = stream.next().await {
diff --git a/rust/lance/src/index/scalar.rs b/rust/lance/src/index/scalar.rs
index 7e5851b0fd..2202cc7aeb 100644
--- a/rust/lance/src/index/scalar.rs
+++ b/rust/lance/src/index/scalar.rs
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ use std::sync::Arc;
 
 use async_trait::async_trait;
 use datafusion::physical_plan::SendableRecordBatchStream;
-use lance_datafusion::chunker::chunk_concat_stream;
+use lance_datafusion::{chunker::chunk_concat_stream, exec::LanceExecutionOptions};
 use lance_index::scalar::{
     btree::{train_btree_index, BTreeIndex, BtreeTrainingSource},
     flat::FlatIndexMetadata,
@@ -63,7 +63,12 @@ impl BtreeTrainingSource for TrainingRequest {
             )]))?
             .project(&[&self.column])?;
 
-        let ordered_batches = scan.try_into_dfstream().await?;
+        let ordered_batches = scan
+            .try_into_dfstream(LanceExecutionOptions {
+                use_spilling: true,
+                ..Default::default()
+            })
+            .await?;
         Ok(chunk_concat_stream(ordered_batches, chunk_size as usize))
     }
 }