diff --git a/python/dask_cudf/dask_cudf/backends.py b/python/dask_cudf/dask_cudf/backends.py
index 65d9c438fba..b0da82eaeee 100644
--- a/python/dask_cudf/dask_cudf/backends.py
+++ b/python/dask_cudf/dask_cudf/backends.py
@@ -481,6 +481,31 @@ def sizeof_cudf_series_index(obj):
     return obj.memory_usage()
 
 
+# TODO: Remove try/except when cudf is pinned to dask>=2023.10.0
+try:
+    from dask.dataframe.dispatch import partd_encode_dispatch
+
+    @partd_encode_dispatch.register(cudf.DataFrame)
+    def _simple_cudf_encode(_):
+        # Basic pickle-based encoding for a partd k-v store
+        import pickle
+        from functools import partial
+
+        import partd
+
+        def join(dfs):
+            if not dfs:
+                return cudf.DataFrame()
+            else:
+                return cudf.concat(dfs)
+
+        dumps = partial(pickle.dumps, protocol=pickle.HIGHEST_PROTOCOL)
+        return partial(partd.Encode, dumps, pickle.loads, join)
+
+except ImportError:
+    pass
+
+
 def _default_backend(func, *args, **kwargs):
     # Utility to call a dask.dataframe function with
     # the default ("pandas") backend
diff --git a/python/dask_cudf/dask_cudf/tests/test_sort.py b/python/dask_cudf/dask_cudf/tests/test_sort.py
index 94609b180d6..e58255cda06 100644
--- a/python/dask_cudf/dask_cudf/tests/test_sort.py
+++ b/python/dask_cudf/dask_cudf/tests/test_sort.py
@@ -114,3 +114,14 @@ def test_sort_values_empty_string(by):
     if "a" in by:
         expect = df.sort_values(by)
         assert dd.assert_eq(got, expect, check_index=False)
+
+
+def test_disk_shuffle():
+    try:
+        from dask.dataframe.dispatch import partd_encode_dispatch  # noqa: F401
+    except ImportError:
+        pytest.skip("need a version of dask that has partd_encode_dispatch")
+    df = cudf.DataFrame({"a": [1, 2, 3] * 20, "b": [4, 5, 6, 7] * 15})
+    ddf = dd.from_pandas(df, npartitions=4)
+    got = dd.DataFrame.shuffle(ddf, "a", shuffle="disk")
+    dd.assert_eq(got, df)