diff --git a/core/testcontainers/core/container.py b/core/testcontainers/core/container.py
index 90967e95..6bf2f5b4 100644
--- a/core/testcontainers/core/container.py
+++ b/core/testcontainers/core/container.py
@@ -1,10 +1,12 @@
 import contextlib
+from os import PathLike
 from socket import socket
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Optional, Union
 
 import docker.errors
 from docker import version
 from docker.types import EndpointConfig
+from dotenv import dotenv_values
 from typing_extensions import Self, assert_never
 
 from testcontainers.core.config import ConnectionMode
@@ -57,6 +59,12 @@ def with_env(self, key: str, value: str) -> Self:
         self.env[key] = value
         return self
 
+    def with_env_file(self, env_file: Union[str, PathLike]) -> Self:
+        env_values = dotenv_values(env_file)
+        for key, value in env_values.items():
+            self.with_env(key, value)
+        return self
+
     def with_bind_ports(self, container: int, host: Optional[int] = None) -> Self:
         self.ports[container] = host
         return self
diff --git a/core/tests/test_core.py b/core/tests/test_core.py
index 42321e28..9312b0bc 100644
--- a/core/tests/test_core.py
+++ b/core/tests/test_core.py
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+import tempfile
+from pathlib import Path
+
 from testcontainers.core.container import DockerContainer
 
 
@@ -17,3 +20,29 @@ def test_get_logs():
         assert isinstance(stdout, bytes)
         assert isinstance(stderr, bytes)
         assert "Hello from Docker".encode() in stdout, "There should be something on stdout"
+
+
+def test_docker_container_with_env_file():
+    """Test that environment variables can be loaded from a file"""
+    with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as temp_directory:
+        env_file_path = Path(temp_directory) / "env_file"
+        with open(env_file_path, "w") as f:
+            f.write(
+                """
+                TEST_ENV_VAR=hello
+                NUMBER=123
+                DOMAIN=example.org
+                ADMIN_EMAIL=admin@${DOMAIN}
+                ROOT_URL=${DOMAIN}/app
+                """
+            )
+        container = DockerContainer("alpine").with_command("tail -f /dev/null")  # Keep the container running
+        container.with_env_file(env_file_path)  # Load the environment variables from the file
+        with container:
+            output = container.exec("env").output.decode("utf-8").strip()
+            assert "TEST_ENV_VAR=hello" in output
+            assert "NUMBER=123" in output
+            assert "DOMAIN=example.org" in output
+            assert "ADMIN_EMAIL=admin@example.org" in output
+            assert "ROOT_URL=example.org/app" in output
+            print(output)
diff --git a/poetry.lock b/poetry.lock
index b83de36f..bd54659e 100644
--- a/poetry.lock
+++ b/poetry.lock
@@ -4678,4 +4678,4 @@ weaviate = ["weaviate-client"]
 [metadata]
 lock-version = "2.0"
 python-versions = ">=3.9,<4.0"
-content-hash = "7ffcf39257e1ac79d951b7ccb2cdb972beaaef35d0cd1f722d2964c5bdced674"
+content-hash = "5c400cc87dc9708588ee8d7d50646de789235732d868b74ebc43f1cf2a403c88"
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index bd4e7ed0..a44cc3a3 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -83,6 +83,7 @@ docker = "*" # ">=4.0"
 urllib3 = "*" # "<2.0"
 wrapt = "*" # "^1.16.0"
 typing-extensions = "*"
+python-dotenv = "*"
 
 # community modules
 python-arango = { version = "^7.8", optional = true }