diff --git a/benches/benchmarks.rs b/benches/benchmarks.rs
index 7921bb8f4..db908ecf6 100644
--- a/benches/benchmarks.rs
+++ b/benches/benchmarks.rs
@@ -2,16 +2,19 @@ use criterion::{criterion_group, criterion_main, BatchSize, Criterion};
 use nu_cli::eval_source;
 use nu_parser::parse;
 use nu_plugin::{EncodingType, PluginResponse};
-use nu_protocol::{PipelineData, Span, Value};
+use nu_protocol::{engine::EngineState, PipelineData, Span, Value};
 use nu_utils::{get_default_config, get_default_env};
 
+fn load_bench_commands() -> EngineState {
+    nu_command::add_shell_command_context(nu_cmd_lang::create_default_context())
+}
 // FIXME: All benchmarks live in this 1 file to speed up build times when benchmarking.
 // When the *_benchmarks functions were in different files, `cargo bench` would build
 // an executable for every single one - incredibly slowly. Would be nice to figure out
 // a way to split things up again.
 
 fn parser_benchmarks(c: &mut Criterion) {
-    let mut engine_state = nu_command::create_default_context();
+    let mut engine_state = load_bench_commands();
     // parsing config.nu breaks without PWD set
     engine_state.add_env_var(
         "PWD".into(),
@@ -38,7 +41,7 @@ fn parser_benchmarks(c: &mut Criterion) {
 
     c.bench_function("eval default_env.nu", |b| {
         b.iter(|| {
-            let mut engine_state = nu_command::create_default_context();
+            let mut engine_state = load_bench_commands();
             let mut stack = nu_protocol::engine::Stack::new();
             eval_source(
                 &mut engine_state,
@@ -53,7 +56,7 @@ fn parser_benchmarks(c: &mut Criterion) {
 
     c.bench_function("eval default_config.nu", |b| {
         b.iter(|| {
-            let mut engine_state = nu_command::create_default_context();
+            let mut engine_state = load_bench_commands();
             // parsing config.nu breaks without PWD set
             engine_state.add_env_var(
                 "PWD".into(),
@@ -75,7 +78,7 @@ fn parser_benchmarks(c: &mut Criterion) {
 fn eval_benchmarks(c: &mut Criterion) {
     c.bench_function("eval default_env.nu", |b| {
         b.iter(|| {
-            let mut engine_state = nu_command::create_default_context();
+            let mut engine_state = load_bench_commands();
             let mut stack = nu_protocol::engine::Stack::new();
             eval_source(
                 &mut engine_state,
@@ -90,7 +93,7 @@ fn eval_benchmarks(c: &mut Criterion) {
 
     c.bench_function("eval default_config.nu", |b| {
         b.iter(|| {
-            let mut engine_state = nu_command::create_default_context();
+            let mut engine_state = load_bench_commands();
             // parsing config.nu breaks without PWD set
             engine_state.add_env_var(
                 "PWD".into(),