diff --git a/changes/2921.bugfix.rst b/changes/2921.bugfix.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..65db48654f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changes/2921.bugfix.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Ignore stale child metadata when reconsolidating metadata.
diff --git a/src/zarr/api/asynchronous.py b/src/zarr/api/asynchronous.py
index 285d777258..374c568495 100644
--- a/src/zarr/api/asynchronous.py
+++ b/src/zarr/api/asynchronous.py
@@ -193,7 +193,10 @@ async def consolidate_metadata(
     group = await AsyncGroup.open(store_path, zarr_format=zarr_format, use_consolidated=False)
     group.store_path.store._check_writable()
 
-    members_metadata = {k: v.metadata async for k, v in group.members(max_depth=None)}
+    members_metadata = {
+        k: v.metadata
+        async for k, v in group.members(max_depth=None, use_consolidated_for_children=False)
+    }
     # While consolidating, we want to be explicit about when child groups
     # are empty by inserting an empty dict for consolidated_metadata.metadata
     for k, v in members_metadata.items():
diff --git a/src/zarr/core/group.py b/src/zarr/core/group.py
index da2aa5f754..8d5e9ac68f 100644
--- a/src/zarr/core/group.py
+++ b/src/zarr/core/group.py
@@ -1296,6 +1296,8 @@ async def nmembers(
     async def members(
         self,
         max_depth: int | None = 0,
+        *,
+        use_consolidated_for_children: bool = True,
     ) -> AsyncGenerator[
         tuple[str, AsyncArray[ArrayV2Metadata] | AsyncArray[ArrayV3Metadata] | AsyncGroup],
         None,
@@ -1313,6 +1315,11 @@ async def members(
             default, (``max_depth=0``) only immediate children are included. Set
             ``max_depth=None`` to include all nodes, and some positive integer
             to consider children within that many levels of the root Group.
+        use_consolidated_for_children : bool, default True
+            Whether to use the consolidated metadata of child groups loaded
+            from the store. Note that this only affects groups loaded from the
+            store. If the current Group already has consolidated metadata, it
+            will always be used.
 
         Returns
         -------
@@ -1323,7 +1330,9 @@ async def members(
         """
         if max_depth is not None and max_depth < 0:
             raise ValueError(f"max_depth must be None or >= 0. Got '{max_depth}' instead")
-        async for item in self._members(max_depth=max_depth):
+        async for item in self._members(
+            max_depth=max_depth, use_consolidated_for_children=use_consolidated_for_children
+        ):
             yield item
 
     def _members_consolidated(
@@ -1353,7 +1362,7 @@ def _members_consolidated(
                     yield from obj._members_consolidated(new_depth, prefix=key)
 
     async def _members(
-        self, max_depth: int | None
+        self, max_depth: int | None, *, use_consolidated_for_children: bool = True
     ) -> AsyncGenerator[
         tuple[str, AsyncArray[ArrayV3Metadata] | AsyncArray[ArrayV2Metadata] | AsyncGroup], None
     ]:
@@ -1383,7 +1392,11 @@ async def _members(
         # enforce a concurrency limit by passing a semaphore to all the recursive functions
         semaphore = asyncio.Semaphore(config.get("async.concurrency"))
         async for member in _iter_members_deep(
-            self, max_depth=max_depth, skip_keys=skip_keys, semaphore=semaphore
+            self,
+            max_depth=max_depth,
+            skip_keys=skip_keys,
+            semaphore=semaphore,
+            use_consolidated_for_children=use_consolidated_for_children,
         ):
             yield member
 
@@ -2079,10 +2092,34 @@ def nmembers(self, max_depth: int | None = 0) -> int:
 
         return self._sync(self._async_group.nmembers(max_depth=max_depth))
 
-    def members(self, max_depth: int | None = 0) -> tuple[tuple[str, Array | Group], ...]:
+    def members(
+        self, max_depth: int | None = 0, *, use_consolidated_for_children: bool = True
+    ) -> tuple[tuple[str, Array | Group], ...]:
         """
-        Return the sub-arrays and sub-groups of this group as a tuple of (name, array | group)
-        pairs
+        Returns an AsyncGenerator over the arrays and groups contained in this group.
+        This method requires that `store_path.store` supports directory listing.
+
+        The results are not guaranteed to be ordered.
+
+        Parameters
+        ----------
+        max_depth : int, default 0
+            The maximum number of levels of the hierarchy to include. By
+            default, (``max_depth=0``) only immediate children are included. Set
+            ``max_depth=None`` to include all nodes, and some positive integer
+            to consider children within that many levels of the root Group.
+        use_consolidated_for_children : bool, default True
+            Whether to use the consolidated metadata of child groups loaded
+            from the store. Note that this only affects groups loaded from the
+            store. If the current Group already has consolidated metadata, it
+            will always be used.
+
+        Returns
+        -------
+        path:
+            A string giving the path to the target, relative to the Group ``self``.
+        value: AsyncArray or AsyncGroup
+            The AsyncArray or AsyncGroup that is a child of ``self``.
         """
         _members = self._sync_iter(self._async_group.members(max_depth=max_depth))
 
@@ -3317,6 +3354,7 @@ async def _iter_members_deep(
     max_depth: int | None,
     skip_keys: tuple[str, ...],
     semaphore: asyncio.Semaphore | None = None,
+    use_consolidated_for_children: bool = True,
 ) -> AsyncGenerator[
     tuple[str, AsyncArray[ArrayV3Metadata] | AsyncArray[ArrayV2Metadata] | AsyncGroup], None
 ]:
@@ -3334,6 +3372,11 @@ async def _iter_members_deep(
         A tuple of keys to skip when iterating over the possible members of the group.
     semaphore : asyncio.Semaphore | None
         An optional semaphore to use for concurrency control.
+    use_consolidated_for_children : bool, default True
+        Whether to use the consolidated metadata of child groups loaded
+        from the store. Note that this only affects groups loaded from the
+        store. If the current Group already has consolidated metadata, it
+        will always be used.
 
     Yields
     ------
@@ -3348,8 +3391,19 @@ async def _iter_members_deep(
     else:
         new_depth = max_depth - 1
     async for name, node in _iter_members(group, skip_keys=skip_keys, semaphore=semaphore):
+        is_group = isinstance(node, AsyncGroup)
+        if (
+            is_group
+            and not use_consolidated_for_children
+            and node.metadata.consolidated_metadata is not None  # type: ignore [union-attr]
+        ):
+            node = cast("AsyncGroup", node)
+            # We've decided not to trust consolidated metadata at this point, because we're
+            # reconsolidating the metadata, for example.
+            node = replace(node, metadata=replace(node.metadata, consolidated_metadata=None))
         yield name, node
-        if isinstance(node, AsyncGroup) and do_recursion:
+        if is_group and do_recursion:
+            node = cast("AsyncGroup", node)
             to_recurse[name] = _iter_members_deep(
                 node, max_depth=new_depth, skip_keys=skip_keys, semaphore=semaphore
             )
diff --git a/tests/test_metadata/test_consolidated.py b/tests/test_metadata/test_consolidated.py
index c1ff2e130a..42a14869fc 100644
--- a/tests/test_metadata/test_consolidated.py
+++ b/tests/test_metadata/test_consolidated.py
@@ -573,3 +573,47 @@ async def test_use_consolidated_false(
             assert len([x async for x in good.members()]) == 2
             assert good.metadata.consolidated_metadata
             assert sorted(good.metadata.consolidated_metadata.metadata) == ["a", "b"]
+
+    async def test_stale_child_metadata_ignored(self, memory_store: zarr.storage.MemoryStore):
+        # https://github.com/zarr-developers/zarr-python/issues/2921
+        # When consolidating metadata, we should ignore any (possibly stale) metadata
+        # from previous consolidations, *including at child nodes*.
+        root = await zarr.api.asynchronous.group(store=memory_store, zarr_format=3)
+        await root.create_group("foo")
+        await zarr.api.asynchronous.consolidate_metadata(memory_store, path="foo")
+        await root.create_group("foo/bar/spam")
+
+        await zarr.api.asynchronous.consolidate_metadata(memory_store)
+
+        reopened = await zarr.api.asynchronous.open_consolidated(store=memory_store, zarr_format=3)
+        result = [x[0] async for x in reopened.members(max_depth=None)]
+        expected = ["foo", "foo/bar", "foo/bar/spam"]
+        assert result == expected
+
+    async def test_use_consolidated_for_children_members(
+        self, memory_store: zarr.storage.MemoryStore
+    ):
+        # A test that has *unconsolidated* metadata at the root group, but discovers
+        # a child group with consolidated metadata.
+
+        root = await zarr.api.asynchronous.create_group(store=memory_store)
+        await root.create_group("a/b")
+        # Consolidate metadata at "a/b"
+        await zarr.api.asynchronous.consolidate_metadata(memory_store, path="a/b")
+
+        # Add a new group a/b/c, that's not present in the CM at "a/b"
+        await root.create_group("a/b/c")
+
+        # Now according to the consolidated metadata, "a" has children ["b"]
+        # but according to the unconsolidated metadata, "a" has children ["b", "c"]
+        group = await zarr.api.asynchronous.open_group(store=memory_store, path="a")
+        with pytest.warns(UserWarning, match="Object at 'c' not found"):
+            result = sorted([x[0] async for x in group.members(max_depth=None)])
+        expected = ["b"]
+        assert result == expected
+
+        result = sorted(
+            [x[0] async for x in group.members(max_depth=None, use_consolidated_for_children=False)]
+        )
+        expected = ["b", "b/c"]
+        assert result == expected