diff --git a/haystack/components/generators/openai_image_generator.py b/haystack/components/generators/openai_image_generator.py
index 6605f991524..de690416b88 100644
--- a/haystack/components/generators/openai_image_generator.py
+++ b/haystack/components/generators/openai_image_generator.py
@@ -230,6 +230,8 @@ def to_dict(self) -> dict[str, Any]:
             api_key=self.api_key,
             api_base_url=self.api_base_url,
             organization=self.organization,
+            timeout=self.timeout,
+            max_retries=self.max_retries,
             http_client_kwargs=self.http_client_kwargs,
         )
 
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/openai-image-generator-serialize-client-settings-3d7c1a9e5b40f286.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/openai-image-generator-serialize-client-settings-3d7c1a9e5b40f286.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..93062054133
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/openai-image-generator-serialize-client-settings-3d7c1a9e5b40f286.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+---
+fixes:
+  - |
+    ``OpenAIImageGenerator.to_dict()`` now serializes ``timeout`` and ``max_retries``, like the other OpenAI-backed
+    components already do. Previously both were dropped, so a pipeline that was serialized and loaded back silently
+    fell back to the ``OPENAI_TIMEOUT``/``OPENAI_MAX_RETRIES`` environment variables or to the 30 seconds and 5
+    retries defaults.
diff --git a/test/components/generators/test_openai_image_generator.py b/test/components/generators/test_openai_image_generator.py
index 65abe223da6..769c5fdf8d4 100644
--- a/test/components/generators/test_openai_image_generator.py
+++ b/test/components/generators/test_openai_image_generator.py
@@ -88,6 +88,8 @@ def test_to_dict(self):
                 "api_key": {"type": "env_var", "env_vars": ["OPENAI_API_KEY"], "strict": True},
                 "api_base_url": None,
                 "organization": None,
+                "timeout": None,
+                "max_retries": None,
                 "http_client_kwargs": None,
             },
         }
@@ -114,6 +116,8 @@ def test_to_dict_with_params(self):
                 "api_key": {"type": "env_var", "env_vars": ["EXAMPLE_API_KEY"], "strict": True},
                 "api_base_url": "https://api.openai.com",
                 "organization": "test-org",
+                "timeout": 60.0,
+                "max_retries": 10,
                 "http_client_kwargs": {"proxy": "http://localhost:8080"},
             },
         }
@@ -128,6 +132,8 @@ def test_from_dict(self):
                 "api_key": {"type": "env_var", "env_vars": ["OPENAI_API_KEY"], "strict": True},
                 "api_base_url": None,
                 "organization": None,
+                "timeout": 60.0,
+                "max_retries": 10,
                 "http_client_kwargs": None,
             },
         }
@@ -136,6 +142,8 @@ def test_from_dict(self):
         assert generator.quality == "auto"
         assert generator.size == "1024x1024"
         assert generator.api_key.to_dict() == {"type": "env_var", "env_vars": ["OPENAI_API_KEY"], "strict": True}
+        assert pytest.approx(generator.timeout) == 60.0
+        assert generator.max_retries == 10
         assert generator.http_client_kwargs is None
 
     def test_from_dict_default_params(self):
@@ -163,6 +171,12 @@ def test_run(self, mock_image_response):
         assert response["images"] == ["test-b64-json"]
         assert response["revised_prompt"] == "test-prompt"
 
+    def test_to_dict_from_dict_roundtrip_keeps_client_kwargs(self, monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch) -> None:
+        monkeypatch.setenv("OPENAI_API_KEY", "test-api-key")
+        generator = OpenAIImageGenerator(timeout=60.0, max_retries=10)
+        deserialized = OpenAIImageGenerator.from_dict(generator.to_dict())
+        assert deserialized._client_kwargs() == generator._client_kwargs()
+
     @pytest.mark.skipif(
         not os.environ.get("OPENAI_API_KEY", None),
         reason="Export an env var called OPENAI_API_KEY containing the OpenAI API key to run this test.",