diff --git a/plugins/vi-mode/vi-mode.plugin.zsh b/plugins/vi-mode/vi-mode.plugin.zsh
index 1de8bf91a..ebf1a4666 100644
--- a/plugins/vi-mode/vi-mode.plugin.zsh
+++ b/plugins/vi-mode/vi-mode.plugin.zsh
@@ -34,9 +34,10 @@ bindkey -v
 autoload -Uz edit-command-line
 bindkey -M vicmd 'v' edit-command-line
 
-# allow ctrl-p, ctrl-n for navigate history (standard behaviour)
+# allow ctrl-p, ctrl-n, ctrl-r for navigate history (standard behaviour)
 bindkey '^P' up-history
 bindkey '^N' down-history
+bindkey '^r' history-incremental-search-backward
 
 # allow ctrl-h, ctrl-w, ctrl-? for char and word deletion (standard behaviour)
 bindkey '^?' backward-delete-char