diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 2622625c7..db7c9a768 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -899,6 +899,8 @@ dependencies = [
  "mimalloc",
  "object_store",
  "parking_lot",
+ "prost",
+ "prost-types",
  "pyo3",
  "pyo3-build-config",
  "rand",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 8c205a4cd..4c5203d69 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -42,6 +42,8 @@ datafusion-expr = "23.0.0"
 datafusion-optimizer = "23.0.0"
 datafusion-sql = "23.0.0"
 datafusion-substrait = "23.0.0"
+prost = "0.11"
+prost-types = "0.11"
 uuid = { version = "1.2", features = ["v4"] }
 mimalloc = { version = "0.1", optional = true, default-features = false }
 async-trait = "0.1"
diff --git a/datafusion/tests/test_substrait.py b/datafusion/tests/test_substrait.py
index 9a08b760e..01df2d746 100644
--- a/datafusion/tests/test_substrait.py
+++ b/datafusion/tests/test_substrait.py
@@ -41,6 +41,8 @@ def test_substrait_serialization(ctx):
     substrait_plan = ss.substrait.serde.serialize_to_plan(
         "SELECT * FROM t", ctx
     )
+    substrait_bytes = substrait_plan.encode()
+    assert type(substrait_bytes) is bytes
     substrait_bytes = ss.substrait.serde.serialize_bytes(
         "SELECT * FROM t", ctx
     )
diff --git a/examples/substrait.py b/examples/substrait.py
index c167f7d90..515311d85 100644
--- a/examples/substrait.py
+++ b/examples/substrait.py
@@ -32,8 +32,13 @@
 )
 # type(substrait_plan) -> <class 'datafusion.substrait.plan'>
 
+# Encode it to bytes
+substrait_bytes = substrait_plan.encode()
+# type(substrait_bytes) -> <class 'bytes'>, at this point the bytes can be distributed to file, network, etc safely
+# where they could subsequently be deserialized on the receiving end.
+
 # Alternative serialization approaches
-# type(substrait_bytes) -> <class 'list'>, at this point the bytes can be distributed to file, network, etc safely
+# type(substrait_bytes) -> <class 'bytes'>, at this point the bytes can be distributed to file, network, etc safely
 # where they could subsequently be deserialized on the receiving end.
 substrait_bytes = ss.substrait.serde.serialize_bytes(
     "SELECT * FROM aggregate_test_data", ctx
diff --git a/src/errors.rs b/src/errors.rs
index ce6b3c28a..d12b6ade1 100644
--- a/src/errors.rs
+++ b/src/errors.rs
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ use std::fmt::Debug;
 
 use datafusion::arrow::error::ArrowError;
 use datafusion::error::DataFusionError as InnerDataFusionError;
+use prost::EncodeError;
 use pyo3::{exceptions::PyException, PyErr};
 
 pub type Result<T> = std::result::Result<T, DataFusionError>;
@@ -31,6 +32,7 @@ pub enum DataFusionError {
     ArrowError(ArrowError),
     Common(String),
     PythonError(PyErr),
+    EncodeError(EncodeError),
 }
 
 impl fmt::Display for DataFusionError {
@@ -40,6 +42,7 @@ impl fmt::Display for DataFusionError {
             DataFusionError::ArrowError(e) => write!(f, "Arrow error: {e:?}"),
             DataFusionError::PythonError(e) => write!(f, "Python error {e:?}"),
             DataFusionError::Common(e) => write!(f, "{e}"),
+            DataFusionError::EncodeError(e) => write!(f, "Failed to encode substrait plan: {e}"),
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/substrait.rs b/src/substrait.rs
index 2bde01123..361e9ac4b 100644
--- a/src/substrait.rs
+++ b/src/substrait.rs
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 // specific language governing permissions and limitations
 // under the License.
 
-use pyo3::prelude::*;
+use pyo3::{prelude::*, types::PyBytes};
 
 use crate::context::PySessionContext;
 use crate::errors::{py_datafusion_err, DataFusionError};
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ use crate::utils::wait_for_future;
 use datafusion_substrait::logical_plan::{consumer, producer};
 use datafusion_substrait::serializer;
 use datafusion_substrait::substrait::proto::Plan;
+use prost::Message;
 
 #[pyclass(name = "plan", module = "datafusion.substrait", subclass, unsendable)]
 #[derive(Debug, Clone)]
@@ -32,6 +33,17 @@ pub(crate) struct PyPlan {
     pub(crate) plan: Plan,
 }
 
+#[pymethods]
+impl PyPlan {
+    fn encode(&self, py: Python) -> PyResult<PyObject> {
+        let mut proto_bytes = Vec::<u8>::new();
+        self.plan
+            .encode(&mut proto_bytes)
+            .map_err(|e| DataFusionError::EncodeError(e))?;
+        Ok(PyBytes::new(py, &proto_bytes).into())
+    }
+}
+
 impl From<PyPlan> for Plan {
     fn from(plan: PyPlan) -> Plan {
         plan.plan
@@ -63,16 +75,19 @@ impl PySubstraitSerializer {
     #[staticmethod]
     pub fn serialize_to_plan(sql: &str, ctx: PySessionContext, py: Python) -> PyResult<PyPlan> {
         match PySubstraitSerializer::serialize_bytes(sql, ctx, py) {
-            Ok(proto_bytes) => PySubstraitSerializer::deserialize_bytes(proto_bytes, py),
+            Ok(proto_bytes) => {
+                let proto_bytes: &PyBytes = proto_bytes.as_ref(py).downcast().unwrap();
+                PySubstraitSerializer::deserialize_bytes(proto_bytes.as_bytes().to_vec(), py)
+            }
             Err(e) => Err(py_datafusion_err(e)),
         }
     }
 
     #[staticmethod]
-    pub fn serialize_bytes(sql: &str, ctx: PySessionContext, py: Python) -> PyResult<Vec<u8>> {
+    pub fn serialize_bytes(sql: &str, ctx: PySessionContext, py: Python) -> PyResult<PyObject> {
         let proto_bytes: Vec<u8> = wait_for_future(py, serializer::serialize_bytes(sql, &ctx.ctx))
             .map_err(DataFusionError::from)?;
-        Ok(proto_bytes)
+        Ok(PyBytes::new(py, &proto_bytes).into())
     }
 
     #[staticmethod]
@@ -136,6 +151,7 @@ impl PySubstraitConsumer {
 }
 
 pub(crate) fn init_module(m: &PyModule) -> PyResult<()> {
+    m.add_class::<PyPlan>()?;
     m.add_class::<PySubstraitConsumer>()?;
     m.add_class::<PySubstraitProducer>()?;
     m.add_class::<PySubstraitSerializer>()?;