diff --git a/plugin/clouddns/README.md b/plugin/clouddns/README.md
index 6a1e92e2e..506ecbabc 100644
--- a/plugin/clouddns/README.md
+++ b/plugin/clouddns/README.md
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ the hosted zone.
 clouddns [ZONE:PROJECT_ID:HOSTED_ZONE_NAME...] {
     credentials [FILENAME]
     fallthrough [ZONES...]
+    refresh DURATION
 }
 ~~~
 
@@ -45,6 +46,12 @@ clouddns [ZONE:PROJECT_ID:HOSTED_ZONE_NAME...] {
     authoritative. If specific zones are listed (for example `in-addr.arpa` and `ip6.arpa`), then
     only queries for those zones will be subject to fallthrough.
 
+*   `refresh` can be used to control how long between record retrievals from Cloud DNS. It requires
+    a duration string as a parameter to specify the duration between update cycles. Each update
+    cycle may result in many Cloud DNS API calls depending on how many domains use this plugin and
+    how many records are in each. Adjusting the update frequency may help reduce the potential of
+    API throttling by Google Cloud. If not provided the default refresh is 1 minute.
+
 ## Examples
 
 Enable clouddns with implicit GCP credentials and resolve CNAMEs via 10.0.0.1:
@@ -73,3 +80,13 @@ Enable clouddns with multiple hosted zones with the same domain:
     clouddns example.org.:gcp-example-project:example-zone example.com.:gcp-example-project:other-example-zone
 }
 ~~~
+
+Enable clouddns and refresh records every 3 minutes:
+
+~~~ txt
+example.org {
+    clouddns example.org.:gcp-example-project:example-zone {
+        refresh 3m
+    }
+}
+~~~
diff --git a/plugin/clouddns/clouddns.go b/plugin/clouddns/clouddns.go
index 08b842848..9be7fed54 100644
--- a/plugin/clouddns/clouddns.go
+++ b/plugin/clouddns/clouddns.go
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ type CloudDNS struct {
 	zoneNames []string
 	client    gcpDNS
 	upstream  *upstream.Upstream
+	refresh   time.Duration
 
 	zMu   sync.RWMutex
 	zones zones
@@ -46,8 +47,9 @@ type zones map[string][]*zone
 // string of project name and hosted zone name lists as its values, validates
 // that each domain name/zone id pair does exist, and returns a new *CloudDNS.
 // In addition to this, upstream is passed for doing recursive queries against CNAMEs.
+// refresh sets how often the zones are refreshed from Cloud DNS.
 // Returns error if it cannot verify any given domain name/zone id pair.
-func New(_ctx context.Context, c gcpDNS, keys map[string][]string, up *upstream.Upstream) (*CloudDNS, error) {
+func New(_ctx context.Context, c gcpDNS, keys map[string][]string, up *upstream.Upstream, refresh time.Duration) (*CloudDNS, error) {
 	zones := make(map[string][]*zone, len(keys))
 	zoneNames := make([]string, 0, len(keys))
 	for dnsName, hostedZoneDetails := range keys {
@@ -72,6 +74,7 @@ func New(_ctx context.Context, c gcpDNS, keys map[string][]string, up *upstream.
 		zoneNames: zoneNames,
 		zones:     zones,
 		upstream:  up,
+		refresh:   refresh,
 	}, nil
 }
 
@@ -82,11 +85,10 @@ func (h *CloudDNS) Run(ctx context.Context) error {
 		return err
 	}
 	go func() {
-		delay := 1 * time.Minute
-		timer := time.NewTimer(delay)
+		timer := time.NewTimer(h.refresh)
 		defer timer.Stop()
 		for {
-			timer.Reset(delay)
+			timer.Reset(h.refresh)
 			select {
 			case <-ctx.Done():
 				log.Debugf("Breaking out of CloudDNS update loop for %v: %v", h.zoneNames, ctx.Err())
diff --git a/plugin/clouddns/clouddns_test.go b/plugin/clouddns/clouddns_test.go
index d42354415..2673a259c 100644
--- a/plugin/clouddns/clouddns_test.go
+++ b/plugin/clouddns/clouddns_test.go
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import (
 	"reflect"
 	"sync"
 	"testing"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/coredns/coredns/plugin/file"
 	"github.com/coredns/coredns/plugin/pkg/dnstest"
@@ -134,7 +135,7 @@ func (c fakeGCPClient) listRRSets(_ctx context.Context, projectName, hostedZoneN
 func TestCloudDNS(t *testing.T) {
 	ctx := context.Background()
 
-	r, err := New(ctx, fakeGCPClient{}, map[string][]string{"bad.": {"bad-project:bad-zone"}}, &upstream.Upstream{})
+	r, err := New(ctx, fakeGCPClient{}, map[string][]string{"bad.": {"bad-project:bad-zone"}}, &upstream.Upstream{}, time.Minute)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("Failed to create Cloud DNS: %v", err)
 	}
@@ -142,7 +143,7 @@ func TestCloudDNS(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("Expected errors for zone bad.")
 	}
 
-	r, err = New(ctx, fakeGCPClient{}, map[string][]string{"org.": {"sample-project-1:sample-zone-2", "sample-project-1:sample-zone-1"}, "gov.": {"sample-project-1:sample-zone-2", "sample-project-1:sample-zone-1"}}, &upstream.Upstream{})
+	r, err = New(ctx, fakeGCPClient{}, map[string][]string{"org.": {"sample-project-1:sample-zone-2", "sample-project-1:sample-zone-1"}, "gov.": {"sample-project-1:sample-zone-2", "sample-project-1:sample-zone-1"}}, &upstream.Upstream{}, time.Minute)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("Failed to create Cloud DNS: %v", err)
 	}
@@ -339,6 +340,7 @@ func TestCloudDNSConcurrentServeDNS(t *testing.T) {
 			"org.": {"sample-project-1:sample-zone-2", "sample-project-1:sample-zone-1"},
 		},
 		&upstream.Upstream{},
+		time.Minute,
 	)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("Failed to create Cloud DNS: %v", err)
@@ -406,7 +408,8 @@ func TestCloudDNSConcurrentLookupNameCache(t *testing.T) {
 		map[string][]string{
 			"org.": {"sample-project-1:sample-zone-2", "sample-project-1:sample-zone-1"},
 		},
-		&upstream.Upstream{})
+		&upstream.Upstream{},
+		time.Minute)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("Failed to create Cloud DNS: %v", err)
 	}
diff --git a/plugin/clouddns/setup.go b/plugin/clouddns/setup.go
index fe2035c3e..9306134ac 100644
--- a/plugin/clouddns/setup.go
+++ b/plugin/clouddns/setup.go
@@ -5,7 +5,9 @@ import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
+	"strconv"
 	"strings"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/coredns/caddy"
 	"github.com/coredns/coredns/core/dnsserver"
@@ -64,6 +66,7 @@ func setup(c *caddy.Controller) error {
 		}
 
 		var opt option.ClientOption
+		refresh := time.Duration(1) * time.Minute // default update frequency to 1 minute
 		for c.NextBlock() {
 			switch c.Val() {
 			case "upstream":
@@ -79,6 +82,22 @@ func setup(c *caddy.Controller) error {
 				opt = option.WithAuthCredentialsFile(credType, c.Val())
 			case "fallthrough":
 				fall.SetZonesFromArgs(c.RemainingArgs())
+			case "refresh":
+				if !c.NextArg() {
+					return plugin.Error("clouddns", c.ArgErr())
+				}
+				refreshStr := c.Val()
+				_, err := strconv.Atoi(refreshStr)
+				if err == nil {
+					refreshStr += "s"
+				}
+				refresh, err = time.ParseDuration(refreshStr)
+				if err != nil {
+					return plugin.Error("clouddns", c.Errf("unable to parse duration: %v", err))
+				}
+				if refresh <= 0 {
+					return plugin.Error("clouddns", c.Errf("refresh interval must be greater than 0: %q", refreshStr))
+				}
 			default:
 				return plugin.Error("clouddns", c.Errf("unknown property %q", c.Val()))
 			}
@@ -91,7 +110,7 @@ func setup(c *caddy.Controller) error {
 			return err
 		}
 
-		h, err := New(ctx, client, keys, up)
+		h, err := New(ctx, client, keys, up, refresh)
 		if err != nil {
 			cancel()
 			return plugin.Error("clouddns", c.Errf("failed to create plugin: %v", err))
diff --git a/plugin/clouddns/setup_test.go b/plugin/clouddns/setup_test.go
index 1880395be..905347137 100644
--- a/plugin/clouddns/setup_test.go
+++ b/plugin/clouddns/setup_test.go
@@ -55,6 +55,24 @@ func TestSetupCloudDNS(t *testing.T) {
 }`, false},
 		{`clouddns example.org.:example-project:zone-name {
     credentials
+}`, true},
+		{`clouddns example.org.:example-project:zone-name {
+    refresh 3m
+}`, false},
+		{`clouddns example.org.:example-project:zone-name {
+    refresh 30
+}`, false},
+		{`clouddns example.org.:example-project:zone-name {
+    refresh
+}`, true},
+		{`clouddns example.org.:example-project:zone-name {
+    refresh abc
+}`, true},
+		{`clouddns example.org.:example-project:zone-name {
+    refresh 0
+}`, true},
+		{`clouddns example.org.:example-project:zone-name {
+    refresh -5m
 }`, true},
 		{`clouddns example.org.:example-project:zone-name example.org.:example-project:zone-name {
 	}`, true},