diff --git a/iox_query/src/physical_optimizer/chunk_extraction.rs b/iox_query/src/physical_optimizer/chunk_extraction.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d891c78f19
--- /dev/null
+++ b/iox_query/src/physical_optimizer/chunk_extraction.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,233 @@
+use std::sync::Arc;
+
+use datafusion::physical_plan::{
+    empty::EmptyExec, file_format::ParquetExec, union::UnionExec, visit_execution_plan,
+    ExecutionPlan, ExecutionPlanVisitor,
+};
+use schema::Schema;
+
+use crate::{
+    provider::{PartitionedFileExt, RecordBatchesExec},
+    QueryChunk,
+};
+
+/// Extract chunks and schema from plans created with [`chunks_to_physical_nodes`].
+///
+/// Returns `None` if no chunks (or an [`EmptyExec`] in case that no chunks where passed to
+/// [`chunks_to_physical_nodes`]) were found or if the chunk data is inconsistent.
+///
+/// Note that this only works on the direct output of [`chunks_to_physical_nodes`]. If the plan is wrapped into
+/// additional nodes (like de-duplication, filtering, projection) then NO data will be returned.
+///
+/// [`chunks_to_physical_nodes`]: crate::provider::chunks_to_physical_nodes
+#[allow(dead_code)]
+pub fn extract_chunks(plan: &dyn ExecutionPlan) -> Option<(Schema, Vec<Arc<dyn QueryChunk>>)> {
+    let mut visitor = ExtractChunksVisitor::default();
+    visit_execution_plan(plan, &mut visitor).ok()?;
+    visitor.schema.map(|schema| (schema, visitor.chunks))
+}
+
+#[derive(Debug, Default)]
+struct ExtractChunksVisitor {
+    chunks: Vec<Arc<dyn QueryChunk>>,
+    schema: Option<Schema>,
+}
+
+impl ExtractChunksVisitor {
+    fn add_schema(&mut self, schema: &Schema) -> Result<(), ()> {
+        if let Some(existing) = &self.schema {
+            if existing != schema {
+                return Err(());
+            }
+        } else {
+            self.schema = Some(schema.clone());
+        }
+
+        Ok(())
+    }
+
+    fn add_chunk(&mut self, chunk: Arc<dyn QueryChunk>) -> Result<(), ()> {
+        self.add_schema(chunk.schema())?;
+        self.chunks.push(chunk);
+        Ok(())
+    }
+}
+
+impl ExecutionPlanVisitor for ExtractChunksVisitor {
+    type Error = ();
+
+    fn pre_visit(&mut self, plan: &dyn ExecutionPlan) -> Result<bool, Self::Error> {
+        let plan_any = plan.as_any();
+
+        if let Some(record_batches_exec) = plan_any.downcast_ref::<RecordBatchesExec>() {
+            for chunk in record_batches_exec.chunks() {
+                self.add_chunk(Arc::clone(chunk))?;
+            }
+        } else if let Some(parquet_exec) = plan_any.downcast_ref::<ParquetExec>() {
+            for group in &parquet_exec.base_config().file_groups {
+                for file in group {
+                    let ext = file
+                        .extensions
+                        .as_ref()
+                        .and_then(|any| any.downcast_ref::<PartitionedFileExt>())
+                        .ok_or(())?;
+                    self.add_chunk(Arc::clone(&ext.0))?;
+                }
+            }
+        } else if let Some(empty_exec) = plan_any.downcast_ref::<EmptyExec>() {
+            // should not produce dummy data
+            if empty_exec.produce_one_row() {
+                return Err(());
+            }
+
+            let schema = Schema::try_from(empty_exec.schema()).map_err(|_| ())?;
+            self.add_schema(&schema)?;
+        } else if plan_any.downcast_ref::<UnionExec>().is_some() {
+            // continue visiting
+        } else {
+            // unsupported node
+            return Err(());
+        }
+
+        Ok(true)
+    }
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use crate::{
+        provider::chunks_to_physical_nodes, test::TestChunk, util::df_physical_expr, QueryChunkMeta,
+    };
+    use arrow::datatypes::{DataType, Field, Schema as ArrowSchema};
+    use data_types::ChunkId;
+    use datafusion::{
+        execution::context::TaskContext,
+        physical_plan::filter::FilterExec,
+        prelude::{col, lit, SessionConfig, SessionContext},
+    };
+    use predicate::Predicate;
+
+    use super::*;
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_roundtrip_empty() {
+        let schema = chunk(1).schema().clone();
+        assert_roundtrip(schema, vec![]);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_roundtrip_single_record_batch() {
+        let chunk1 = chunk(1);
+        assert_roundtrip(chunk1.schema().clone(), vec![Arc::new(chunk1)]);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_roundtrip_single_parquet() {
+        let chunk1 = chunk(1).with_dummy_parquet_file();
+        assert_roundtrip(chunk1.schema().clone(), vec![Arc::new(chunk1)]);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_roundtrip_many_chunks() {
+        let chunk1 = chunk(1).with_dummy_parquet_file();
+        let chunk2 = chunk(2).with_dummy_parquet_file();
+        let chunk3 = chunk(3).with_dummy_parquet_file();
+        let chunk4 = chunk(4);
+        let chunk5 = chunk(5);
+        assert_roundtrip(
+            chunk1.schema().clone(),
+            vec![
+                Arc::new(chunk1),
+                Arc::new(chunk2),
+                Arc::new(chunk3),
+                Arc::new(chunk4),
+                Arc::new(chunk5),
+            ],
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_different_schemas() {
+        let some_chunk = chunk(1);
+        let iox_schema = some_chunk.schema();
+        let schema1 = iox_schema.as_arrow();
+        let schema2 = iox_schema.select_by_indices(&[]).as_arrow();
+        let plan = UnionExec::new(vec![
+            Arc::new(EmptyExec::new(false, schema1)),
+            Arc::new(EmptyExec::new(false, schema2)),
+        ]);
+        assert!(extract_chunks(&plan).is_none());
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_empty_exec_with_rows() {
+        let schema = chunk(1).schema().as_arrow();
+        let plan = EmptyExec::new(true, schema);
+        assert!(extract_chunks(&plan).is_none());
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_empty_exec_no_iox_schema() {
+        let schema = Arc::new(ArrowSchema::new(vec![Field::new(
+            "x",
+            DataType::Float64,
+            true,
+        )]));
+        let plan = EmptyExec::new(false, schema);
+        assert!(extract_chunks(&plan).is_none());
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_stop_at_other_node_types() {
+        let chunk1 = chunk(1);
+        let schema = chunk1.schema().clone();
+        let plan = chunks_to_physical_nodes(
+            &schema,
+            None,
+            vec![Arc::new(chunk1)],
+            Predicate::default(),
+            task_ctx(),
+        );
+        let plan = FilterExec::try_new(
+            df_physical_expr(plan.as_ref(), col("tag1").eq(lit("foo"))).unwrap(),
+            plan,
+        )
+        .unwrap();
+        assert!(extract_chunks(&plan).is_none());
+    }
+
+    #[track_caller]
+    fn assert_roundtrip(schema: Schema, chunks: Vec<Arc<dyn QueryChunk>>) {
+        let plan = chunks_to_physical_nodes(
+            &schema,
+            None,
+            chunks.clone(),
+            Predicate::default(),
+            task_ctx(),
+        );
+        let (schema2, chunks2) = extract_chunks(plan.as_ref()).expect("data found");
+        assert_eq!(schema, schema2);
+        assert_eq!(chunk_ids(&chunks), chunk_ids(&chunks2));
+    }
+
+    fn task_ctx() -> Arc<TaskContext> {
+        let session_ctx =
+            SessionContext::with_config(SessionConfig::default().with_target_partitions(2));
+        Arc::new(TaskContext::from(&session_ctx))
+    }
+
+    fn chunk_ids(chunks: &[Arc<dyn QueryChunk>]) -> Vec<ChunkId> {
+        let mut ids = chunks.iter().map(|c| c.id()).collect::<Vec<_>>();
+        ids.sort();
+        ids
+    }
+
+    fn chunk(id: u128) -> TestChunk {
+        TestChunk::new("table")
+            .with_id(id)
+            .with_tag_column("tag1")
+            .with_tag_column("tag2")
+            .with_i64_field_column("field")
+            .with_time_column()
+    }
+}
diff --git a/iox_query/src/physical_optimizer/mod.rs b/iox_query/src/physical_optimizer/mod.rs
index eef746e173..346c5a0454 100644
--- a/iox_query/src/physical_optimizer/mod.rs
+++ b/iox_query/src/physical_optimizer/mod.rs
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ use datafusion::{execution::context::SessionState, physical_optimizer::PhysicalO
 
 use self::union::one_union::OneUnion;
 
+mod chunk_extraction;
 mod union;
 
 #[cfg(test)]
diff --git a/iox_query/src/provider.rs b/iox_query/src/provider.rs
index c1621094d0..b4063f171e 100644
--- a/iox_query/src/provider.rs
+++ b/iox_query/src/provider.rs
@@ -42,9 +42,8 @@ mod physical;
 mod record_batch_exec;
 use self::overlap::group_potential_duplicates;
 pub use deduplicate::{DeduplicateExec, RecordBatchDeduplicator};
-pub(crate) use physical::chunks_to_physical_nodes;
+pub(crate) use physical::{chunks_to_physical_nodes, PartitionedFileExt};
 
-#[cfg(test)]
 pub(crate) use record_batch_exec::RecordBatchesExec;
 
 #[derive(Debug, Snafu)]
diff --git a/iox_query/src/provider/physical.rs b/iox_query/src/provider/physical.rs
index 0badef5b5a..62cd4a83ff 100644
--- a/iox_query/src/provider/physical.rs
+++ b/iox_query/src/provider/physical.rs
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ use std::{
 };
 
 /// Extension for [`PartitionedFile`] to hold the original [`QueryChunk`].
-struct PartitionedFileExt(Arc<dyn QueryChunk>);
+pub struct PartitionedFileExt(pub Arc<dyn QueryChunk>);
 
 /// Holds a list of chunks that all have the same "URL" and
 /// will be scanned using the same ParquetExec.
diff --git a/iox_query/src/provider/record_batch_exec.rs b/iox_query/src/provider/record_batch_exec.rs
index 95cfbcc03f..5f39a15851 100644
--- a/iox_query/src/provider/record_batch_exec.rs
+++ b/iox_query/src/provider/record_batch_exec.rs
@@ -72,7 +72,6 @@ impl RecordBatchesExec {
     }
 
     /// Chunks that make up this node.
-    #[allow(dead_code)]
     pub fn chunks(&self) -> impl Iterator<Item = &Arc<dyn QueryChunk>> {
         self.chunks.iter().map(|(chunk, _batches)| chunk)
     }