Abstract: Methods and apparatus for extending OpenvSwitch (OVS) megaflow offloads to hardware to address hardware pipeline limitations. Under a method implemented on a compute platform including a Network Interface Controller (NIC) having one or more ports and running software including OVS software and a Linux operating system having a kernel including a TC-flower module and a NIC driver a new megaflow is created with a mask in the OVS software employing a subset of microflow fields for a packet. The microflow fields and the megaflow mask is sent to the NIC driver. A new megaflow is implemented in the NIC driver employing a subset of the microflow fields and the NIC driver creates a new hardware flow on the NIC employing a packet match scheme using all the microflow fields. The NIC also programs a NIC hardware pipeline with the new hardware flow using a match scheme that may depend on the available hardware resources, such as the size of a TCAM.